Sierra Club v. Block

• Decision Date: 25 November 1985
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 84-K-2.
• Citation: 622 F. Supp. 842
• Parties: SIERRA CLUB, a nonprofit California corporation, Plaintiff, v. John BLOCK, in his original capacity as Secretary of Agriculture and Max Peterson, in his official capacity as Chief of the Forest Service, Federal Defendants, and Mountain States Legal Foundation, a nonprofit Colorado corporation on behalf of named and unnamed members; Colorado Cattlemen's Association, a nonprofit Colorado corporation; Colorado Farm Bureau, a nonprofit Colorado corporation; National Cattlemen's Association, a nonprofit Colorado corporation; and Colorado Water Congress; Colorado Water Conservation Board; and City and County of Denver, acting by and through its Board of Water Commissioners, Defendant-Intervenors.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Colorado

622 F. Supp. 842

SIERRA CLUB, a nonprofit California corporation, Plaintiff, v. John BLOCK, in his original capacity as Secretary of Agriculture and Max Peterson, in his official capacity as Chief of the Forest Service, Federal Defendants and Mountain States Legal Foundation, a nonprofit Colorado corporation on behalf of named and unnamed members; Colorado Cattlemen's Association, a nonprofit Colorado corporation; Colorado Farm Bureau, a nonprofit Colorado corporation; National Cattlemen's Association, a nonprofit Colorado corporation; and Colorado Water Congress; Colorado Water Conservation Board; and City and County of Denver, acting by and through its Board of Water Commissioners, Defendant-Intervenors.

Civ. A. No. 84-K-2.

United States District Court, D. Colorado.

November 25, 1985.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Lori Potter, Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, Denver, Colo., for plaintiff.

Casey Shpall, Mountain States Legal Foundation, Denver, Colo., for Mountain States, et al.

Clyde O. Martz, John M. Sayre, Gregory J. Hobbs, Jr., Zach C. Miller, Bennett W. Raley, Davis, Graham & Stubbs, Denver, Colo., for Colorado Water Congress.

Paula C. Phillips, Lois Witte, Carol Angel, Asst. Attys. Gen., Denver, Colo., for Colorado Water Conservation Bd.

Wayne D. Williams, Michael L. Walker, Henry C. Teigen, Denver, Colo., for City & County of Denver.

Jack F. Ross, Christopher R. Paulson, Melvin B. Sabey, James F. Engelking, Saunders, Snyder, Ross & Dickson, Denver, Colo., special counsel for City & County of Denver.

Stuart Shelton, Office of General Counsel, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., Robert N. Miller, U.S. Atty., Richard J. Nolan, Asst. U.S. Atty., John R. Hill, Jr., U.S. Dept. of Justice, Land & Natural Resources Div., Denver, Colo., for Federal defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

KANE, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Sierra Club brought this action seeking relief against the following federal officials: John Block, Secretary of Agriculture; Max Peterson, Chief of the Forest Service; William Clark, Secretary of the Interior; and Russell Dickenson, Director of the National Park Service (hereafter referred to as federal defendants).¹ Several parties have since intervened as defendants: Mountain States Legal Foundation, the Colorado Cattlemen's Association, the Colorado Farm Bureau, the National Cattlemen's Association, the City and County of Denver, the Colorado Water Conservation Board, and the Colorado Water Congress (hereafter referred to as defendant-intervenors).

Sierra Club contends that federal reserved water rights exist in each of the designated wilderness areas which federal defendants administer in Colorado,² and that these reserved water rights are implied from the Wilderness Act, 78 Stat. 890, 16 U.S.C. §§ 1131 et seq. It is further asserted that federal defendants have failed to claim these reserved water rights in violation of their duties under 16 U.S.C. § 526, the Wilderness Act, and the "public trust doctrine". Finally, Sierra Club maintains that federal defendants' failure to carry out their statutory and trust obligations is arbitrary and capricious and unlawfully withholds agency action.

Review of federal defendants' alleged inaction is sought under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 80 Stat. 392, 5 U.S.C. §§ 701 et seq. Sierra Club requests that I enter a declaratory judgment, pursuant to the Declaratory Judgment Act, 48 Stat. 955, 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201 et seq., to the effect that: 1) federal reserved water rights exist in each of the subject Colorado wilderness areas, and 2) the failure of federal defendants to claim those rights is arbitrary and capricious, constitutes unlawfully withheld agency action, and is a violation of the public trust. Sierra Club also requests an order requiring federal defendants to take such action as I deem necessary to protect reserved water rights in the Colorado wilderness areas. Finally, Sierra Club seeks an award of attorneys' fees and costs against federal defendants under the Equal Access to Justice Act, 94 Stat. 2325, 5 U.S.C. § 504, 15 U.S.C. § 634b, 28 U.S.C. §§ 2412 et seq., 42 U.S.C. § 1988. Jurisdiction is asserted, and is proper, under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and the APA.³

