dissenting in part.
I
These cases present important environmental problems. They concern ratemaking for the shipment of *700litter for recycling. Paper, glass, and metals are the main items in today's garbage.1 As indicated by the Bureau of Mines in Appendix I to this opinion, America's method of disposing of garbage is either to use it for landfill or to put it first through incinerators and then to bury the residue. Sorting and recycling have several environmental impacts: (1) reduction in the use of incinerators lessens air pollution; (2) establishing or encouraging removal of litter from the landscape; (3) recycling saves both renewable and nonrenewable resources. As respects the last, the tons of paper that are recycled, rather than burned, can be translated into the number of standing trees that need not be cut for pulp the next year; the metals recycled protect our remaining nonrenewable supplies of ore, and so on.
Rates fixed so as to encourage vast shipments of litter are, therefore, perhaps the most immediate and dramatic illustration of a policy which will encourage protection *701of the environment against several erosive conditions.2 I would, therefore, affirm the eminently responsible decision of the District Court. 346 F. Supp. 189.
The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, 83 Stat. 852, 42 U. S. C. § 4321 et seq., declares a congressional policy
“which will encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment; to promote efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man; to enrich the understanding of the ecological systems and natural resources important to the Nation; and to establish a Council on Environmental Quality.” 42 U. S. C. § 4321.
That broad policy is further expounded in § 4331 (b) to include, inter alia, the objective that “the Nation may ... (2) assure for all Americans safe, healthful, productive, and esthetically and culturally pleasing surroundings . . . and (6) enhance the quality of renewable resources and . . . depletable resources.”
*702The Government urges that appellees do not have standing to challenge the administrative determination of railroad freight rate increases. SCRAP alleged in its amended complaint that its members suffered environmental and economic injury as a result of the alleged increase, because the increase diminished the total amount of waste recycling in the United States, and made those products, which were in fact manufactured from the waste materials after the rate increase, more expensive in the marketplace. In addition, SCRAP alleged that each of its members in fact used the “forests, rivers, streams, mountains, and other natural resources . . .” for recreational purposes, and these uses were adversely affected because the Commission’s rate increases discourage the reuse of recyclable commodities, such as bottles and cans, and encourage the depletion of natural resources.
In Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U. S. 727, 734, this Court-stated that, “We do not question that [environmental] harm may amount to an 'injury in fact’ sufficient to lay the basis for standing under . . . the APA [5 U. S. C. § 702]. Aesthetic and environmental well-being, like economic well-being, are important ingredients of the quality of life in our society, and the fact that particular environmental interests are shared by the many rather than the few does not make them less deserving of legal protection through the judicial process.” The members of SCRAP have clearly alleged an “injury in fact” to the environment and to their own personal continued use of it.
“There is nothing unusual or novel in granting the consuming public standing to challenge administrative actions.” Office of Communication of United Church of Christ v. FCC, 123 U. S. App. D. C. 328, 359 F. 2d 994. This Court has indicated that where “statutes are concerned, the trend is toward enlargement of the class of people who may protest administrative action.” Data Processing Service v. Camp, 397 U. S. 150, 154.
*703Littering is a commonplace phenomenon that affects every person, almost everywhere. From reports and writings we know that littering defaces mountain trails, alpine meadows, and even our highest peaks. Those in the valleys are often almost inundated with litter. Where a river is polluted and a person is dependent on it for drinking water, I suppose there would not be the slightest doubt that he would have standing in court to present his claim. I also suppose there is not the slightest doubt that where smog settles on a city, any person who must breathe that air or feel the sulphuric acid forming in his eyes, would have standing in court to present his claim. I think it is equally obvious that any resident of an area whose paths are strewn with litter, whose parks, or picnic grounds are defaced by it has standing to tender his complaint to the court. Sierra Club v. Morton, supra, would seem to cover this case, for littering abetted by the failure to recycle would clearly seem to implicate residents to whom “the aesthetic and recreational vaues of the area” are important. Id., at 735. For the reasons stated in my opinion in Sierra Club v. Morton, supra, I agree with the Court that appellees have standing, but like Mr. Justice Blackmun, I would not require appellees, in their individual capacity, to prove injury in fact. As Mr. Justice Blackmun states, it should be sufficient if appellees, “as responsible and sincere representatives of environmental interests, show that the environment would be injured in fact . . . .”
