Opinion ID: 3050627
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Requisite Specificity

Text: [13] The CEQ regulations require that agency procedures on categorical exclusions include “[s]pecific criteria for and identification of those typical classes of action . . . [w]hich normally do not require either an environmental impact statement or an environmental assessment (categorical exclusions (§ 1508.4)).” 40 C.F.R. § 1507.3(b)(2). Although the Department of Interior report revealed that twelve of the fuels treatment projects in the data call had individually or cumulatively significant effects, it neglected to identify what specific characteristics of those projects made those effects significant. The report also listed other effects, which, although deemed “localized” or “temporary” in the projects analyzed, could conceivably have a cumulative effect if multiple Fuels CE projects were located in close proximity. The Fuels CE as written lacks the requisite specificity to ensure that the projects taken under it achieve the objective of hazardous fuels reduction, but do not individually or cumulatively inflict a significant impact. See 40 C.F.R. § 1508.4. The Service must take specific account of the significant impacts identified in prior hazardous fuels reduction projects and their cumulative impacts in the design and scope of any future Fuels CE so that any such impacts can be prevented. For example, the Fuels CE fails to identify the maximum diameter or species of trees that are permitted to be logged and, as the AGFD noted, allows for removal of trees, such as the ponderosa pine, which are fire resistant. There is also no limit on the proximity of different projects under the Fuels CE, nor any cap on the number of projects in a particular 15958 SIERRA CLUB v. BOSWORTH watershed, ecosystem, or endangered species habitat area. The Fuels CE also lacks any restrictions on the thinning of trees or the removal of combustible vegetation, and, as AGFD points out, livestock grazing could potentially be categorically excluded as removal of combustible vegetation, even though grasses in most instances are not considered hazardous fuels. There are also no provisions for identifying when temporary road removal is required, what road density is permitted, or even a definition of what types of roads qualify as “temporary” roads. As the FWS points out, road density has significant effects on several endangered species, as well as aquatic habitats and stream sedimentation. The FWS also notes that “ ‘adverse effect,’ as it pertains to extraordinary circumstances that may exempt a project from the proposed categorical exclusions,” is not defined and “may have different meanings for each agency.”6 IV Remedy [14] In declaring that no significant environmental effects were likely without complying with the requirements of NEPA, the Forest Service’s decision-makers made a “clear error of judgment.” Marsh, 490 U.S. at 378. Having determined that the district court erred in granting summary judgment, we turn to the question of what remedy is appropriate. The Sierra Club has made the requisite showing for injunctive relief because “[e]nvironmental injury, by its nature, can seldom be adequately remedied by money damages and is 6 Further specification and definition of what actions are permitted under the Fuels CE based on the results of the programmatic cumulative impacts analysis will reduce reliance on the current case-by-case approach necessitated by the Fuels CE. Because the CEQ regulations require that the Forest Service enact provisions for extraordinary circumstances, some analysis of impacts at the project level will always be necessary. Therefore we need not address the Sierra Club’s argument that the current approach creates an unlawful case-by-case exception to NEPA. SIERRA CLUB v. BOSWORTH 15959 often permanent or at least of long duration, i.e., irreparable.” Amoco Prod. Co. v. Village of Gambell, 480 U.S. 531, 545 (1987). Moreover, “[i]f environmental injury is sufficiently likely, the balance of harms will usually favor the issuance of an injunction to protect the environment.” High Sierra Hikers Ass’n v. Blackwell, 390 F.3d 630, 642 (9th Cir. 2004) (citing Amoco, 480 U.S. at 545). While a violation of NEPA does not automatically require the issuance of an injunction, “the presence of strong NEPA claims gives rise to more liberal standards for granting an injunction.” Am. Motorcyclist Ass’n v. Watt, 714 F.2d 962, 965 (9th Cir. 1983). “When the proposed project may significantly degrade some human environmental factor, injunctive relief is appropriate.” Nat’l Parks & Conservation Ass’n, 241 F.3d at 737 (internal quotation marks omitted). The balance of equities and the public interest favor issuance of an injunction because allowing a potentially environmentally damaging program to proceed without an adequate record of decision runs contrary to the mandate of NEPA. See Kootenai Tribe, 313 F.3d at 1125 (“[W]here the purpose of the challenged action is to benefit the environment, the public’s interest in preserving precious, unreplenishable resources must be taken into account in balancing the hardships.”); Nat’l Parks & Conservation Ass’n, 241 F.3d at 737. The public interest is further implicated because the prescribed burning and logging have potential impacts on air, soil, and water quality, and wildlife and forest resources. See Earth Island, 442 F.3d at 1177 (“The preservation of our environment, as required by NEPA and the NFMA, is clearly in the public interest.”); Earth Island Inst. v. U.S. Forest Serv., 351 F.3d 1291, 1308 (9th Cir. 2003) (“[I]t is also appropriate to consider the broader public interest in the preservation of the forest and its resources.”); cf. High Sierra Hikers, 390 F.3d at 643. The Forest Service’s failure to properly assess the significance of the Fuels CE, a broad programmatic action under 15960 SIERRA CLUB v. BOSWORTH which in excess of 1.2 million acres will be annually logged and burned, causes irreparable injury, as “[i]n the NEPA context, irreparable injury flows from the failure to evaluate the environmental impact of a major federal action.” Id. at 642. The harm is compounded by the “added risk to the environment that takes place when governmental decisionmakers make up their minds without having before them an analysis (with public comment) of the likely effects of their decision on the environment.” Citizens for Better Forestry, 341 F.3d at 971 (quoting West, 206 F.3d at 930 n.14). [15] However, in balancing the hardships, we must recognize that the challenged CE was promulgated in 2003 and many individual projects already have been approved and are in operational stages. The record before us does not show which projects have been completed or are substantially near completion. “[W]here the question of injunctive relief raise[s] intensely factual issues, the scope of the injunction should be determined in the first instance by the district court.” Nat’l Parks & Conservation Ass’n, 241 F.3d at 738 (internal quotation marks omitted) (alteration in original). Therefore, we vacate the district court’s summary judgment, and remand this case to that court with instructions to enter an injunction precluding the Forest Service from implementing the Fuels CE pending its completion of an adequate assessment of the significance of the categorical exclusion from NEPA. The injunction shall be limited to those projects for which the Forest Service did not issue approval prior to the initiation of this lawsuit in October 2004, but we leave to the district court the decision as to which projects approved after the lawsuit was filed are appropriate to exclude from the injunction because they are at or near completion. REVERSED AND REMANDED WITH INSTRUC- TIONS. SIERRA CLUB v. BOSWORTH 15961