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http://laws.findlaw.com/10th/058026.html |
FILED
United States Court of Appeals
Tenth Circuit
April 3, 2006
Elisabeth A. Shumaker
Clerk of Court PUBLISH
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
TENTH CIRCUIT
STATE OF WYOMING and WYOMING WOOL
GROWERS, WYOMING STOCK GROWERS ASSOCIATION;PARK COUNTY; SPORTSMEN FOR
WYOMING FARM BUREAU FEDERATION; FISH & WILDLIFE, TETON COUNTY;
WYOMING ASSOCIATION OF CONSERVATION SPORTSMEN FOR FISH & WILDLIFE,
DISTRICTS; ROCKY MOUNTAIN FARMERS LINCOLN COUNTY; SPORTSMEN
UNION; WYOMING COUNTY COMMISSIONERS FOR FISH & WILDLIFE, UTAH,
ASSOCIATION; BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
OF THE COUNTY OF CAMPBELL; BOARD Plaintiffs - Appellants,
OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF THE COUNTY
OF SUBLETTE; BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS and
OF THE COUNTY OF WASHAKIE; WYOMING
ASSOCIATION OF COUNTY PREDATORY TIMOTHY J. MORRISON; MARIE
ANIMAL BOARDS; FREMONT COUNTY PREDATORYA. FONTAINE; TIM A. FRENCH,
ANIMAL BOARD; TETON COUNTY PREDATORYin their official capacity
ANIMAL BOARD; CONVERSE COUNTY PREDATORYas the Board of County Commissioners
ANIMAL BOARD; WYOMING OUTFITTERS of Park County, State of
AND GUIDES ASSOCIATION; GREEN RIVER Wyoming,
VALLEY CATTLEMEN'S ASSOCIATION;
UPPER GREEN RIVER CATTLE ASSOCIATION; Plaintiffs - Intervenors - Appellants,
WYOMING BUSINESS ALLIANCE; CODY
COUNTY OUTFITTERS AND GUIDES ASSOCIATION; v.
FOUNDATION FOR NORTH AMERICAN WILD
SHEEP; JACKSON HOLE OUTFITTERS AND UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT
GUIDES; ROCK SPRINGS DISTRICT 4 OF INTERIOR; UNITED STATES
GRAZING BOARD; SPORTSMEN FOR FISH FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE;
& WILDLIFE, WYOMING; SPORTSMEN FOR GALE NORTON, in her capacity
FISH & WILDLIFE, as the Secretary of the
United States Department
of Interior; STEVEN A. WILLIAMS,
in his official capacity
as the Director of the United
States Fish & Wildlife Service;
Defendants - Appellees,
GREATER YELLOWSTONE COALITION;
NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION;
JACKSON HOLE CONSERVATION
ALLIANCE; PREDATOR CONSERVATION
ALLIANCE; WYOMING OUTDOOR
COUNCIL; SIERRA CLUB; NATURAL
RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL,
Defendants - Intervenors - Appellees.
Nos. 05-8026, 05-8027, 05-8035
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF WYOMING
(D. Ct. No. 04-CV-0123-J)
Jay Arthur Jerde, Deputy Attorney General (Patrick J. Crank, Attorney General,
with him on the briefs), Office of the Attorney General for the State of Wyoming,
appearing for Appellant State of Wyoming.
Harriett M. Hageman (Kara Brighton, with her on the briefs), Hageman &
Brighton, P.C., Cheyenne, Wyoming, appearing for Appellant Wyoming Wool
Growers, et al.
Bryan A. Skoric, Park County Attorney, James Fred Davis, Deputy Park County
Attorney, Cody, Wyoming, on the briefs for Plaintiff-Intervenor-Appellant Park
County.
David C. Shilton, Attorney, United States Department of Justice (Kelly A.
Johnson, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Environmental and Natural
Resources Division; Kristen L. Gustafson, Jimmy A. Rodriguez, and M. Alice
Thurston, Attorneys, United States Department of Justice; and David Gayer and
Margot Zallen, Office of the Solicitor, United States Department of Justice, with
him on the brief), appearing for the Federal Appellees.
