ELR Citation: ELR 20091
No(s). 73-1312 (3d Cir. Dec 11, 1973)

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals lacks jurisdiction to review an AEC order denying a request for attorney fees and expert witness expenses by environmentalist intervenors in a license proceeding. The order is a collateral ruling in the course of the license proceeding and does not become final for the purposes of the Administrative Orders Review Act until the Commission takes final action on the license application. Plaintiffs, who did not allege indigency, continue as intervenors in the proceeding, and their claim for fees and expenses can be reviewed by the court on a petition to review the Commission's final disposition of the application. The court expresses no opinion as to whether injunctive or declaratory relief might be available in the district court, or whether the order would have been reviewable had the plaintiffs by virtue of indigency been denied effective participation.

Counsel for Petitioners
Lawrence Sager
Sager & Sager Associates
45 High Street
Pottsdown, PA 19464

Counsel for Respondents
Wallace H. Johnson Asst. Attorney General
Raymond N. Zagone
Carl Strass
Department of Justice
Washington, DC 20530

Marcus A. Rowden General Counsel
Jerome Nelson Solicitor
Guy H. Cunningham, III
Atomic Energy Commission
Washington, DC 20545

Counsel for Intervenors Metropolitan Edison Co., Jersey Central Power and Light Co., and Pennsylvania Electric Co.
George F. Trowbridge
Jay E. Silbert
William Bradford Reynolds
Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge
910 17th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006