II
The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), created in the Executive Office of the President, 42 U. S. C. § 4342, estimated in 1969 that this Nation produced more than 4.3 billion tons of solid refuse, including about 30 million tons of paper, 30 million tons of industrial fly ash, 15 million tons of scrap metal, 4 million tons of *704plastics, 100 million automobile tires, 30 billion bottles, 60 billion cans, and millions of discarded automobiles and appliances. First Annual Report of CEQ, Aug. 1970, pp. 107-113. It reported that while most of the secondary material could be reused as a replacement for virgin material, only a small fraction was recycled. Ibid. One of the reasons for the absence of recycling was the high cost both of collection of the material and the transportation costs. Ibid.
As noted, one of the purposes of the Act was to “enhance the quality of renewable resources and approach the maximum attainable recycling of depletable resources.” 42 U. S. C. §4331 (b)(6). On October 9, 1970, Chairman Russell Train of CEQ wrote the Interstate Commerce Commission as follows:
“The Council on Environmental Quality is deeply concerned with all facets of environmental quality. Solid waste disposal is one important aspect of the total pollution problem, and recycling is a new and desirable alternative to solid waste disposal which the Council strongly supports. The degree to which this technique will be used depends almost entirely on economics. Transportation costs, to the degree they increase secondary or scrap materials costs compared to the raw materials with which they compete, act as a disincentive to recycling. The Council believes that several rail haul costs biases currently exist and would like to discuss these cases with you. ... In general, across-the-board percentage increases only widen existing price biases against secondary materials. Also, these increases raise the costs of doing business which can hinder the salvage and reclamation industry.
“In light of the President's concern with environmental quality, the growing problems of solid waste *705and the importance of recycling to alleviating them, I would like to express the Council’s hope that the Interstate Commerce Commission’s actions on the key issue of scrap material transportation rates will be consistent with the Nation’s environmental quality goals.” App. 68.
In December 1971 substantially all the railroads filed with the Commission a request to impose a 2.5% surcharge on virtually all freight. The procedural details which followed are not presently material. Suffice it to say that shippers of recyclable materials submitted verified statements in support of their view that rate increases would intensify the disincentives to shipment and use of recyclable materials. Thus the Institute for Scrap Iron and Steel submitted a study showing:
“(1) Present scrap markets are retarded because of transport rates which encourage the usage of iron ore. (2) Future scrap markets are being affected because new investment that would logically be directed to scrap-intensive steelmaking is diverted because of the existing freight rate structure to ore-intensive steelmaking. (3) Iron ore (a limited domestic natural resource) is being exploited when it can and should be conserved. (4) Some scrap iron that should be recycled is unable to move, thus the environment is despoiled by unnecessary accumulations of solid metallic waste.” T. Barnes, Impact of Railroad Freight Rates on the Recycling of Ferrous Scrap (Jan. 14, 1972).
The Commission instituted a proceeding concerning the guidelines which environmental impact statements required under the Act should follow. 339 I. C. C. 508. A spokesman for the eastern railroads filed an impact statement which said that “any possible adverse environmental impact in the form of reduced movements of com*706modities by rail will come only if we fail to provide adequate and efficient service” and that the need of the railroads to that end was for increased revenues. Ap-pellees filed a protest and a request for a suspension of the proposed surcharge alleging that the present railroad rate structure discourages the movement of “recyclable” goods and that the surcharge would further discourage recycling.
