Dine Citizens Against Ruining the Environment v. Klein, No. 11-1004 (10th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseThe Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) approved an application by BHP Navajo Coal Company (BNCC) to revise the mining plan at its Navajo Mine. Dine Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment and San Juan Citizens Alliance (collectively Citizens) sought the Tenth’s Circuit’s review of the application under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). The Navajo Mine is a large open pit coal mine on tribal reservation lands in northwestern New Mexico. BNCC operates the mine under a long-standing lease with the Navajo Nation and a surface coal mining permit issued by OSM. In October 2005, after performing an Environmental Analysis (2005 EA) and making a finding of no significant impact (FONSI), OSM approved the application. In July 2007, Citizens filed this case. BNCC intervened. The district court concluded OSM’s approval of BNCC’s application was the type of action which normally requires preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under NEPA rather than the less comprehensive Environmental Assessment. The court then turned to the 2005 EA and concluded it was deficient in several respects. It remanded the matter to OSM to correct the deficiencies and reassess its FONSI. OSM and BNCC appealed the court’s decision. OSM later dismissed its appeal, but BNCC attacked the district court’s decision on all fronts. Citizens claimed there was no final, appealable, order under 28 U.S.C. 1291 because the district court remanded the case to OSM for further proceedings. Upon review, the Tenth Circuit agreed that there was no appealable order issued by the district court and dismissed the OSM’s and BNCC’s appeals.
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