Oregon Environmental Council v. Kunzman

• Decision Date: 30 August 1983
• Docket Number: No. 82-3232,82-3232
• Citation: 714 F.2d 901,20 ERC 1007
• Parties: , 69 A.L.R.Fed. 825, 13 Envtl. L. Rep. 20,901 OREGON ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL, Citizens For the Safe Control of the Gypsy Moth, Elaine Olsen, Glen Olsen, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Leonard KUNZMAN, Director, State of Oregon, Department of Agriculture, State of Oregon, Department of Agriculture, John R. Block, Secretary, United States Department of Agriculture, et al., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 901

714 F.2d 901

20 ERC 1007, 69 A.L.R.Fed. 825, 13

Envtl. L. Rep. 20,901

OREGON ENVIRONMENTAL COUNCIL, Citizens For the Safe Control

of the Gypsy Moth, Elaine Olsen, Glen Olsen, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Leonard KUNZMAN, Director, State of Oregon, Department of

Agriculture, State of Oregon, Department of Agriculture,

John R. Block, Secretary, United States Department of

Agriculture, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 82-3232.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted May 3, 1983.

Decided Aug. 30, 1983.

Peter R. Steenland, Martin Green, Washington, D.C., William F. Nessly, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Salem, Or., for defendants-appellees.

Larry N. Sokol, Jolles, Sokol & Bernstein, Portland, Or., John E. Bonine, Michael Axline, Eugene, Or., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon.

Before CHOY, FERGUSON, and CANBY, Circuit Judges.

CANBY, Circuit Judge:

The United States and Oregon Departments of Agriculture announced plans to spray a 6,400 acre area of South Salem, Oregon with a pesticide containing the chemical carbaryl in order to combat an infestation of the gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar ). Residents of South Salem and two environmental groups then filed this action to prevent the aerial spraying. They sought relief against the federal defendants under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. §§ 702 and 706 (1976), and under several statutes and regulations that they alleged to have been violated: the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), 42 U.S.C. § 4332 (1976), the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), 7 U.S.C. § 136 et seq. (1976), and regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), 14 C.F.R. § 137 (1982). They sought relief against the state defendants under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1976) for deprivation of federal rights secured by FIFRA and the FAA regulations.

The district court held that the spraying program was subject to review under the APA, but that there had been no violation of NEPA. It also held that neither FIFRA nor the FAA regulation conferred a private right of action or rights subject to protection under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

PROCEDURAL ISSUES

The state appellees contend that this appeal is moot and argue in support of the district court's ruling, challenged by the appellants, that Section 1983 provides no cause of action here. The federal appellees seek to reverse the ruling that a right of review exists under the APA.

Mootness

The state appellees describe the May, 1982 spraying program as "completely successful." They contend that any future gypsy moth problem will be met with new The appellants properly note, however, that this case involves acts that are capable of repetition yet could evade review. Southern Pacific Terminal Co. v. ICC, 219 U.S. 498, 515, 31 S.Ct. 279, 283, 55 L.Ed. 310 (1911); United States v. Oregon, 657 F.2d 1009, 1012 n. 7 (9th Cir.1981). Gypsy moths are still found in Oregon; aerial spraying remains an active option. There is a reasonable danger that the challenged conduct will reoccur and affect at least some of the appellants. Weinstein v. Bradford, 423 U.S. 147, 149, 96 S.Ct. 347, 348, 46 L.Ed.2d 350 (1975) (per curiam); Williams v. Alioto, 549 F.2d 136, 143-44 (9th Cir.1977).

technology not involving the spraying of carbaryl, making this case moot. ¹

Moreover, this case involves a continuing policy of the state and federal governments involving the use of this pesticide in populated areas. See Columbia Basin Land Protection Ass'n v. Schlesinger, 643 F.2d 585, 591 n. 1 (9th Cir.1981). The district court has the power to grant effective injunctive or declaratory relief on remand, a fact that distinguishes Bumpus v. Clark, 702 F.2d 826 (9th Cir.1983), and Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Bergland, 576 F.2d 1377 (9th Cir.1978). This case is not moot.

Review under the APA

The appellants asserted a cause of action against the federal appellees under the APA for alleged violations of FIFRA. ² On appeal, the federal appellees contend that the legislative history of FIFRA demonstrates that Congress intended to foreclose review under the APA. That history reveals a somewhat ambiguous rejection by the House-Senate conference committee of a provision permitting citizens' suits. Having secured review under the APA, appellants do not pursue on appeal their claim to an implied private right of action under FIFRA, and we assume for purposes of decision that no such right exists. However, "[a] plaintiff need not establish a private right of action under a statute before it may sue under the APA." Glacier Park Foundation v. Watt, 663 F.2d 882, 885 (9th Cir.1981); See also California v. Watt, 683 F.2d 1253, 1270 (9th Cir.1982), cert. granted, --- U.S. ----, 103 S.Ct. 2083, 77 L.Ed.2d 295 (1983). In Sierra Club v. Peterson, 705 F.2d 1475 (9th Cir.1983), we held that the Sierra Club could sue under the APA over alleged violations of Executive Order 12088, reprinted at 42 U.S.C. § 4321 (Supp. V 1982), which requires federal agencies either to comply with state pollution control standards established pursuant to FIFRA or to secure a presidential exemption from compliance.