This matter is presently before me on: 1) federal defendants' motion to dismiss Sierra Club's public trust claim, 2) federal defendants' motion to dismiss, or in the alternative, for summary judgment, 3) defendant-intervenors' motion for summary judgment, and 4) Sierra Club's cross-motion for summary judgment.⁴ These motions present the following issues to be decided: 1) whether federal reserved water rights exist with respect to the designated Colorado wilderness areas, 2) whether federal defendants have a duty to administer the wilderness areas pursuant to the "public trust doctrine", and 3) whether federal defendants' failure to assert reserved water rights is arbitrary, capricious, or unlawful under the APA, or violates the public trust.

Before I can reach these questions, however, I must determine whether Sierra Club has standing to sue in this case.

II. STANDING

The doctrine of standing stems from Article III of the Constitution which limits the judicial power of the courts to "cases" and "controversies". This limitation has been interpreted to require that parties have, among other things, a "sufficient stake in an otherwise justiciable controversy to obtain judicial resolution of that controversy...." Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 731, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 1364, 31 L.Ed.2d 636 (1972). That question "has traditionally been referred to as the question of standing to sue." Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 732, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 1364.

Different inquiries are made, however, concerning the issue of standing; depending on whether the plaintiff attacks federal action on statutory or constitutional grounds. As stated in Morton,

where the party does not rely on any specific statute authorizing invocation of the judicial process, the question of standing depends upon whether the party has alleged such a "personal stake in the outcome of the controversy," Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 204, 7 L.Ed.2d 663, 678, 82 S.Ct. 691, 703 as to ensure that "the dispute sought to be adjudicated will be presented in an adversary context and in a form historically viewed as capable of judicial resolution." Flast v. Cohen, 392 U.S. 83, 101, 20 L.Ed.2d 947, 962, 88 S.Ct. 1942 1953. Where, however, Congress has authorized public officials to perform certain functions according to law, and has provided by statute for judicial review of those actions under certain circumstances, the inquiry as to standing must begin with a determination of whether the statute in question authorizes review at the behest of the plaintiff.

Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 732, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 1364 (footnote omitted).

In the instant case, Sierra Club attacks federal defendants' failure to assert reserved water rights for the wilderness areas on statutory grounds. Thus, my inquiry regarding standing must begin with a determination of whether the statute in question authorizes review.

Sierra Club seeks review of federal defendants' inaction under § 10(a) of the APA, 5 U.S.C. § 702. That statute provides for judicial review of agency actions, or inactions, under certain circumstances: "A person suffering legal wrong because of agency action, or adversely affected or aggrieved by agency action within the meaning of a relevant statute, is entitled to judicial review thereof." 5 U.S.C. § 702. Among other assertions, Sierra Club contends that it has been "adversely affected or aggrieved" by federal defendants' failure to comply with their duties under the Wilderness Act. In order to have standing under § 10(a) of the APA, persons "adversely affected or aggrieved" must allege that the challenged action has caused them "injury in fact" and that the alleged injury is "arguably within the zone of interests to be protected or regulated" by the statute that the agency was claimed to have violated. See Data Processing Service v. Camp, 397 U.S. 150, 153, 90 S.Ct. 827, 829, 25 L.Ed.2d 184 (1970).

The injury in fact alleged by Sierra Club is to the "aesthetic, conservational, and recreational" values of the wilderness areas:

the members of the Sierra Club regularly use and enjoy the wilderness areas in Colorado for aesthetic, conservational, and recreational purposes, including hiking, camping, wildlife viewing, photography, scientific study, and spiritual regeneration. To achieve these purposes, the Sierra Club and its members have, and will continue to have in the future, an interest in the protection, preservation, and management of wilderness and wilderness waterways so as to maintain their natural condition. These aesthetic, conservational, and recreational interests of the Sierra Club and its members will be harmed or defeated by the loss of the United States' reserved water rights in wilderness.

Sierra Club's Second Amended Complaint ¶ 5 at 2.

This alleged harm unquestionably constitutes "injury in fact." As stated by the Supreme Court in Morton, "aesthetic and environmental well-being, like economic well-being, are important ingredients of the quality of life in our society, and the fact that particular environmental interests are shared by the many rather than the few does not make them less deserving of legal protection through the judicial process." 405 U.S. 727, 734, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 1365. The "injury in fact" test further requires, however, that the party seeking review be himself among the injured. Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 735, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 1366.

The Sierra Club is a national conservation organization with an historic commitment to the cause of protecting this country's natural heritage from man's depredations. See Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 739, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 1368; Sierra Club's Second Amended Complaint ¶ 4 at 2. Although Sierra Club itself would not have standing to sue based...