Opinion ID: 780570
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Statutory Standing Under the APA

Text: 63 In addition to constitutional standing, a petitioner who: 64 brings a statutory enforcement action under the [APA] must meet its statutory requirements for standing. [A petitioner] must establish (1) that there has been final agency action adversely affecting[it], and (2) that, as a result, it suffers legal wrong or that its injury falls within the zone of interests of the statutory provision the [petitioner] claims was violated. 65 Churchill County, 150 F.3d at 1078 (quoting Lujan v. Nat'l Wildlife Fed'n, 497 U.S. 871, 882-83, 110 S.Ct. 3177, 111 L.Ed.2d 695 (1990)) (internal citations omitted), as amended, 158 F.3d 491 (9th Cir.1998). Public Citizen satisfies the first requirement. Though the regulations at issue are styled as Interim Final Rule[s], see, e.g., Application Rule, 67 Fed.Reg. at 12,702, the term interim refers only to the Rule's intended duration—not its tentative nature, Career Coll. Ass'n v. Riley, 74 F.3d 1265, 1268-69 (D.C.Cir.1996) (Any other construction would suggest that the... publication [of the rule] was without legal significance at all (a senseless repetition of the notice of proposed rulemaking).). 66 As for the second prong, we have held that the APA require[s] that the `interest sought to be protected by the complainant is arguably within the zone of interests to be protected or regulated by the statute or constitutional guarantee in question.' Presidio Golf Club v. Nat'l Park Serv., 155 F.3d 1153, 1158 (9th Cir.1998) (quoting Ass'n of Data Processing Serv. Orgs., Inc. v. Camp, 397 U.S. 150, 153, 90 S.Ct. 827, 25 L.Ed.2d 184 (1970)). As might be expected, `NEPA's purpose is to protect the environment, not the economic interests of those adversely affected by agency decisions.' Id. (quoting W. Radio Servs. Co. v. Espy, 79 F.3d 896, 902-03 (9th Cir.1996)). Here, Public Citizen is attempting to protect the environment. Indeed, many of the Petitioners and Petitioners-Intervenors in this case are environmental organizations, or general public interest organizations like Public Citizen that fight[] for a broad range of public interest issues[,][m]any of [which] relate directly or indirectly to environmental concerns. DOT claims that some of the other Petitioners, labor and trucking organizations — whose standing is irrelevant in any instance — are alleging impermissible economic injuries, but this does not eliminate standing as long as they also assert economic/ health concerns. See id. at 1158-59. 67