Southeast Alaska Conservation Council v. Watson

• Decision Date: 02 April 1982
• Docket Number: Civ. No. J81-12.
• Citation: 535 F. Supp. 653
• Parties: SOUTHEAST ALASKA CONSERVATION COUNCIL, INC., Plaintiff, v. James WATSON, et al., Defendants, and Pacific Coast Molybdenum Company, et al., Intervenors-Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Alaska

535 F. Supp. 653

SOUTHEAST ALASKA CONSERVATION COUNCIL, INC., Plaintiff, v. James WATSON, et al., Defendants and Pacific Coast Molybdenum Company, et al., Intervenors-Defendants.

Civ. No. J81-12.

United States District Court, D. Alaska.

April 2, 1982.

Durwood J. Zaelke, Jr., Michael R. Sherwood, Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, Inc., Juneau, Alaska, for plaintiff.

Michael Spaan, U. S. Atty. for Alaska, Cynthia Pickering, Atty., Land & Natural Resources Division, Dept. of Justice, Anchorage, Alaska, for defendants.

Clyde O. Martz, Charles L. Kaiser, Davis, Graham & Stubbs, Denver, Colo., Michael T. Thomas, Robertson, Monagle, Eastaugh & Bradley, Anchorage, Alaska, for intervenors-defendants.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

VON DER HEYDT, Chief Judge.

THIS CAUSE comes before the court on motion of U. S. Borax Chemical Corporation (U. S. Borax) for entry of final judgment and for vacation of preliminary injunction. U. S. Borax's motion follows the submission by federal defendants of the Forest Service's Decision on Remand (Remand Decision), pursuant to the court's order of 13 November 1981. See Southeast Alaska Conservation Council v. Watson (SEACC I), 526 F.Supp. 202 (D.Alaska 1981).

In SEACC I, the court held that § 503(h)(3) of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 (ANILCA), Pub.L.No.96-487, 94 Stat. 2371 (1980), requires an environmental impact statement (EIS) prior to the authorization of bulk sampling within U. S. Borax's molybdenum mining claim in the Misty Fjords National Monument. The court remanded the case to the Forest Service for further consideration of whether the 1980-83 amendments to the U. S. Borax 1980-83 Plan of Operations involve bulk sampling. SEACC I, 526 F.Supp. at 209. Nearly four months after the court's order, federal defendants submitted the Remand Decision. The Forest Service concluded that the 1980-83 amendments do not constitute bulk sampling.

I. SCOPE AND STANDARD OF REVIEW

As recognized in SEACC I, the court must examine the Forest Service's action by scrutinizing the administrative record at the time of the agency decision. SEACC I, 526 F.Supp. at 206 (citing Asarco, Inc. v. U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, 616 F.2d 1153, 1158 (9th Cir. 1980)). Since the Forest Service has not indicated whether it considered any evidence outside the original administrative record, the court must conclude that it adhered strictly to the initial record.¹ (Indeed it is apparent from the Remand Decision that the Forest Service based its decision upon a comparison of the 1980-83 amendments with the bulk sampling described in the 1977 EIS. See Remand Decision at 1). Consequently, the court will not go beyond the initial administrative record when reviewing the Remand Decision.

The proper standard for review of the Remand Decision is whether it is "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law." Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A) (1976). Section 706(2)(A) is applicable because the Remand Decision has the substantive effect, if affirmed, of allowing the 1980-83 operating plan and amendments to proceed. See Warm Springs Dam Task Force v. Gribble, 621 F.2d 1017, 1027 (9th Cir. 1980) (substantive decision of allowing project to proceed reviewed under § 706(2)(A)). In applying § 706(2)(A), the court must consider whether the Remand Decision was based "on a consideration of all the relevant factors and whether there has been a clear error of judgment." Citizens To Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402, 416, 91 S.Ct. 814, 824, 28 L.Ed.2d 136 (1971). In essence, § 706(2)(A) as applicable here requires the court to determine if the Remand Decision is in accordance with SEACC I, the law of the case, and whether the Forest Service considered all the relevant factors in making its determination. If the Forest Service has provided a reasoned basis for its decision, which does not substantially deviate from SEACC I, the Remand Decision must be affirmed. See Asarco, 616 F.2d at 1161.

II. REVIEW OF THE REMAND DECISION

A. The Essence of SEACC I and Bulk Sampling

In analyzing the bulk sampling process in SEACC I, the court began by reviewing the 1977 EIS which gave a description of bulk sampling and the U. S. Borax bulk sampling phase. See U.S.D.A. Forest Service Environmental Statement U. S. Borax Mining Access Road For The Quartz Hill Project, 18 July 1977 (plaintiff's exhibit no. 6) hereinafter 1977 EIS. In the 1977 EIS bulk sampling was described as:

a process involving underground mining ... done for the purpose of checking core drilling results... The bulk sampling will be by shaft, tunnel or a combination of both. U. S. Borax anticipates 3,000 to 7,000 feet of drift or tunnel approximately 8' × 12' and excavating up to 60,000 tons of rock.

