EMMET G. SULLIVAN, District Judge.
This case arises from a critical habitat designation and recovery plan that defendant U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (the "FWS") promulgated with respect to the threatened northern spotted owl in 2008. Plaintiffs Carpenters Industrial Council, American Forest Resource Council, Swanson Group, Inc., Rough & Ready Lumber Co., Perpetua Forests Company, and Seneca Jones Timber Company (collectively, the "CIC plaintiffs") contend that the FWS's final rule on the Revised Designation of Critical Habitat for the Northern Spotted Owl, 73 Fed.Reg. 47326 (the "2008 Critical Habitat Designation"), was arbitrary and capricious and rendered in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 4321 et seq., the Endangered Species Act ("ESA"), 16 U.S.C. §§ 1531 et seq., and the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA"), 5 U.S.C. § 553. Plaintiff-intervenors Seattle Audubon Society, National Center for Conservation Science and Policy, Oregon Wild, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Wilderness Society, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Protection Information Center, Conservation Northwest, Audubon Society of Portland, National Audubon Society, Cascadia Wildlands Project, Klamath Forest Alliance, Conservation Congress, American Bird Conservancy, Umpqua Watersheds, and Gifford-Pinchot Task Force (collectively, the "Seattle Audubon plaintiff-intervenors"), challenge the federal defendants' 2008 Critical Habitat Designation as well as the 2008 Recovery Plan for the Northern Spotted Owl (the "2008 Recovery Plan") pursuant to the ESA and the APA.
Pending before the Court is the federal defendants' motion for voluntary remand and vacatur. In their motion, the federal defendants confess legal error as to the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation and the 2008 Recovery Plan, and ask the Court to: (i) remand and vacate the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation; (ii) remand the 2008 Recovery Plan; and (iii) order the FWS, after issuance of a revised recovery plan, to evaluate whether revision of the 1992 Critical Habitat Designation is appropriate, and if so, to complete rulemaking for a new critical habitat designation after issuance of a revised recovery plan. Fed. Defs.' Mot. at 1-2. The Seattle Audubon plaintiff-intervenors consent to the requested relief and ask the Court to enter the proposed order submitted by the federal defendants, see generally Seattle Audubon Mot.,
The northern spotted owl is a medium-sized nocturnal bird that inhabits old-growth forests of western North America, including parts of northern California, the Pacific Northwest, and British Columbia. CIC Am. Compl. ¶ 15; Seattle Audubon Compl. ¶ 28. Due to concerns regarding the widespread loss and modification of the owls' habitat, on June 26, 1990, the FWS published a final rule listing the northern spotted owl as a "threatened species" under the ESA. CIC Am. Compl. ¶ 16 (citing 55 Fed.Reg. 26114); Seattle Audubon Compl. ¶ 34.
While no recovery plan was immediately developed for the owl, on April 13, 1994, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Interior developed a land management plan for the owl referred to as the "Northwest Forest Plan." CIC Am. Compl. ¶ 22; Seattle Audubon Compl. ¶¶ 38-39. After determining that the Northwest Forest Plan provided a sound framework for the recovery of the owl, the FWS suspended the northern spotted owl recovery plan preparation process. See also Seattle Audubon Compl. ¶ 39 (explaining that the Northwest Forest Plan did not satisfy the ESA's criteria for a recovery plan).
Based on the guidance issued by the Washington Oversight Committee, significant revisions were made to the initial draft recovery plan. A revised draft recovery plan was published on April 26, 2007 (the "2007 Draft Recovery Plan"), Seattle Audubon Compl. ¶ 52, and the final recovery plan for the owls was issued on May 13, 2008 (the "2008 Recovery Plan"), Seattle Audubon Compl. ¶ 58.
Following issuance of the 2008 Recovery Plan, on August 13, 2008, the 1992 Critical Habitat Designation was replaced by the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation. Seattle Audubon Compl. ¶ 68. The 2008 Critical Habitat Designation, which was based on both the 2007 Draft Recovery Plan and the final 2008 Recovery Plan, see 73 Fed.Reg. 47,328,
Displeased with the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation, on August 13, 2008, the CIC plaintiffs filed the instant action alleging that the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation violates NEPA, ESA, and the APA. The CIC plaintiffs seek declaratory and
On November 14, 2008, fourteen environmental conservation groups sought leave to intervene in the action, which this Court granted on February 18, 2009. Pursuant to the ESA and the APA, the Seattle Audubon plaintiff-intervenors challenge the FWS's issuance of the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation as well as the 2008 Recovery Plan. Plaintiff-intervenors seek declaratory and injunctive relief, and ask the Court to remand the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation and the 2008 Recovery Plan and reinstate the original 1992 Critical Habitat Designation.
