People ex rel Lockyer v. U.S. Dept. of Agriculture

Page 874

459 F.Supp.2d 874

PEOPLE of the State of California ex rel. Bill LOCKYER, et al., Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE; Mike Johanns, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, et al., Defendant(s).

The Wilderness Society, California Wilderness Coalition, et al., Plaintiffs, v. United States Forest Service, an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture; Dale Bosworth, Chief of the United States Forest Service, et al., Defendants.

No. C05-03508 EDL.

No. C05-04038 EDL.

United States District Court, N.D. California.

October 11, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Claudia Polsky, CA State Attorney General's Office, State of California Department of Justice, Oakland, CA, Stephen R. Farris, Attorney General of New Mexico Water, Environment & Utilities, Santa FE, NM, David E. Leith, State Attorney General's Office Trial Division, Salem, OR, Robert A. Nicholas, Wyoming Attorney General Natural Resources, Cheyenne, WY, Mary Sue Wilson, Washington State Attorney General's Office, Joan Marchioro, Ronald Leo Lavigne, Jr., Sheila Deirdre Lynch, Washington State Attorney General, Olympia, WA, for Plaintiffs.

Barclay Thomas Samford, United States Department of Justice Environment & Natural Resources Division, Denver, CO, Beverly Li, Rachel Anne Dougan, U.S. Department of Justice Environment & Natural Resources Division-NRS, Jimmy Anthony Rodriguez, United States Department of Justice Environmental & Natural Resources Division Wildlife & Marine Resources Section, Washington, DC James A. Coda, United States Attorney's Office Environmental & Natural Resources Division, John Burritt McArthur, Hosie McArthur LLP, Kenneth B. Wilson, Perkins Coie LLP, San Francisco, CA, Dennis L. Porter, Dennis Mac Wilson, Sacramento, CA, Paul Andrew Turcke, Moore Smith Buxton & Turcke, Chartered, Boise, ID, Scott W. Horngren, Haglund Kelley Horngren Jones & Wilder LLP, Portland, OR, Candace F. West, Montana Attorney General, Helena, MT, Colleen J. Moore, State of Alaska Department of Law, Anchorage, AK, Gregory C. Loarie, Earthjustice, Oakland, CA, Kristen Lee Boyles, Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, Seattle, WA, Thomas Scott Waldo, Earthjustice, Juneau, AK, Timothy J. Preso, Earthjustice, Bozeman, MT, for Defendants.

AMENDED

OPINION AND ORDER ON CROSS-MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

LAPORTE, United States Magistrate Judge.

                                    TABLE OF CONTENTS
   I.  INTRODUCTION ..................................................................... 879
  II.  THE PARTIES ...................................................................... 879
 III.  BACKGROUND ....................................................................... 879
  IV.  STANDING ......................................................................... 883
       A.  Standing Based on Procedural Injury .......................................... 883
           1.  Procedural injury ........................................................ 884
           2.  Concrete interests ....................................................... 884
           3.  Reasonable probability ................................................... 885
           4.  Causation and Redressability ............................................. 887
       B.  State Plaintiffs' Standing Based on Substantive Injury ....................... 888
           1.  Injury in fact ........................................................... 889
           2.  Causation and redressability ............................................. 889
       C.  Prudential Standing Requirements ............................................. 889
   V.  RIPENESS ......................................................................... 890
  VI.  STANDARD OF REVIEW ............................................................... 892
 VII.  DISCUSSION ....................................................................... 893
       A.  National Environmental Policy Act ............................................ 893
           1.  The State Petitions Rule did not fit within the categorical exclusion
               invoked by the Forest Service ............................................ 894
           2.  The FEIS for the Roadless Rule did not satisfy the need for environmental
               analysis of the State Petitions Rule ..................................... 905
           3.  The prospect of future environmental analysis did not obviate the need
                to comply with NEPA at the time the State Petitions Rule was
                adopted ................................................................. 907
           4.  Conclusion ............................................................... 909
       B.  Endangered Species Act ....................................................... 909
       C.  Administrative Procedures Act ................................................ 912
VIII.  REMEDY ........................................................................... 913
  IX.  CONCLUSION ....................................................................... 919

In this environmental litigation, the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment are currently before the Court. For the reasons set forth below, Plaintiffs' motions for summary judgment are granted and Defendants' cross-motion is denied. The only revision contained in this amended opinion and order is the deletion of footnote nine.