The Commission, allowing the surcharge for a limited period, found that it would “have no significant adverse effect in the movement of traffic by railway or on the quality of the human environment” within the meaning of the 1969 Act. See 340 I. C. C. 358; 341 I. C. C. 287. Chairman Train of CEQ protested to the Commission on October 30, 1972:
“It is understandable that difficulties will be encountered in quantifying the environmental consequences of an incremental freight rate increase on recyclable materials. In our view, however, these consequences must be assessed in the light of the rate disparity between secondary and primary materials that gives rise to the problem in the first place. This disparity is a matter of an entirely different magnitude, calling for a thorough environmental assessment as a precondition to determining whether subsequent incremental increases require additional environmental impact statements. . . . Clearly at some point increases which might be individually ‘insignificant’ become cumulatively ‘significant.’ In addition, the claim that freight rates on recycled products must be increased to respond to ‘emergency’ revenue needs pending completion of the required, overall environmental evaluation, loses much of its force as months turn into years and the basic investigation remains uncompleted. Finally, even the ‘emergency’ argument itself, however legitimate, in *707no way forecloses the consideration of alternatives which would both meet revenue needs and at the same time avoid further potential environmental damage while the basic rate structure issue is being resolved. Alternatives of this sort were, in fact, suggested in the partial dissenting opinions of Commissioners Brown and Deason (who would have denied approval of increases for recyclable commodities), with no indication in the Commission’s majority report that such measures would not have been sufficient to meet the revenue needs relied on to justify the rate increases. ... In summary, the Council feels that the basic environmental issues related to the existing freight rate structure and changes thereto, must be evaluated in a logical, analytical and timely fashion in compliance with the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. The Commission’s actions to date appear to be inconsistent with the objectives of NEPA, and the analyses undertaken to date by the Commission appear to offer an inadequate basis from which to draw conclusions concerning the impact of freight rates on recycling and enviromental quality. Our staff is available to discuss the NEPA procedural issues as well as to assist in structuring the analytical work required to assess adequately the environmental impact of freight rates.” 3 App. 87-89.
*708The three-judge District Court held that the conclusion of the Commission that the rate increase would have “no significant adverse effect” on the environment within the meaning of EPA was “transparent” and “a ruse.” 346 F. Supp., at 200-201. This leads to an analysis of § 102 of NEPA.4
That section is directed to “all agencies of the Federal Government,” which of course includes the Interstate Commerce Commission. It directs the agency to interpret and administer “the policies, regulations, and public laws” which it administers “to the fullest extent possible” in accordance with the policies of EPA. It directs the agency5 to include in “major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment” a detailed statement “by the responsible official on — (i) the environmental impact of the proposed action, (ii) any adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided should the proposal be implemented, (iii) alternatives to the proposed action, (iv) the relationship *709between local short-term uses of man’s environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long-term productivity, and (v) any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources which would be involved in the proposed action should it be implemented. Prior to making any detailed statement, the responsible Federal official shall consult with and obtain the comments of any Federal agency which has jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to any environmental impact involved. Copies of such statement and the comments and views of the appropriate Federal, State, and local agencies, which are authorized to develop and enforce environmental standards, shall be made available to the President, the Council on Environmental Quality and to the public as provided by section 552 of Title 5, . . . and shall accompany the proposal through the existing agency review processes.” 83 Stat. 853.
Rates affecting litter, like rates affecting other commodities, obviously are relevant to the ease and expedition with which it will be transported. To get the litter to appropriate recycling plants in the quantities needed to protect our fast depleting forests and our nonrenewable resources6 and to relieve our landscape of the litter that plagues us may need special incentive rates.
The report, H. R. Conf. Rep. No. 91-765, makes clear that no agency of the Federal Government is exempt and that each should comply unless existing law applicable to the agency “expressly prohibits or makes full compli-*710anee with one of the directives impossible.” The report states:
“The purpose of the new language is to make it clear that each agency of the Federal Government shall comply with the directives set out in such subpara-graphs (A) through (H) unless the existing law applicable to such agency’s operations expressly prohibits or makes full compliance with one of the directives impossible. If such is found to be the case, then compliance with the particular directive is not immediately required. However, as to other activities of that agency, compliance is required. Thus, it is the intent of the conferees that the provision 'to the fullest extent possible’ shall not be used by any Federal agency as a means of avoiding compliance with the directives set out in section 102. Rather, the language in section 102 is intended to assure that all agencies of the Federal Government shall comply with the directives set out in said section ‘to the fullest extent possible’ under their statutory authorizations and that no agency shall utilize an excessively narrow construction of its existing statutory authorizations to avoid compliance.” Id., at 9-10.
