CALVERT CLIFFS' COORDINATING COMMITTEE, INC., ET AL. == PETITIONERS,
VERSUS
UNITED STATES ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION
AND UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ========================RESPONDENTS,
BALTIMORE GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY, INTERVENOR
Nos. 24839, 24871UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEAL FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
CIRCUIT146 U.S. App. D.C. 33; 449 F.2d 1109; 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 8779; 2 ERC (BNA) 1779; 17
AL.R. Fed. 1; 1 ELR 20346April 16, 1971, Argued
July 23, 1971, DecidedDISPOSITION:
Remanded for Proceedings Consistent with this Opinion.
CORE TERMS: environmental, license, certification, fullest, water quality, balancing, staff,
detailed statement, alteration, environmental quality, operating license, federal government,
water, environmental protection, environmental impact, practicable, recommendation, federal
agencies, proposed action, effective date, abdication, guidelines, accompany, environmental
damage, national policy, review process, appendix, insure, federal action, regulations
JUDGES: Wright, Tamm and Robinson, Circuit Judges,
OPINION BY: WRIGHT
OPINION: J. SKELLY WRIGHT, Circuit Judge:
These cases are only the beginning of what promises to become a flood of new litigation-
litigation seeking judicial assistance in protecting-g our natural environment. Several recently
enacted statutes attest to the commitment of the Government to control, at long last, the de-
structive engine of material "progress."^1 But it remains to be seen whether the promise of this
legislation will become a reality. Therein lies the judicial role. In these cases, we must for the first
time interpret the broadest and perhaps most important of the recent statutes: the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).^2 We must assess claims that one of the agencies
charged with its administration has failed to live up to the congressional mandate. Our duty, in
short, is to see that important legislative purposes, heralded in the halls of Congress, are not lost
or misdirected in the vast hallways of the federal bureaucracy.
(^1) Environmental Quality Improvement Act of 1970, 42 D.S.CA. §§ 4371-4374 (1971 Pocket Part); Water
and Environmental Quality Improvement Act of 1970, Pub. L. 91-224, 91st Cong., 2d Sess. (1970), 84 Stat.
91.
(^2) 42 U.S.CA. § 4321 et seq. (1971 Pocket Part).