I. INTRODUCTION

In these consolidated cases, Plaintiffs, four states and numerous environmental organizations, contend that Defendants violated the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321-4370d, the Endangered Species Act ("ESA"), 16 U.S.C. § 1531-1544 and the Administrative Procedures Act ("APA"), 5 U.S.C. §§ 701-706, by issuing the State Petitions for Inventoried Roadless Area Management Rule ("State Petitions Rule") (70 Fed.Reg. 25,654 (May 13, 2005) (to be codified at 36 C.F.R. pt. 294)) without complying with the procedures required by those Acts. The State Petitions Rule replaced the Roadless Area Conservation Rule ("Roadless Rule") (66 Fed.Reg. 3,244 (Jan. 12, 2001) (to be codified at 36 C.F.R. pt. 294)). Plaintiffs seek an Order vacating and setting aside the State Petitions Rule, reinstating the Roadless Rule and enjoining Defendants from taking any action in violation of the Roadless Rule until they undertake appropriate environmental analysis.

II. THE PARTIES

In California, et al. v. United States Dep't of Agriculture, et al., C-05-3508 EDL, Plaintiffs are the States of California, Oregon, New Mexico and Washington. The State of Montana is amicus curiae in support of Plaintiffs. Defendants are the United States Department of Agriculture, Mike Johanns as Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, United States Forest Service, Dale Bosworth as Chief of the United States Forest Service, and Mark Rey as Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment of the United States Department of Agriculture (collectively, "Defendants" or "Forest Service"). The States of Alaska and Idaho are amici curiae in support of Defendants. The State of Wyoming filed a brief in opposition to the remedy sought by Plaintiffs in both cases. American Council of Snowmobile Associations, Blue Ribbon Coalition, California Association of 4 Wheel Drive Clubs, Silver Creek Timber Company and United Four Wheel Drive Associations are amici curiae with respect to the issues going to the merits and intervenors with respect to the issue of remedy in support of Defendants in both cases. The American Forest Resource Council is amicus curiae in support of Defendants in both cases.

In Wilderness Society, et al v. United States Forest Service, et al., C-05-4038 EDL, a number of private environmental groups sue the same Defendants. Specifically, Plaintiffs are The Wilderness Society, California Wilderness Coalition, Forests Forever Foundation, Northcoast Environmental Center, Oregon Natural Resources Council Fund, Sitka Conservation Society, Siskiyou Regional Education Project, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance, Sierra Club, National Audubon Society, Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Protection Information Center, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Defenders of Wildlife, Pacific Rivers Council, Idaho Conservation League, Humane Society of the United States, Conservation NW and Greenpeace.

III. BACKGROUND

In 2001, the Forest Service enacted the Roadless Rule, which essentially prohibited road construction and reconstruction and timber harvesting, subject to certain limited exceptions, in inventoried roadless areas ("IRAs") on a uniform nationwide basis. The Roadless Rule was the culmination of a lengthy process regarding the impact of road construction and reconstruction in roadless areas starting in early 1999 with the Interim Roads Rule (64 Fed. Reg. 7,290 (Feb. 12, 1999) (to be codified at 36 C.F.R. pt. 212)), and followed by over one year of rulemaking in response to President Clinton's order to the Forest Service "to initiate a nationwide plan to protect inventoried and uninventoried roadless areas within our treasured national forests." Kootenai Tribe v. Veneman, 313 F.3d 1094, 1105 (9th Cir.2002). In adopting the Roadless Rule, the Forest Service conducted an environmental analysis under NEPA and prepared a biological evaluation under ESA, resulting in a Final Environmental Impact Statement ("FEIS") that included letters of concurrence from the Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service that the rule would not likely adversely affect threatened or endangered species. Prior to the Roadless Rule, individual forest plans governed the use of roadless areas and permitted road construction in 34.3 million acres of the nation's 58.5 million acres of roadless areas. See Roadless Rule, 66 Fed.Reg. at 3,246. The Roadless Rule and the interim protections leading...