Federal--Oil & Gas

摘要

Ninth Circuit Abandons Federal Defendant RuleIn Wilderness Society v. U.S. Forest Service, 630 F.3d 1173 (9th Cir. 2011), the Ninth Circuit abandoned its "federal defendant" rule that categorically prohibited private parties and state and local governments from intervening of right on the merits of actions brought under the National Environmental Policy Act, 16 U.S.C. 4321-4347 (NEPA). The court's en banc decision overruled several prior decisions, which held that private parties and others lacked a sufficient interest to intervene of right because NEPA is a procedural statute that binds only the federal government.