The District Court, acting responsibly in light of the broad and clear-cut policy of the Act concluded that it sets a “ ‘high standard’ ” for federal agencies, that there is no “ ‘escape hatch for footdragging agencies,’ ” that the Act does not make the preparation and use of these impact statements “ ‘discretionary,’ ” that Congress did not intend that this Act be “ ‘a paper tiger.’ ” 346 F. Supp., at 199.7
*711Arrow Transportation Co. v. Southern R. Co., 372 U. S. 658, does not preclude review here. In Arrow there were rates which the Commission had the power to suspend but had not suspended. The power of suspension was entrusted to the Commission only; and we held that the courts should not intrude when the Commission has not acted. Here the Commission has acted; it has found that “the increases here proposed are just and reasonable, that the revenues derived therefrom will result in earnings *712and rates of return . . . not in excess of that required to enable” the carriers “to render adequate and efficient transportation at the lowest cost consistent with the furnishing of such service.” Ex parte 281, Order of Feb. 1, 1972 (unreported). The Commission said it was not prescribing rates, though it attached conditions on approval of the rates without suspension. It made clear it would suspend the new rates if the conditions were not added. As stated by the three-judge court: “A suspension decision which effectively blackmails the carriers into submitting agency-authored rates is functionally indistinguishable from an agency order setting those rates.” 346 F. Supp., at 197.
Moreover, as the three-judge court held and as Judge Friendly observed in City of New York v. United States, 337 F. Supp. 150, 164, “NEPA is a new and unusual statute imposing substantive duties which overlie those imposed on an agency by the statute or statutes for which it has jurisdictional responsibility.”
The Court today greatly weakens NEPA in a crucially important segment of the federal environmental field. Movement of litter to recycling plants 8 is critically important, as Chairman Train makes abundantly clear. The alternative is to leave it underfoot or to cart it off as garbage to incinerators that pollute the air or to landfills that are getting more and more difficult to find.9 We know that recycled paper, recycled copper, recycled *713iron, and recycled glass are practical. The Federal Bureau of Mines in its pilot plant at Edmonston, Maryland, boasts that “urban ore,” as it calls this debris, costs about $3 a ton and recycled is worth $11 a ton. We know that we deal here with nonrenewable resources. We are told that recycling paper saves thousands of acres of trees a year.10
Under the Act, the appraisal by the Council on Environmental Quality of which Russell Train is the chairman is a weighty one, for under § 204 of the Act it has the responsibility “to appraise the various programs and activities of the Federal Government” in light of the policy of the Act and “to develop and recommend . . . national policies to foster and promote the improvement of environmental quality.” 83 Stat. 855; 42 U. S. C. §§4344 (3), (4). CEQ is, in other words, the expert ombudsman in the environmental area.
*714The apparent tendency among federal agencies, Congressman Dingell says,11 is to decide first what they want to do and then prepare an impact statement as an apologia for what they have done. That puts the cart before the horse. That is what the Commission did here. But that is to adopt “an excessively narrow construction” of its statutory power “to avoid compliance” with the new environmental standards — all as condemned in the Conference report, supra, at 10. That is to say, environmental considerations are, so far as possible, to shape all agency policies and decisions.
These cases are, indeed, Exhibit A of the current practice of federal agencies to undermine the policy announced by Congress in NEPA. Rail rates were long discriminatory in retarding the industrial development of the South. New York v. United States, 331 U. S. 284. The present rates are arguably discriminatory against the removal of the litter which is about to engulf us. The wisdom of Chairman Train, rather than the technical maneuvers of the Commission, should be our guide.
I would affirm the judgment of the District Court.
APPENDIX I TO OPINION OF DOUGLAS, J., DISSENTING IN PART
The Bureau of Mines had at Edmonston, Maryland, for several years an incinerator residue processing plant on the basis of which Lowell, Massachusetts, instituted its Resource Recovery Project.
The Edmonston project is now engaged in recycling of raw waste and the following is the Bureau's description of the nature and scope of that project.
*715FACT SHEET
Edmonston (Md.) Solid Waste Recycling Project Bureau of Mines
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
An important part of the solid waste utilization research carried on by the Bureau of Mines is to develop methods and processes for recycling mineral materials present in urban refuse. Engineers from the Bureau’s College Park (Md.) Metallurgy Research Center operate a pilot plant at Edmonston, Maryland, where they reclaim ferrous metals, nonferrous metals, glass, plastics, and paper from raw unburned refuse. The following facts are pertinent to the research underway at the Edmonston pilot plant,
xxx — 100 pounds of typical municipal refuse contains: 36.6 pounds of paper and cardboard; 20.2 pounds of garbage; 8.4 pounds of metal; 8.5 pounds of glass; 17.4 pounds of leaves, grass, hedge clippings and tree prunings; 2.6 pounds of scrap wood; 1.1 pound of plastics; and 5.2 pounds of miscellaneous material including leather, rubber, textiles, bricks, stones, and dirt.