1977 EIS at 4. After the blasting and excavation of the tunnels, the blasted rock is "hauled to an outside storage bin by standard underground load-haul-dump equipment." Id. at 6. The sample retained is crushed and screened; a representative sample is then collected and removed for pilot plant testing. As the court noted:

The pilot plant test facility is located outside the mine site. The amount of rock shipped to the pilot plant is environmentally irrelevant. Environmentally, the concern must center on the number and size of the tunnels. This is because the amount of blasting as well as the total amount of rock excavated is directly correlated to the number and size of the tunnels.

SEACC I, at 208 n. 19 (emphasis added).

It is environmentally relevant, however, that the crushed rock which is not shipped to the pilot plant is stockpiled or spread on the mine site. See 1977 EIS at 6.

Following review of the general description of bulk sampling found in the 1977 EIS, the court compared the two previous U. S. Borax bulk sampling plans with the 1980-83 proposed amendments.

The U. S. Borax 1976 bulk sampling plan proposed one to five tunnels with 8' × 12' openings for a total length of 3000 to 7000 feet. Additionally, an on-site crushing plant and a sampler were required 1977 EIS at 4, 6 & 23. The 1979 bulk sampling plan proposed one tunnel with a 6' × 8' opening for a total length of up to 7000 feet. Again, an on-site crushing plant and a sampler were required. 1979 Operating Plan, Quartz Hill Project at 3 & 4 (plaintiff's exhibit no. 8); Study Plan, U. S. Borax Bulk Sampling at 1 (plaintiff's exhibit no. 9). The 1980-83 amendments allowed the construction of two tunnels, each with 7' × 8' openings for a total length of 5,300 feet. An on-site crushing plant and a sampler were allowed. U. S. D. A. Forest Service Environmental Assessment at 3, 4 & 23 (plaintiff's exhibit no. 17).

SEACC I, 526 F.Supp. at 209. The court then concluded that it is apparent the 1980-83 amendments allow the same magnitude of activity which was declared to be bulk sampling in 1976 and in 1979. Thus, the court remanded the case to the Forest Service for consideration, consistent with the court's memorandum, of whether the 1980-83 amendments constitute bulk sampling.

B. The Essence of the Forest Service Remand Decision

The Forest Service concluded that the 1980-83 amendments did not involve bulk sampling because the amendments are distinguishable from the bulk sampling described in the 1977 EIS "in size, method, and purposes of operation." Remand Decision at 1. In describing the purpose of bulk sampling the Forest Service asserted: "The ultimate objective of bulk sampling is to obtain a sufficient quantity of representative ore to provide information for the best plant design to process the ore." Id. at 2. Next, the Forest Service pointed out that the 1976 bulk sampling plan called for a 5,000-ton sample to be drummed and shipped out to the pilot plant. Id. The Forest Service then reasoned that "the most striking distinction between the 1977 EIS bulk sample description and the 1980-83 exploration amendments is the tonnage to be removed from the project area." Id. at 3-4. Forty-two tons were to be shipped out under the 1980-83 plan and 5,000 tons were to be shipped out under the 1976 plan. The Forest Service concluded: "For this reason alone, approval of the 1980-83 exploration activities to remove 42 tons of spot sample could not be considered comparable to approval of a 5,000-ton bulk sample." Id.

C. Reversal of the Forest Service Decision

The Forest Service failed to base its decision on the law of the case. Additionally, the Remand Decision manifests a failure to consider all the relevant factors. Consequently, the Remand Decision must be reversed.

In SEACC I, the court pointed out the striking similarities between the activities authorized in the 1980-83 amendments and the U. S. Borax bulk sampling plans of 1976 and 1979. SEACC I, 526 F.Supp. at 209. When remanding the case to the Forest Service, the court ordered it to give further consideration, consistent with its memorandum, to whether the 1980-83 amendments constitute bulk sampling. In stark contrast to the court's order, the Remand Decision shows a failure to consider any of the factors which the court found relevant to a determination of whether the 1980-83 amendments constitute bulk sampling. Significantly, the Forest Service did not discuss the 1979 U. S. Borax bulk sampling proposal.² By ignoring the factors considered dispositive by the court in SEACC I, as to whether the 1980-83 amendments constitute bulk sampling, the forest service ignored the law of the case; accordingly, the Remand Decision was contrary to law. Cf. City of Cleveland, Ohio v. Federal Power Com'n, 561 F.2d 344, 346 (D.C.Cir.1977) (decision of reviewing court establishes law of case and administrative agency is without power to act contrary to remand mandate).

Specifically, the court identified the following relevant factors in determining whether the 1980-83 amendments constitute bulk sampling: 1) the length and size of the tunnels; 2) the amount of blasting; 3)...