Opinion ID: 406503
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: standing of environmental groups

Text: 104 The Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., The Environmental Defense Fund, and various other environmental organizations sought standing to raise the CZMA issues raised by the State of California and the local governments. The district court denied them standing because the CZMA was not enacted for their especial benefit, and treated the briefs of these parties as amici curiae. 4 Citing two recent Supreme Court cases, Middlesex County Sewerage Authority v. National Sea Clammers Association, 453 U.S. 1, 101 S.Ct. 2615, 69 L.Ed.2d 435 (1981); and California v. Sierra Club, 451 U.S. 287, 101 S.Ct. 1775, 68 L.Ed.2d 101 (1981), the district judge held that these environmental groups had no implied right of action to bring claims under the CZMA. Assuming, arguendo, this holding is correct, it does not resolve the standing issue. 105 The environmental groups rely for standing not on an implied right of action under the CZMA, but on Section 10 of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. § 702. Addressing this point, the district court held that they may not rely on the APA as the sole jurisdictional predicate. In this the district court erred. The environmental groups relied on the APA for standing, not for federal subject matter jurisdiction. We hold that the environmental groups have standing under 5 U.S.C. § 702. No remand is necessary, however, because the erroneous denial of standing did not affect the outcome of the case. 106 We first note that federal court jurisdiction is based on 28 U.S.C. § 1331, for civil actions arising under the laws of the United States, and is not at issue in this case. Second, an implied right of action under the statute violated is not a necessary predicate to a right to action under the APA. Chrysler Corp. v. Brown, 441 U.S. 281, 317, 99 S.Ct. 1705, 1725, 60 L.Ed.2d 208 (1979); Glacier Park Foundation v. Watt, 663 F.2d 882, 885 (9th Cir. 1981). 107 Section 10 of the APA, 5 U.S.C. § 702 provides: 108 A person suffering legal wrong because of agency action, or adversely affected or aggrieved by agency action within the meaning of a relevant statute, is entitled to judicial review thereof. 109 To have standing under this section both of the following questions must be answered affirmatively: 110 1. Has the party seeking standing suffered a legal wrong, or been adversely affected or aggrieved by the agency action (i.e., has he been injured in fact), and, 111 2. Are the interests sought to be protected by the party seeking standing arguably within the zone of interests to be protected or regulated by the statute in question. 112 See Association of Data Processing Service Organizations v. Camp, 397 U.S. 150, 151-53, 90 S.Ct. 827, 829, 25 L.Ed.2d 184 (1970); Barlow v. Collins, 397 U.S. 159, 90 S.Ct. 832, 25 L.Ed.2d 192 (1970); Glacier Park Foundation v. Watt, supra, at 885. 113 A mere assertion of organizational interest in a problem, unaccompanied by allegations of actual injury to members of the organization, is not enough to establish standing. Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 31 L.Ed.2d 636 (1971); Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, Inc., --- U.S. ----, 102 S.Ct. 752, 70 L.Ed.2d 700 (1982). Here, however, actual injuries to members have been alleged. The environmental groups claim that various of their members live, work, and enjoy recreational activities in the areas that will be affected by leasing of OCS tracts. They allege that their members' use of the coast and waters for commercial and sport fishing, scientific research, tourist activities, and recreation is threatened by OCS leasing. Injuries of a noneconomic nature to widely-shared aesthetic and environmental interests, as well as economic injuries, can amount to sufficient injury in fact for standing under section 10. Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. at 734, 92 S.Ct. at 1365, cited with approval in United States v. SCRAP, 412 U.S. 669, 686, 93 S.Ct. 2405, 2415, 37 L.Ed.2d 254 (1973); Association of Data Processing Service Organizations v. Camp, 397 U.S. 150, 90 S.Ct. 827, 25 L.Ed.2d 184 (1970); Cady v. Morton, 527 F.2d 786 (9th Cir. 1975). Thus, the environmental groups' allegations establish sufficient injury in fact to permit an affirmative answer to the first question. 114 We also find that the alleged injuries are within the zone of interests to be protected by Section 307(c) of the CZMA. As already pointed out, section 307(c)(1) is part of a Congressional scheme to carry out the overall purpose of the CZMA, which is to protect the very resources the environmental groups claim are threatened. Congressional findings underlying the CZMA recognize a national interest in the effective management (and) protection of the coastal zone as well as in its development and beneficial use. Section 302(a), 16 U.S.C. § 1451(a). Congress expressed concern over the loss of living marine resources, wildlife, nutrient-rich areas, permanent and adverse changes to ecological systems, decreasing open space for public use, and shoreline erosion that has been occasioned by population growth and economic development, including ... extraction of mineral resources and fossil fuels. 16 U.S.C. § 1451(c). We agree with the finding in American Petroleum Institute v. Knecht, 456 F.Supp. 889 (C.D.Cal.1978), aff'd, 609 F.2d 1306 (9th Cir. 1979), that (a)lthough sensitive to balancing competing interests, (the CZMA) was first and foremost a statute directed to and solicitous of environmental concerns. 456 F.Supp. at 919. Thus, the allegations of the environmental groups permit an affirmative answer also to the second question. 115 The CZMA issues the environmental groups sought to raise were identical to those raised by the State of California and the local governments, parties who clearly had standing. Additionally, amici curiae briefs were filed by the parties wrongly denied standing. Our review of the more than one thousand pages of the eighteen briefs filed in this case, as well as the extensive argument and our own research, convince us that no stone was left unturned in presenting all aspects of the CZMA issue to this court. Allowing additional parties to present the same arguments would not affect the outcome of this case. Therefore, to remand the case for additional proceedings because of the district court's error with respect to standing would constitute a waste of scarce judicial resources. 116 AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, VACATED IN PART, AND STAYED IN PART.