The federal appellees at oral argument contended that Peterson only found a cause of action under the APA to enforce E.O. 12088, not violations of FIFRA itself. We find that distinction not to be compelling. In Peterson, as part of our reasoning that E.O. 12088 could not be enforced through the APA, we squarely held that Congress in eliminating the citizens' suits provision did not foreclose review of violations of FIFRA under the APA. 705 F.2d at 1478-79. The district court was therefore correct in ruling that appellants could obtain review under the APA.

Cause of Action Under 42 U.S.C. § 1983

The state appellees argue that because FIFRA provides for no express or implied right of action, there is no "private substantive right" enforceable under section 1983. That is not the test, however. There is no

                private right of action under the Social Security Act,  Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 673-74, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 1360-61, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974), but a cause of action under section 1983 is available.   Maine v. Thiboutot, 448 U.S. 1, 6, 100 S.Ct. 2502, 2505, 65 L.Ed.2d 555 (1980).   The questions remain, however, whether FIFRA secures to appellants any "rights" subject to protection under section 1983,  Pennhurst State School & Hospital v. Halderman, 451 U.S. 1, 28, 101 S.Ct. 1531, 1545, 67 L.Ed.2d 694 (1981), and whether Congress has foreclosed private enforcement of FIFRA in the statute itself,  Middlesex County Sewerage Authority v. National Sea Clammers, 453 U.S. 1, 19, 101 S.Ct. 2615, 2625, 69 L.Ed.2d 435 (1981).   See Meyerson v. Arizona, 709 F.2d 1235, 1238-40 (9th Cir.1983).   We find it unnecessary to address these issues.   We hold below that the actions of appellees in spraying South Salem did not violate FIFRA.   That ruling defeats on the merits the section 1983 action against state appellees for violating rights secured by FIFRA. 3  We therefore do not reach the question whether, had a violation of FIFRA been shown, a section 1983 action would lie
                

SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

Appellants base their challenge to the spraying program on FIFRA, which applies to both the federal and the state appellees, and on NEPA, which by its terms applies only to the federal appellees.

NEPA

The appellants contest the district court's determination that the federal appellees complied with NEPA. Appellants contend that the Act required a site-specific environmental impact statement (EIS), instead of the more general programmatic environmental impact statement (PEIS) submitted.

The appellees submitted a PEIS developed by the U.S. Forest Service for gypsy moth spraying programs in forested areas of the northeastern United States. They also submitted a three-page environmental assessment (EA) describing the South Salem program. ⁴ Appellants argue that the PEIS and EA were deficient in several respects and did not satisfy appellees' responsibility to prepare a full EIS.

We agree that the PEIS and EA did not provide the information "necessary reasonably to enable the decision-maker to consider the environmental factors and to make a reasoned decision." Westside Property Owners v. Schlesinger, 597 F.2d 1214, 1217 (9th Cir.1979). We find the agency's decision to proceed on the basis of this PEIS and EA unreasonable. See Foundation for North American Wild Sheep v. U.S. Dep't of Agriculture, 681 F.2d 1172, 1177 & n. 24 (9th Cir.1982).

The district court accepted the PEIS and EA as the equivalent of an EIS, but the project described in the PEIS differed significantly from the South Salem program. See California v. Block, 690 F.2d 753, 761-62 (9th Cir.1982). The studies cited in the PEIS only briefly examine the effects of the spraying on people living or working in or near the areas sprayed. Those studies do not discuss the effects of direct spraying of a populated, residential area. The PEIS does not discuss the effects of "immediate" contact with spray, nor contact by children or those sensitive to chemicals. The PEIS discusses the shielding effect of the forest canopy in shielding from the spray, but South Salem is mostly cleared land. ⁵ Finally In addition, the appellants contended that significant new developments in techniques for combatting the gypsy moth since the preparation of the PEIS require the preparation of a new EIS. We find merit in this contention. ⁶ Moreover, while the PEIS does briefly discuss the health risks of carbaryl, it does not consider the supposedly carcinogenic effects of an attendant by-product of carbaryl, nitrosocarbaryl. See 40 C.F.R. § 1508.27(b)(4) (1982); Foundation for North American Wild Sheep, 681 F.2d at 1178-1182. The licensing of pesticides containing carbaryl does not "reflect a conclusion that a pesticide is safe...