On December 22, 2008, the federal defendants notified the Court that the Inspector General of the Department of Interior had issued an Investigative Report entitled "The Endangered Species Act and the Conflict Between Science and Policy" (hereinafter, the "IG's Report"), which examined the influence of Deputy Assistant Secretary MacDonald on twenty ESA decisions and actions, including the recovery plan for the northern spotted owl. See Notice, Docket No. 22. The IG's Report concludes that Deputy Assistant Secretary MacDonald, acting alone or in concert with other Department officials, took actions that "potentially jeopardized" the decisional process for the recovery plan of the owl. See generally Seattle Audubon Ex. A, Docket No. 45-2 (Letter from Inspector General Earl E. Devaney to former Secretary of the Interior Dirk A. Kempthorne, dated Dec. 15, 2008, and the attached IG's Report). In their notice, the federal defendants advised the Court that it needed to review the IG's Report and the administrative record for the 2008 Recovery Plan and the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation "to determine whether to continue this litigation, amend their litigation posture, or pursue further administrative action with respect to this final recovery plan." Notice, Docket No. 22 at 2. On March 31, 2009, the federal defendants informed the court that it had concluded its review, and determined that it was appropriate to seek a remand of the 2008 Recovery Plan and 2008 Critical Habitat Designation. See Notice, Docket No. 35.
Accordingly, on July 30, 2009, the federal defendants filed their motion for voluntary remand and vacatur. The Seattle Audubon plaintiffs then filed a motion in support of the federal defendants' request for remand and vacatur, while the CIC plaintiffs filed an opposition brief. The federal defendants' motion is now ripe for determination by the Court.
In their motion, the federal defendants "confess[] legal error as to the 2008 critical habitat designation and recovery plan," and ask the Court to: (i) remand and vacate the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation, thereby restoring the 1992 Critical Habitat Designation for the owl; (ii) remand the 2008 Recovery Plan and order the FWS to issue a revised recovery plan within nine months of the Court's remand order; and (iii) order the FWS, after issuance of the revised recovery plan, to evaluate whether revision of the 1992 Critical Habitat Designation is appropriate, and if so, to complete rulemaking for a new critical habitat designation with 24 months of the issuance of the recovery plan. Fed. Defs.' Mot. at 1-2. As discussed above, the Seattle Audubon plaintiff-intervenors consent to the requested relief, while the CIC plaintiffs oppose it. The Court will explore the federal defendants' requests in turn.
The first issue to be resolved is whether the Court has the authority to remand the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation to the FWS, and if it does, whether voluntary remand is appropriate. Federal defendants and plaintiff-intervenors argue that the Court may exercise its equitable power to order voluntary remand because the federal defendants admit that "the recovery plan and critical habitat revision for the northern spotted owl are legally erroneous"; in light of this admission, these parties argue that "further proceedings on the claims presented by CIC and Seattle Audubon would simply waste the resources of the Court and the parties." Fed Defs.' Mot. at 7-8; Seattle Audubon Mot. at 6. The CIC plaintiffs, by contrast, contend that the Court lacks the authority to remand and vacate the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation without a final determination of the merits, see CIC Opp'n Br. at 10-16, and that even if it does, remand is unwarranted, see CIC Opp'n Br. at 17-22. For the reasons discussed below, the Court concludes that it has the authority to remand the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation, and that voluntary remand is, in fact, appropriate in this case.
As a threshold matter, courts have long recognized the propriety of voluntarily remanding a challenged agency action without judicial consideration of the merits upon an admission of agency error. Specifically, courts have recognized that voluntary remand is generally appropriate (i) when new evidence becomes available after an agency's original decision was rendered, see, e.g., Ethyl Corp. v. Browner, 989 F.2d 522, 523 (D.C.Cir.1993) (granting an agency's motion for voluntary remand where the agency admitted that new evidence developed that undermined the stated basis for its action), or (ii) where "intervening events outside of the agency's control" may affect the validity of an agency's actions. SKF USA Inc. v. United States, 254 F.3d 1022, 1028 (Fed. Cir.2001). Even in the absence of new evidence or an intervening event, however, courts retain the discretion to remand an agency decision when an agency has raised "substantial and legitimate" concerns in support of remand. See Sierra Club v. Antwerp, 560 F.Supp.2d 21, 23 (D.D.C.2008) (citing cases). Granting voluntary remand in such circumstances is appropriate, as it preserves scarce judicial resources by allowing agencies "to cure their own mistakes." Ethyl Corp., 989 F.2d at 524.
