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Administrative Law Keyed to Popper
Summers v. Earth Island Institute
Citation:
555 U.S. 488, 129 S.Ct. 1142, 173 L.Ed.2d 1 (2009)Facts
In 1992, Congress enacted the Forest Service Decisionmaking and Appeals Reform Act, which required the Forest Service to establish notice, comment, and appeal procedures for projects implementing land and resource management plans. The Forest Service later issued regulations exempting certain categorically excluded projects, including salvage-timber sales of 250 acres or less, from these procedural requirements. In 2003, the Forest Service approved the Burnt Ridge Project, a salvage sale of timber on 238 acres damaged by fire in the Sequoia National Forest, without providing notice, comment, or appeal opportunities. Environmental organizations filed suit challenging this exemption. While the District Court initially granted a preliminary injunction against the Burnt Ridge sale, the parties subsequently settled their dispute over that specific project. Nevertheless, the District Court proceeded to invalidate the challenged regulations and issued a nationwide injunction. The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part, upholding the invalidation of regulations that had been applied to the Burnt Ridge Project. The environmental organizations relied on affidavits from their members, including one from Jim Bensman, which stated he had visited many national forests in the past and planned to visit several unnamed forests in the future, but did not identify specific sites that would be affected by the challenged regulations.
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