all regulations, then existing or subsequently enacted, including Special Stipulations required by the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture. The Stipulations, designed to restore and protect the surface value of the land to be mined, were attached to and made a part of the permits, infra pp. 625-26.
Subsequently, between 1969-1972, the plaintiffs applied to Interior for preference right leases to mine phosphate on the lands embraced by their prospecting permits alleging discovery of "valuable deposits" within the meaning of section 211(b) of the Mineral Leasing Act. Thereafter, the United States Geological Survey certified that valuable deposits had been discovered and recommended that leases be issued. The certifications were based on quality and quantity standards that had been applied by the Interior Department for some time. In 1976, Kerr-McGee filedand leases on the Osceola Forest lands and that no final administrative action would be taken on pending or future permits or leases on the lands prior to completion of an environmental impact statement.
In response to that litigation, the Department undertook in early 1972, the preparation of an environmental analysis and meanwhile, suspended all actions on pending lease applications. In June 1974 a Final Environmental Statement on Phosphate Leasing on the Osceola National Forest in Florida ("1974 Final Environmental Statement"). The Statement analyzed the environmental impact of phosphate mining upon various aspects of the Osceola Forest, including the areas' water supply, wildlife, and other natural resources, and reviewed *624 various measures proposed to lessen and mitigate adverse environmental effects.
In April 1976, Kerr-McGee also filed a proceeding in this