Douglas L. Honnold, Abigail Dillen, and Timothy J. Preso, EARTHJUSTICE,
Bozeman, Montana, on the briefs for Intervenor-Appellees Sierra Club and
Natural Resources Defense Council.
Jack R. Tuholske, Tuholske Law Office, P.C., Missoula, Montana, and Thomas
M. France, Montana Wildlife Federation, Missoula, Montana, on the briefs for
Defendants-Intervenors Greater Yellowstone Coalition, National Wildlife
Federation, and Predator Conservation Alliance.
Before TACHA, Chief Circuit Judge, EBEL, Circuit Judge, and CASSELL,
District Judge.(1)_
PER CURIAM.
The State of Wyoming filed this suit in the District of Wyoming against
Gale A. Norton in her official capacity as the Secretary of the United States
Department of the Interior ("DOI")(1) and Steven A. Williams in his official
capacity as the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service ("FWS").(2)
The District Court consolidated this case with a similar suit brought against the
DOI and the FWS by a group of organizations known collectively as the Wolf
Coalition. The District Court also granted several motions to intervene submitted
by parties on both sides of this matter. The facts of this case are fully set forth in
the District Court's opinion. See Wyoming v. U.S. Dept. of Interior, 360 F. Supp.
2d 1214, 1245 (D. Wyo. 2005).
The Plaintiffs alleged various constitutional claims under Article IV's
Guarantee Clause and the Tenth Amendment, as well as violations of the
Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq., the National Environmental
(1) _The Honorable Paul G. Cassell, District Judge of the United States District
Court for the District of Utah, sitting by designation.
(1) Secretary Norton resigned from the DOI in March 2006. President Bush
recently nominated Governor Dirk Kempthorne to succeed her as Secretary. His
nomination is currently awaiting confirmation in the Senate.
(2) Director Steven A. Williams resigned from the FWS in March 2005 and
was replaced by H. Dale Hall in October 2005.
Policy Act of 1969 ("NEPA"), 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq., and the Administrative
Procedure Act ("APA"), 5 U.S.C. 551 et seq., in connection with the DOI's and
the FWS's alleged failure to manage and control the gray wolf population in
Wyoming and their failure to initiate delisting of the gray wolf as an endangered
species. After reviewing the briefs and the administrative record, and after
hearing oral argument, the District Court issued a thorough Memorandum Opinion
and Order denying relief on all causes of action and dismissing the case.
Wyoming, 360 F. Supp. 2d at 1245.
With respect to the statutory claims, the District Court concluded that the
Plaintiffs neither identified a "final agency action" nor demonstrated that the
Defendants "unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed" statutorily required
action necessary for judicial review under the APA. See Wyoming, 360 F. Supp.
2d at 1231Ä34, 1236 (citing Colo. Farm Bureau Fed'n v. U.S. Forest Serv., 220
F.3d 1171 (10th Cir.2000) and Norton v. S. Utah Wilderness Alliance, 542 U.S.
55 (2004)). Accordingly, the District Court dismissed the statutory causes of
action. With respect to the Plaintiffs' constitutional claims, the District Court
concluded that the Defendants' actions "are consistent with the powers delegated
to them by Congress through the ESA via the Commerce Clause, and these
actions do not invade any province of Wyoming's state sovereignty reserved by
the Tenth Amendment." Id. at 1244. Accordingly, the District Court denied
relief on these claims.
We take jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. 1291 and AFFIRM the judgment of
the District Court for substantially the same reasons given in its opinion. See
Wyoming, 360 F. Supp. 2d at 1214Ä36, 1238Ä45. Because we hold, however, that
the Plaintiffs have failed to identify a final agency action which is necessary to
satisfy the statutory standing requirements under the APA, see Utah v. Babbit,
137 F.3d 1193, 1203 (10th Cir. 1998) (stating that without agency action
plaintiffs have no standing to sue under the APA), unlike the District Court, we
express no opinion on the merits of the Plaintiffs' ESA and NEPA claims, see
Wyoming, 360 F. Supp. 2d at 1236Ä38 (holding in the alternative that Plaintiffs'
NEPA claim fails on the merits). Finally, we DENY all outstanding motions.
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