Opinion ID: 501787
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Federal Lands

Text: 115 NWF's challenge here is to the Secretary's delegation to a state agency of his duty to approve mine plans on federal lands. Under the Act, as the district court noted, a state may agree to regulate mining operations on federal land, but the Act also provides that [n]othing in this subsection shall be construed as authorizing the Secretary to delegate to the States his duty to approve mining plans on Federal lands. SMCRA Sec. 523(c). 14 116 The district court concluded that NWF had standing to challenge this delegation. See Findings on Standing, at 18-19. On appeal, Industry focuses its challenge to standing entirely upon the affidavit of Colorado residents Timothy and Susan Brater, upon which the district court had heavily relied. The Braters had alleged injury on the ground that they had sued to challenge the Secretary's decision to issue a permit to a nearby mine, but that the Secretary had moved to dismiss on the ground that he no longer has authority with respect to the mine, having delegated it to the state of Colorado under a cooperative agreement. Industry now alleges that because the Braters' petition has already been heard twice by the Secretary in previous chapters of the dispute, the Braters lose no substantive or procedural rights as a result of the delegation, and thus NWF, to which the Braters belong, has no standing. See Brief for Industry at 26. 117 We disagree. Setting aside the issue of whether the Braters have lost a procedural right, Industry wholly fails to counter NWF's separate contention that its affiants lose a distinctive federal substantive right by dint of the delegation to the states: the right to have an environmental impact statement (EIS) prepared. Affiant Arthur Hayes fears that his ability to evaluate and oppose future mining will be impaired in the absence of an EIS, see Hayes Aff., and affiants Edward Dobson, Patty Kluver, and Wallace McRae voice similar concerns. See Dobson Aff., Kluver Aff., McRae Aff. We conclude that, for affiants voicing environmental concerns like those in the aforementioned affidavits, the elimination of the opportunity to see and use an EIS prepared under federal law does constitute a constitutionally sufficient injury on which to ground standing. See Action Alliance of Senior Citizens v. Heckler, 789 F.2d 931, 937-39 (D.C.Cir.1986) (denial of access to government-provided information regarding services available to the elderly held a sufficient injury on which to ground standing); Cady v. Morton, 527 F.2d 786, 790 (9th Cir.1975) (absence of an EIS constitutes injury on the basis of which plaintiffs could sue for violation of National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA)); Scientists' Inst. for Pub. Information, Inc. v. Atomic Energy Comm'n, 481 F.2d 1079, 1087 n. 29 (D.C.Cir.1973) (agency's decision not to draft a NEPA statement caused injury in fact satisfying Sierra Club test); National Org. for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) v. United States Dep't of State, 452 F.Supp. 1226, 1230 (D.D.C.1978) (citing Scientists' Inst. and concluding that NORML had alleged a sufficient informational interest under NEPA in challenging agencies' failure to prepare and consider an EIS with respect to United States participation in herbicide spraying of marijuana plants); Natural Resources Defense Council v. Securities and Exch. Comm'n, 389 F.Supp. 689, 698 (D.D.C.1974) (failure of SEC to make public disclosure of certain information held sufficient injury to support plaintiffs' standing to sue). 118