| Venue: | SCOTUS |
| Facts: | Vermont Yankee wants to build a nuc plant. Loads of paperwork and hearings. NRDC is worried about reprocessing spent fuel, and this issue was excluded from the hearings. The NRC (not NRDC) did some studies, and found that this would not have a significant impact. |
| Posture: | Ct. App. DC Cir. reverses NRC's ruling and says further proceedings are required. |
| Issue: | Can courts impose additional procedural requirements on agency decisionmaking? |
| Holding: | Theoretically yes, but it's hard to think of when, and certainly not now. |
| Rule: | Admistrative agencies are free to fashion their own rules of procedure and follow their own methods of inquiry. |
| Reasoning: | It's not necessarily true that more procedure = better results. Also, congress has made the decision that nuclear energy is a valid area of effort, and we need to honor that. |
| Dicta: | |