xxx — Urban refuse generated in the U. S. in 1972 totaled 300 million tons, or the equivalent of more than 8 pounds daily for every man, woman, and child.
xxx — Only 220 million tons of municipal refuse was regularly collected by public agencies and private firms. The remainder (80 million tons) was abandoned, dumped at the point of origin, or hauled to uncontrolled disposal sites,
xxx — The volume of municipal refuse accumulating in the U. S. in a single year would cover an area half the size of the State of Connecticut (2,500 sq. mi.) with a layer of refuse 1 foot deep. This refuse contains some 12 million tons of iron and steel, 13 million tons of glass, and over a million tons of aluminum, zinc, lead, tin, and copper.
xxx — Collecting and disposing of refuse costs cities an average of $23 per ton ($18, for collection and $5, for disposal). New York City, at a cost of $40 per ton, spends almost a million dollars each day to collect and dispose of solid waste. Total U. S. bill runs about $6 billion annually,
xxx — Most municipal refuse is disposed of by dumping, landfill, or incineration. About 30 million tons of municipal refuse is *716burned annually in more than 300 municipal incinerators. These incinerators generate 7.5 million tons of residues, which are then buried. The process developed by the Bureau to reclaim the values from incinerator residues has attracted worldwide attention. A commercial size plant of this type will soon be under construction in Lowell, Massachusetts, with seventy-five percent of the $3.2 million required, being provided by the Environmental Protection Agency.
xxx — Successful reclamation of mineral values from incinerator residues at the Bureau’s pilot plant prompted research to save also that part of municipal refuse that is now being lost during burning. This would reduce the need for building more municipal incinerators, saving their construction and operating costs, and would bring income from salvaged paper and plastics as well as metals and glass. It would also eliminate air pollution problems connected with incineration.
xxx — Equipment for mechanical separation of metals, glass, paper, and plastics from municipal refuse before incineration has been assembled at Edmonston. The process involves coarse shredding of the refuse, followed with air classification, magnetic separation, screening, optical sorting, electrostatic separation, and gravity concentration — all proven methods used in the minerals industries.
xxx — Other refuse recycling schemes have been proposed and some are already under development. The process developed by the Bureau is unique in the following major respects: (1) it is the only process that embodies a complete system, (2) it is the only process capable of capturing and concentrating putrescibles and glass, (3) it is the only process that produces a tin can product suitable for detinning, (4) it is the only process capable of accepting extremely massive pieces of metal, (5) it is the only process that can successfully separate plastics and paper, and (6) energy requirements for the Bureau’s process are by far the least of all proposed processes.
xxx — A plant processing 1,000 tons of raw refuse per day could be expected to reclaim each day enough ferrous metal to make all the iron and steel parts for more than 55 4-door sedans.
xxx — About 36 billion bottles are discarded each year in the U. S. as solid waste. Each American discards a glass bottle on the average of about one every two days. The average returnable beer bottle used to make 31 round trips from the brewery, to the consumer, and back to the brewery. The average is now *71719 trips. In some cities, it is only 4. People are discriminating less between returnable and non-returnable bottles,
xxx — Glass reclaimed from raw refuse can be used in making new glass, or for such salable products as building bricks, mineral wool for insulation, and road surfacing (when ground and mixed with asphalt).
xxx — Aluminum present in refuse in the form of cans alone amounts to 10 percent of the total primary production. This metal together with other aluminum recovered from refuse would find a ready market at existing secondary smelters for conversion to high grade casting alloys.
xxx — The other heavy nonferrous metals could be used readily in producing brass ingot or the mixture could be further refined and separated into the constituent metals,
xxx — The rate at which we generate refuse is growing so fast that within 20 years, even if we are able to recycle 70 percent of our solid wastes our needs for landfill space will remain the same. And landfill space is, even now, becoming harder and harder to find.
[Refuse-disposal and refuse-recovery charts appear on pp. 718 and 719 respectively.]
*718
*719
*720APPENDIX II TO OPINION OF DOUGLAS, J., ' DISSENTING IN PART
Section 102 of the National Environmental Policy Act, 42 U. S. C. § 4332 provides:
§ 4332. Cooperation of agencies; reports; availability of information; recommendations; international and national coordination of efforts.
