Opinion ID: 729784
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Capable of Repetition While Evading Review

Text: 49 A case otherwise moot will still be heard if it presents an issue that is capable of repetition while evading review. Honig v. Doe, 484 U.S. 305, 318-20, 98 L. Ed. 2d 686, 108 S. Ct. 592 (1988); Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. at 125. This exception applies only 'in exceptional circumstances,' GTE California, Inc. v. Federal Communications Comm'n, 39 F.3d 940, 945 (9th Cir. 1994) (quoting Enrico's, Inc., 730 F.2d at 1254), and it provides only minimal protection to individual plaintiffs. Doe v. Attorney General of the U.S., 941 F.2d 780, 784 (9th Cir. 1991). In order to fit this exception, a controversy must meet two requirements: (1) the challenged action was in its duration too short to be fully litigated prior to its cessation or expiration, and (2) there was a reasonable expectation that the same complaining party would be subjected to the same action again. Murphy v. Hunt, 455 U.S. at 482. 50 This case fails both requirements. Ordinarily, a FERC order determining jurisdiction and issuing a NGA certificate of public convenience and necessity is not of such short duration as to evade judicial review. A natural gas facility cannot cease its operations without FERC's permission while the certificate remains in force, 15 U.S.C. 717f(b), and the certificate generally remains in effect as long as the natural gas facility continues its operations. See 18 C.F.R. 157.20(e) (1995). FERC orders thus do not present legal issues that will generally evade review because the CPUC and PG&E will have a full opportunity to appeal FERC's order if another company wishes to build a natural gas facility in northern California that is factually similar to Mojave Pipeline's abandoned proposal. See Native Americans for Enola v. U.S. Forest Service, 60 F.3d 645, 646 (9th Cir. 1995) (holding that permits issued by the Forest Service, and the administrative processes leading up to their issuance, are not inherently of such short duration that challenges to their validity will go unreviewed.); Northwest Resource Information Center, Inc., v. National Marine Fisheries Service, 56 F.3d 1060, 1070 (9th Cir. 1995) (holding that the five-year duration of the current section 10 permit [issued pursuant to the federal Endangered Species Act] affords a litigant more than adequate time for review.). 51 Because FERC's orders generally do not evade review, this exception to the mootness doctrine cannot apply. See Native Americans for Enola, 60 F.3d at 646; Northwest Resource Information Ctr., 56 F.3d at 1070. In addition, it is also not reasonable to expect that this exact factual and legal situation will recur. As FERC has pointed out, 52 There is little reason to believe that, after Mojave invested millions of dollars in planning and seeking approval for the Northward Expansion, only to be forced to withdraw because of adverse economic circumstances, any party will lightly seek to emulate Mojave's experience. Nor is there any reason to believe that future natural gas pipeline expansions into California will necessarily adopt the unique configuration of the Northward Expansion, which, because it possessed certain characteristics of both interstate transportation lines and, at least superficially, local distribution facilities, raised unique jurisdictional questions. 53 When resolution of a controversy depends on facts that are unique or unlikely to be repeated, the action is not capable of repetition and hence is moot. Shoshone-Bannock Tribes v. Fish & Game Comm'n, Idaho, 42 F.3d 1278, 1282-83 (9th Cir. 1994). Therefore, the capable of repetition, yet evading review exception to mootness does not apply to these cases