Henry Friendly

“ To permit an agency to ignore its duties under NEPA with impunity because we have serious doubts that its ultimate decision will be affected by compliance would subvert the very purpose of the Act and encourage further administrative laxity in this area. ”

“ However, this does not mean that dominating weight should be given to the views of agencies upon whom NEPA placed a duty to make impact statements when the result would be to relieve them from that obligation-particularly when these are “action” agencies like the GSA. The National Environmental Policy Act established its own watch-dog agency, The Council on Environmental Quality. The CEQ Guidelines lend additional support to the conclusion that the threshold determination of significance must be set at a low level. ”

“ The statute speaks of “the overall welfare and development of man,” 42 U.S.C. § 4331 (a) and makes it the responsibility of Federal agencies to “use all practicable means . . . to . . . assure for all Americans safe, healthful, productive, and esthetically and culturally pleasing surroundings.” ”

“ This is a long way from dictating any procedure for public participation in threshold determinations. The discussion in 460 F.2d at 648-649 affords further evidence that the earlier panel did not think there need be public participation before the GSA prepared a revised assessment. ”