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Administrative Law Keyed to Mawshaw
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.
Citation:
435 U.S. 519 (1978)Facts
In December 1967, the Atomic Energy Commission granted Vermont Yankee a permit to build a nuclear power plant in Vermont. When Vermont Yankee later applied for an operating license, the Natural Resources Defense Council objected, particularly regarding the Commission’s exclusion from consideration of the environmental effects of nuclear fuel reprocessing and waste disposal. In response, the Commission initiated rulemaking proceedings to address these fuel cycle issues, using notice-and-comment procedures that satisfied the minimum requirements of the APA but did not include cross-examination or discovery. After the hearings, the Commission issued a rule adopting numerical values for the environmental impact of the nuclear fuel cycle. The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overturned this rule, finding the procedures used inadequate despite compliance with APA requirements. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to determine whether courts could impose procedural requirements beyond those mandated by the APA.
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