ELR Citation: ELR 20843
No(s). 72-1469 (D.S.C. Aug 1, 1973)

The court upholds a threshold determination by the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) that a power line project that the agency is funding does not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the environment, and it therefore dissolves an injunction against construction of the power line right-of-way. In making its threshold decision that an environmental impact statement was not required by NEPA, REA complied fully with the Act and its own regulations by giving full, good-faith consideration to environmental factors and by weighing the project's costs and benefits. Even though an environmental analysis that was required prior to REA approval of the loan was not submitted by the defendant power company until after that approval had been given, the study adequately examines the project's environmental effects and contains sufficient evidence to support REA's threshold determination and show that it was not arbitrary.

Counsel for Plaintiff
Franklin D. Beattie Jr.
135 York Street S.E.
Aiken, SC 29801

Counsel for Defendants
Pinckney Roberts
P.O. Box 5010
Hilton Head Island, SC 29928

L. Mark Wine
Department of Justice
Washington, DC 20530