Mision Industrial, Inc. v. Hernandez-Colon

430 F. Supp. 273, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15166
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedNovember 21, 1975
DocketCiv. No. 74-587
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 430 F. Supp. 273 (Mision Industrial, Inc. v. Hernandez-Colon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mision Industrial, Inc. v. Hernandez-Colon, 430 F. Supp. 273, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15166 (prd 1975).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

TORRUELLA, District Judge.

This is a suit filed by several ecologically minded organizations and residents of Puerto Rico against several officers of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.), and the Administrator of said Agency.

In essence, the action is directed to stopping the construction of a superport/oil refinery complex in Puerto Rico which is allegedly projected by the Commonwealth Government in violation of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1857 et seq. The suit seeks injunctive and declaratory relief against Defendants and the issuance of a writ of mandamus against the Administrator of E.P.A.

Plaintiffs claim that by committing themselves to the construction of the mentioned project, the Commonwealth Defendants have violated the Clean Air Act, supra, and the Puerto Rico Environmental Act, 12 LPRA 1121 et seq., by their failure to issue an environmental impact statement prior to their alleged commitment.1 Plaintiffs further allege that Defendants EPA and its Administrator have also violated the Federal Statute by failing to issue a “notice of violation" against the Commonwealth Defendants 2 and by failing to order a revision of the Puerto Rico Implementation Plan in accordance with said statute.

Defendants have raised various defenses in motions, including sovereign immunity and failure to state a case and controversy pursuant to Article III of the Constitution. Because of recent developments in this case, we need only discuss the questions related to whether this matter presently raises a justiciable controversy which can be properly entertained by this Court.

On October 24, 1975 Mr. Amadeo I. D. Francis, Acting Administrator of the Economic Development Administration, filed a sworn statement supplementing the one filed by Mr. Teodoro Moscoso the Administrator. Therein Mr. Francis states that:

“Uncertainties in the worldwide petroleum situation and the lack of a long term energy policy in the United States has tended to create a climate not conducive to private investment in any such project in Puerto Rico. As a result, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, through its Economic Development Administration, is taking no further action and studies which may induce it or any other government or private entities or persons to proceed with the gathering of the data required to obtain clearances required by law in order to construct a superport in [275]*275Puerto Rico. Such clearances are outlined in Paragraph 4 of the Affidavit of the Economic Development Administrator executed on July 2, 1974. The net result of the foregoing is that any activity relative to the construction of a super-port in Puerto Rico by or through the intervention of the Economic Development Administration, will be held in abeyance until the adverse circumstances hereinbefore referred to have disappeared, the need for such facility once again prevail and the circumstances arise which will make it possible to obtain the necessary financing, private sponsorship, and an adequate supply of crude oil, which will make the operation of a super-port (deepwater port) economically feasible.”

It is elementary that federal courts may assume jurisdiction only in cases which fall within the boundaries of a justiciable “case and controversy.” See, Texas v. Interstate Commerce Commission and Railroad Labor Board, 258 U.S. 158, 42 S.Ct. 261, 66 L.Ed. 531 (1921); Golden, Acting District Attorney of Kings County v. Zwickler, 394 U.S. 103, 89 S.Ct. 956, 22 L.Ed.2d 113 (1960); Linda R. S. v. Richard D. et al., 410 U.S. 614, 93 S.Ct. 1146, 35 L.Ed.2d 536 (1973); Goosby et al. v. Osser et al., 409 U.S. 512, 93 S.Ct. 854, 35 L.Ed.2d 36 (1973); Steffel v. Thompson et al., 415 U.S. 452, 94 S.Ct. 1209, 39 L.Ed.2d 505 (1974); O’Shea v. Littleton et al., 414 U.S. 488, 94 S.Ct. 669, 38 L.Ed.2d 674 (1974). Sosna, etc. v. State of Iowa et al., 419 U.S. 393, 95 S.Ct. 553, 42 L.Ed.2d 532 (1975).

In the landmark decision of Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83, 88 S.Ct. 1942, 20 L.Ed.2d 947 (1968), the Supreme Court of the United States addressed itself to the task of defining this concept and of tracing its outer limits. In so doing, the Court sets forth at page 94, 88 S.Ct. at page 1949 that:

“The jurisdiction of federal courts is defined and limited by Article III of the Constitution. In terms relevant to the question for decision in this case, the judicial power of federal courts is constitutionally restricted to “cases” and “controversies.” As is so often the situation in constitutional adjudication, those two words have an iceberg quality, containing beneath their surface simplicity submerged complexities which go to the very heart of our constitutional form of government. Embodied in the words “cases” and “controversies” are two complementary but somewhat different limitations. In part those words limit the business of federal courts to questions presented in an adversary context and in a form historically viewed as capable of resolution through the judicial process. And in part those words define the role assigned to the judiciary in a tripartite allocation of power to assure that the federal courts will not intrude into areas committed to the other branches of government. Justiciability is the term of art employed to give expression to this dual limitation placed upon federal courts by the case-and-controversy doctrine.
Justiciability is itself a concept of uncertain meaning and scope. Its reach is illustrated by the various grounds upon which questions sought to be adjudicated in federal courts have been held not to be justiciable. Thus, no justiciable controversy is presented when the parties seek adjudication of only a political question, when the parties are asking for an advisory opinion, when the question sought to be adjudicated has been mooted by subsequent developments, and when there is no standing to maintain the action. Yet it remains true that ‘[j]usticiability is . not a legal concept with a fixed content or susceptible of scientific verification. Its utilization is the resultant of many subtle pressures . . . Poe v. Ullman, 367 U.S. 497, 508, 81 S.Ct. 1752, 6 L.Ed.2d 989 (1961.)

In the case of Gaillot v. United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 464 F.2d 598 (CA 5, 1972), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1060, 93 S.Ct. 559, 34 L.Ed.2d 512 (1972), the Circuit Court for the 5th Circuit following the above pattern defined the concept as “. . .

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Bluebook (online)
430 F. Supp. 273, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15166, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mision-industrial-inc-v-hernandez-colon-prd-1975.