Sierra Club v. Department of Agriculture

May 28: In the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, Case No. 12-5095. Appealed from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The Appeals Court explains that, "Intervenor Sunflower Electric Power Corporation appeals the grant of summary judgment to the Sierra Club based on violations of the National Environmental Policy Act by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service. The district court ruled that the Service unlawfully failed to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) before granting approvals and financial assistance to Sunflower's expansion of its coal-fired power plant, and remanded the matter to the Service, enjoining it from granting further approvals until it completed an EIS. We dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. This court lacks jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 because Sunflower appeals a non-final remand order that is not immediately appealable by a private party. This court lacks jurisdiction under§ 1292(a)(1) because the injunction serves no purpose beyond the remand."

 

    The Appeals Court concludes, "Accordingly, because the injunction against the Service serves no function beyond the remand order, and pursuant to County of Los Angeles this court must ignore the injunction for jurisdictional purposes, we dismiss Sunflower's appeal for lack of jurisdiction. We thus can express no position on the merits of the injunction or Sunflower's contention that the Sierra Club's case was moot when filed. "If we lack jurisdiction, we cannot vacate the district court's order for lack of jurisdiction because we lack the power to do so." Defenders of Wildlife v. Perciasepe, ___ F.3d ___, 2013 WL 1729598, at *8 (D.C. Cir. April 23, 2013) [Note: See this decision below].

 

    Access the complete opinion (click here). [#Energy/Coal, #CADC]

 

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