Opinion ID: 6972211
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Plaintiffs’ Procedural Right

Text: In order to show its standing to bring a suit, a plaintiff must first establish that it has been accorded a procedural right to protect its threatened concrete interests. See Douglas County, 48 F.3d at 1500. County and City have shown that NEPA grants each of them the procedural right to protect their concrete interests in this case. Section 4332(2)(C) of NEPA, which mandates an EIS on major federal actions which significantly affect the environment, grants “local agencies, which are authorized to develop and enforce environmental standards,” the right to comment on the EIS. 42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(C). County and City qualify as such local agencies through Nevada statutes which authorize them to prepare and adopt land management plans with environmental standards. See Nev.Rev.Stat. §§ 278.010-278.630. NEPA thus granted County and City, as local agencies empowered to adopt environmental land management plans, a procedural right to protect its land interests. The procedural right claimed'by City and County is identical to that claimed by Douglas County and recognized by this court in Douglas County, 48 F.3d at 1501. Douglas County based its procedural standing on the same right represented by § 4332(2)(C) of NEPA, and was authorized under an Oregon statute almost identical to the pertinent Nevada statute to prepare and adopt land management plans with environmental standards. See id. We held that NEPA had accorded Douglas County the procedural right to protect its interest in land management such that it could satisfy the first element of procedural standing. See id. Accordingly, we hold that NEPA has granted County and City the procedural right required to meet the first element of procedural standing.