Opinion ID: 788487
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Issuance of Multi-Year Special-Use Permits

Text: 27 The issuance of multi-year special-use permits to the commercial packers constitutes major federal action that significantly affects the environment and requires the agency to prepare a detailed EIS. 42 U.S.C. § 4332(2)(C). The Forest Service acknowledges that the protections of NEPA are implicated through the issuance of the permits, and expresses an intent to comply with NEPA with respect to future permit renewals after they complete the process of deciding whether to issue new wilderness plans. 28 However remorseful the agency may be for failing to fulfill its statutory mandates, it is quite clear that it has breached its obligation under NEPA by failing to take the requisite hard look at the environmental consequences of its proposed action. Marsh v. Oregon Natural Res. Council, 490 U.S. 360, 374, 109 S.Ct. 1851, 104 L.Ed.2d 377 (1989). It is without question that NEPA applies to the issuance of the multi-year special-use permits and the district court correctly found that this oversight would likely require the completion of an EIS in light of the cumulative impacts of the numerous permits. High Sierra, 150 F.Supp.2d at 1043. We hold that the district court correctly found a violation of NEPA through the issuance of the multi-year special-use permits.