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Show 1118 449 FEDERAL REPORTER, 2d SERIES that environmental factors, as compiled in "the "detailed statement," be considered through agency review processes.19 "Beyond Section 102(2) (C), NEPA requires that agencies consider the environmental impact of their actions "to the fullest extent possible." The Act is addressed to agencies as a whole, not only to their professional staffs. Compliance to the "fullest" possible extent would seem to demand that environmental issues be considered at every important stage in the decision making process concerning a particular action-at every stage where an overall balancing of environmental and nonenvironmental factors is appropriate and where alterations might be made in the proposed action to minimize environmental costs. Of course, consideration which is entirely duplicative is not necessarily required. But independent review of staff proposals by hearing boards is hardly a duplicative function. A truly independent review provides a crucial check on the staff's recommendations. The Commission's hearing boards automatically consider nonenvironmental factors, even though they have been previously studied by the staff. Clearly, the review process is an appropriate stage at which to balance conflicting factors against one another. And, just as clearly, it provides an important opportunity to reject or significantly modify the staff's recommended action. Environmental factors, therefore, should not be singled out and excluded, at this stage, from the proper balance of values envisioned by NEPA. [7] The Commission's regulations provide that in an uncontested proceeding the hearing board shall on its own "determine whether the application and 19. The guidelines issued by the Council on Environmental Quality emphasize the importance of consideration of alternatives to staff recommendations during the agency review process: "A rigorous exploration and objective evaluation of alternative actions that might avoid some or all of the adverse environmental effects is essential. Sufficient analysis of such alternatives and their costs and impact on the environment should accompany the the record of the proceeding contain sufficient information, and the review of the application by the Commission's regulatory staff has been adequate, to support affirmative findings on" various nonenvironmental factors.20 NEPA requires at least as much automatic consideration of environmental factors. In uncontested hearings, the board need not necessarily go over the same ground covered in the "detailed statement." But it must at least examine the statement cares TuTTy^to determine whether "the review * * * J)y the Commission's regulatory^ staff has been adequate/1' vAmd it must_ ^independently consider the final balance among conflicting factors that is struck in the staff's reeommendatiom-. The rationale of the Commission's limitation of environmental issues to hearings in which parties affirmatively raise those issues may have been one of economy. It may have been supposed that, whenever there are serious environmental costs overlooked or uncorrecceu oy the staff, some party will intervene to bring those costs to the hearing board's attention. Of course, independent review of the "detailed statement" and independent balancing of factors in an uncontested hearing will take some time. If it is done properly, it will take a significant amount of time. But all of the NEPA procedures take time. Such administrative costs are not enough to undercut the Act's requirement that environmental protection be considered "to the fullest extent possible," see text at page 1114, supra. It is, moreover, unrealistic to assume that there will always be an intervenor with the information, energy and money required to challenge a staff recommendation which ig-proposed action through the agency review process in order not to foreclose prematurely options which might have less detrimental effects." 36 Fed.Reg. at 7725. The Council also states that an objective of its guidelines is '"to assist agencies in implementing not only the letter. but the spirit, of the Act." Id. at 7724. 20. 10 C.F.R. § 2.104(b) (2) (1971). |
