Opinion ID: 182825
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: intervention of right in nepa cases

Text: Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a)(2) requires a court, upon timely motion, to permit intervention of right by anyone who claims an interest relating to the property or transaction that is the subject of the action, and is so situated that disposing of the action may as a practical matter impair or impede the movant's ability to protect its interest, unless existing parties adequately represent that interest. When analyzing a motion to intervene of right under Rule 24(a)(2), we apply a four-part test: (1) the motion must be timely; (2) the applicant must claim a significantly protectable interest relating to the property or transaction which is the subject of the action; (3) the applicant must be so situated that the disposition of the action may as a practical matter impair or impede its ability to protect that interest; and (4) the applicant's interest must be inadequately represented by the parties to the action. Sierra Club, 995 F.2d at 1481 (citing Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians v. United States, 921 F.2d 924, 926 (9th Cir.1990)). Our federal defendant rule categorically precludes private parties and state and local governments from intervening of right as defendants on the merits of NEPA actions. See Churchill County v. Babbitt, 150 F.3d 1072, 1082, as amended by 158 F.3d 491 (9th Cir.1998); Forest Conservation Council, 66 F.3d at 1499 n. 11. The rationale for this rule is that such parties lack a significantly protectable interest warranting intervention of right under Rule 24(a)(2) because NEPA is a procedural statute that binds only the federal government. See Churchill County, 150 F.3d at 1082 (citing Sierra Club, 995 F.2d at 1485). Our unique interpretation of intervention of right in NEPA cases may be traced to Portland Audubon Society v. Hodel, 866 F.2d 302 (9th Cir. 1989). There, a logging group and several Oregon localities and contractors sought to intervene of right in a NEPA action brought by conservation groups challenging the Bureau of Land Management's approval of logging old-growth timber in Oregon forests. Id. at 303-04. We held that the proposed intervenors' significant economic stake in the outcome of the case was not a `protectable' interest justifying intervention as of right partly because NEPA provides no protection for ... purely economic interests. Id. at 309 (citing Donaldson v. United States, 400 U.S. 517, 531, 91 S.Ct. 534, 27 L.Ed.2d 580 (1971)). In doing so, we approved the district court's reliance on Wade v. Goldschmidt, 673 F.2d 182 (7th Cir.1982) (per curiam), a Seventh Circuit case rejecting the attempt of a construction group and several families and localities to intervene of right in an action charging that a proposed bridge and expressway project violated NEPA and other federal statutes. Portland Audubon Soc'y, 866 F.2d at 308-09. Wade reasoned that the proposed intervenors lacked the direct, significant legally protectable interest required for intervention of right under Rule 24(a)(2) because in cases brought to require compliance with federal statutes regulating governmental projects, the governmental bodies charged with compliance can be the only defendants. 673 F.2d at 185. In subsequent cases, we interpreted Portland Audubon to hold that the federal government is the only proper defendant in a NEPA compliance action. See, e.g., Churchill County, 150 F.3d at 1082; Sierra Club, 995 F.2d at 1485. While we have clarified that the federal defendant rule does not prohibit limited intervention of right in the remedial phase of NEPA litigation, see Forest Conservation Council, 66 F.3d at 1493-99, we have consistently applied the rule to bar private parties from intervening of right in the portion of NEPA litigation addressing the government's compliance with the statute, see Kootenai Tribe of Idaho v. Veneman, 313 F.3d 1094, 1108 (9th Cir.2002); Wetlands Action Network v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng'rs, 222 F.3d 1105, 1114 (9th Cir.2000).