ELR Citation: ELR 20362
No(s). 71-H-1136 (S.D. Tex. Dec 22, 1971)

A HUD "negative statement" on the environmental impact of a $3,763,200 insured loan under §236 of the National Housing Act for construction of a 272-unit apartment complex satifies NEPA's requirements. The HUD procedure is within the bounds of agency discretion, and an inflexible approach to NEPA could work a confiscatory result against an innocent developer. The only environmental hazard shown on the record is the social inconvenience incident to neighborhood change, and this is not a matter for federal judicial intervention.

Counsel for Plaintiffs
Hellmut A. Erwing
The Main Building
Houston, TX 77002

O. K. Jerden
4207 Woodmont
Houston, TX

Counsel for Federal Defendants
Anthony J. P. Farris U.S. Attorney
Theo W. Pinson Assistant U.S. Attorney
P.O. Box 61
Houston, TX 77061

Counsel for Defendant-Intervenor Libo, Inc.
W. Edwin Denman
Hutcheson, Taliaferro & Grundy
Tenneco Building
Houston, TX 77002

Vernon E. Fewell
Esperson Building
Houston, TX 77002