418
Opinion of the Court
a reviewing court need not accept an interpretation which is unreasonable.
Under these principles the ICC's interpretation of § 562(d) was permissible, and the Court of Appeals' decision was in error to disregard it. While the ICC's opinion is not explicit in all of its details, the Commission's decision is based on a reading of the statute quite different from the Court of Appeals'. The ICC agreed that property Amtrak seeks to condemn under § 562(d) must be "required for intercity rail passenger service." It determined, however, that the word "required" need not mean, as the Court of Appeals' opinion suggests, indispensable or necessary. Instead, the ICC gave effect to the statutory presumption of Amtrak's need for the track, and in so doing implemented and interpreted the statute in a manner that comports with its words and structure. The analysis of the Court of Appeals is inconsistent with the Commission's interpretation of the statutory presumption of need. The ICC's position before the Court is that "required" can also mean "useful or appropriate," Brief for Petitioners in No. 90-1769, p. 17, and that the order under review adopted that meaning. We agree that the manner in which the ICC has applied the statute in this case has that interpretation as its basic premise. App. to Pet. for Cert. in No. 90-1419, pp. 42a-46a.
In its brief the ICC cites a dictionary definition in support of its view. Brief for Petitioners in No. 90-1769, p. 17, citing Webster's Third New International Dictionary 1929 (1986). The existence of alternative dictionary definitions of the word "required," each making some sense under the statute, itself indicates that the statute is open to interpretation. See Sullivan v. Everhart, supra. Few phrases in a complex scheme of regulation are so clear as to be beyond the need for interpretation when applied in a real context. Further, the structure of the provision reinforces our conclusion that statutory interpretation is appropriate and that the Court of Appeals' interpretation is itself open to serious question.
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