The Congress authorizes and directs that, to the fullest extent possible: (1) the policies, regulations, and public laws of the United States shall be interpreted and administered in accordance with the policies set forth in this chapter, and (2) all agencies of the Federal Government shall—
(A) utilize a systematic, interdisciplinary approach which will insure the integrated use of the natural and social sciences and the environmental design arts in planning and in decisionmaking which may have an impact on man’s environment;
(B) identify and develop methods and procedures, in consultation with the Council on Environmental Quality established by subchapter II of this chapter, which will insure that presently unquantified environmental amenities and values may be given appropriate consideration in decisionmaking along with economic and technical considerations;
(C) include in every recommendation or report on proposals for legislation and other major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment, a detailed statement by the responsible official on—
(i) the environmental impact of the proposed action,
*721(ii) any adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided should the proposal be implemented,
(iii) alternatives to the proposed action,
(iv) the relationship between local short-term uses of man’s environment and the maintenance and enhancement of long-term productivity, and
(v) any irreversible and irretrievable commitments of resources which would be involved in the proposed action should it be implemented.
Prior to making any detailed statement, the responsible Federal official shall consult with and obtain the comments of any Federal agency which has jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to any environmental impact involved. Copies of such statement and the comments and views of the appropriate Federal, State, and local agencies, which are authorized to develop and enforce environmental standards, shall be made available to the President, the Council on Environmental Quality and to the public as provided by section 552 of Title 5, and shall accompany the proposal through the existing agency review processes;
(D) study, develop, and describe appropriate alternatives to recommended courses of action in any proposal which involves unresolved conflicts concerning alternative uses of available resources;
(E) recognize the worldwide and long-range character of environmental problems and, where consistent with the foreign policy of the United States, lend appropriate support to initiatives, resolutions, and programs designed to maximize international *722cooperation in anticipating and preventing a decline in the quality of mankind’s world environment;
(F) make available to States, counties, municipalities, institutions, and individuals, advice and information useful in restoring, maintaining, and enhancing the quality of the environment;
(G) initiate and utilize ecological information in the planning and development of resource-oriented projects; and
(H) assist the Council on Environmental Quality established by subchapter II of this chapter.
Pub. L. 91-190, Title I, § 102, Jan. 1, 1970, 83 Stat. 853.
In a Bureau of Mines’ survey, it was established that metals and glass account for approximately 75 percent of the weight of the residues in municipal incinerator waste. Economics of Recycling Metals and Minerals from Urban Refuse, Bureau of Mines Technical Progress Report No. 33, p. 2 (Apr. 1971). From these materials, if recycled, familiar products such as bottles, newspapers, iron ingots, paper pulp, fuel oil, and methane gas can be manufactured. In addition, new products are being developed, such as glassphalt for street paving, insulation, glass wool, and glass bricks, in various colors that meet specifications for “severe weather” facing brick. Id,., at 7.
This project was launched under the Resource Recovery Act of 1970, 84 Stat. 1227, 42 U. S. C. § 3251 et seq., under which the Secretary of HEW was authorized to provide technical and financial assistance in planning and developing resource recovery and solid waste disposal programs.
For a detailed account of a Resource Recovery Mill see Ross, How to Succeed in Recycling, Environmental Quality Magazine, June 1973, p. 51.
The necessity of reasonable transportation rates is even more apparent when it is realized that the volume of residue which is processed at a major recycling plant is between 250 and 1,000 tons per day. (Economics of Recycling Metals and Minerals from Urban Refuse, supra, n. 1, at 1.) Massive bulk transportation is therefore essential to these plant operations.
The problem is even more critical in urban areas where there is a high concentration of solid waste being generated and transportation to outlying recycling plants is a major cost factor. In 1968 a national survey found that an average of 8.2 pounds of waste per capita was collected daily in urban areas; this figure has now risen to 9 pounds. If present trends continue, this figure could be as high as 12 pounds in another 10 years. In our urban areas as a whole, the solid waste generated is fast approaching a ton a year for each man, woman, and child. Kramer, Energy Conservation and Waste Recycling, Science and Public Affairs 13, 17 (Apr. 1973).
In his report before the Senate, Senator Jackson, one of the three legislators most responsible for NEPA, stated: “To insure that the policies and goals defined in this act are infused into the ongoing programs and actions of the Federal Government, the act also establishes some important ‘action-forcing’ procedures. Section 102 authorizes and directs all Federal agencies, to the fullest extent possible, to administer their existing laws, regulations, and policies in conformance with the policies set forth in this act. It also directs all agencies to assure consideration of the environmental impact of their actions in decision-making. It requires agencies which propose actions to *708consult with appropriate Federal and State agencies having jurisdiction or expertise in environmental matters and to include any comments made by those agencies which outline the environmental considerations involved with such proposals.
“Taken together, the provisions of section 102 directs [sic] any Federal agency which takes action that it must take into account environmental management and environmental quality considerations.” 115 Cong. Rec. 40416 (1969).
The totality of § 102 is so important to this litigation that I have set it forth in Appendix II to this dissent.
Senator Jackson was reported as saying:
“We expected Section 102 of the act which requires environmental impact statements and analysis of alternatives for all major federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment to force the agencies to move. . . . We did not anticipate that it would be private parties through the courts that would force the compliance. This is what has made it work.” Cahn, Can Federal Law Help Citizens Save Nature’s Fragile Beauty?, Christian Science Monitor 12 (Feb. 28, 1973).
Waldo E. Smith, of the American Geophysical Union, recently stated: “The total supply of most metals is sharply limited; even now we must dig deeper, go farther, and use lower grade ores. No optimism is justified here. The supply can be extended substantially by intelligent recycling, which should be an important by-product of our cleaning up to maintain a clean environment.” Resources and Long-Forecasts, Science and Public Affairs 21, 22 (May 1973).
When Congress desires exceptions to be made to the impact statement requirement under the NEPA, express exemption is provided. For example, Pub. Law 92-307, 86 Stat. 191, pro*711vides that the Atomic Energy Commission can grant a temporary operating license for a nuclear power reactor without the completion of an environmental impact statement, if the application for the operating license was filed before September 9, 1971, and the Commission holds a hearing which leads to the findings, among others, that the operation of the facility during the period of the temporary operating license in accordance with its terms and conditions will provide adequate protection of the environment during that period and that the operation of the facility is essential toward insuring the power-generating capacity of a utility system. The Commission is empowered to impose such terms and conditions as it deems necessary, and its decision is subject to judicial review.
Some federal agencies are taking affirmative action to promote the purposes of § 105. Thus the Securities and Exchange Commission recently adopted amendments to its registration and reporting forms to require more meaningful disclosure of certain items pertaining to the effect on the issuer’s business of compliance with federal, state, and local laws and regulations relating to the protection of the environment. The amendments will require as a part of the description of the issuer’s business, appropriate disclosures with respect to the material effects which compliance with environmental laws and regulations may have upon the capital expenditures, earnings, and competitive position of the issuer and its subsidiaries. Other amendments describe the extent to which litigation disclosures should contain specific descriptions of environmental proceedings. Securities and Exchange Comm’n Release (Securities Act Rel. No. 5386, Apr. 20, 1973). See Scientists’ Institute v. AEC, 156 U. S. App. D. C. 395, 481 F. 2d 1079, holding that an impact statement must be filed for the Atomic Energy Commission’s liquid metal fast breeder reactor program.
Senator Jackson recently was reported as saying about these impact statements:
“We also should be able to get generic environmental impact statements — updated every six months or so — for energy policy, transportation policy, and other major policy decisions.” Cahn, supra, n. 5.
Most of the Nation's waste is relocated into dumps with only approximately 10% to 15% finding its way into sanitary landfills. Kramer, supra, n. 2, at 17.
Congressman Dingell, another main sponsor of NEPA, recently was reported as saying:
“The success of the environmental impact statements is not so much that they were used as we intended they should, but that citizens have been able to use the process as a [way] to get into courts. . . . Some agencies are complying poorly. They decide what they are going to do and then write an environmental impact statement to support the decision. That is not what Congress had in mind. I am fearful that we are breeding a race of impact statement writers who put all the right words down but don’t really get environmental concerns involved in the decision-making process. The impact statement itself is not important. The important thing is that proper judgments are made reflecting environmental considerations in the decision-making process. The impact statement should be a discipline for this and also a process by which the public can be informed and brought into the decision-making process.” Cahn, supra, n. 5.
For a recent account of impact statements on transportation problems see Robert Cahn (former member of CEQ), Environmentalists Wary of Transport Trend, Christian Science Monitor 12 (Feb. 28, 1973).
See n. 10, supra.