Indeed, at least three courts have granted the FWS's requests for voluntary remand where new evidence or a change in the law rendered the agency's critical habitat designations suspect. See Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Inc. v. Allen, No. 04-1813, 2009 WL 2015407 (D.Or. July 1, 2009) (granting the FWS's request for the voluntary remand of its critical habitat designation for the bull trout in light of new evidence; explaining that "a remand without expending further judicial resources to consider the merits is appropriate"); Natural Resources Defense Council v. U.S. Dep't of Interior, 275 F.Supp.2d 1136, 1141 (C.D.Cal.2002) (granting the FWS's request for voluntary remand of its critical habitat designations for the Coastal California Gnatcatcher and the San Diego Fairy Shrimp in light of a change in case law; explaining that voluntary remand "promotes judicial economy by allowing the relevant agency to reconsider and rectify an erroneous decision without further expenditure of judicial resources"); see
Therefore, consistent with the case law discussed above, the Court concludes that it has the equitable power to grant the federal defendants' request for voluntary remand.
Having determined that it has the authority to grant voluntary remand, the Court must now determine whether the FWS's request is warranted. The federal defendants and the Seattle Audubon plaintiff-intervenors argue that voluntary remand is appropriate in light of the IG's Report, which found that the decisional process for the recovery plan for the northern spotted owl was "potentially jeopardized" by the actions of Deputy Assistant Secretary MacDonald. The federal defendants explain that "[r]econsideration here would allow the Service to remove any question of potential taint from Ms. MacDonald's interference and ensure that the owl's survival and recovery are supported by scientifically valid measures." Fed. Defs.' Reply Br. at 9. The CIC plaintiffs reject this contention, arguing that "[t]he Court must independently determine whether legal error occurred, and may not simply accept confession of error by the government," and that, in any event, "[t]he record does not establish any legal error that permits remanding the
With regards to the CIC plaintiffs' first objection, see CIC Opp'n Br. at 17-18, the Court is not persuaded that it must independently determine whether legal error occurred in order to grant a request for voluntary remand. While it is undoubtedly true that "[a] court is `not obligated to accept the government's confession of error, particularly when there is reason to doubt whether the government's position is correct,'" CIC Opp'n Br. at 17, the CIC plaintiffs' contention that the Court must conduct an independent inquiry to determine that wrongdoing occurred in order to remand an agency decision for reconsideration is unpersuasive. See, e.g., Sierra Club, 560 F.Supp.2d at 24-25 (remanding to allow the government agency to address its "potential mistake"); cf. Ethyl Corp., 989 F.2d at 524 (discussing "the tradition of allowing agencies to reconsider their actions where events pending appeal draw their decisions in question" (emphasis added)).
Moreover, the Court also disagrees with the CIC plaintiffs' assertion that the record lacks evidentiary support for the federal defendants' confession of legal error. Indeed, to the contrary, the Court finds that the federal defendants submitted compelling evidence in support of their claim of legal error and request for remand: the IG's Report, which was completed before the change in administrations. See Fed. Defs.' Reply Br. at 8-12. Given the current posture of this case, the Court finds no reason to question the Inspector General's determination that Deputy Assistant Secretary MacDonald's "zeal to advance her agenda . . . [and] heavy-handedness. . . potentially jeopardized" the FWS's 2008 rulemaking as to the northern spotted owl. See Seattle Audubon Ex. A, Docket No. 45-2 (Letter from Inspector General Earl E. Devaney to former Secretary of the Interior Dirk A. Kempthorne, dated Dec. 15, 2008).
Therefore, in view of the federal defendants' later-acquired information regarding the actions of Deputy Assistant Secretary MacDonald, which raise "substantial and legitimate concerns" about the rule-making process for the northern spotted owl, the Court concludes that the FWS's request for voluntary remand is well justified. See also, e.g., Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Inc., 2009 WL 2015407, at *2 (granting the FWS's request for the voluntary remand of a critical habitat designation in light of the IG's Report on Deputy Assistant Secretary MacDonald); Coal. of Arizona/New Mexico Counties, No. 07-876, slip op. at 5 (same). Voluntary remand will also preserve this Court's scarce judicial resources by providing the federal defendants' the opportunity to "cure their own mistakes." Ethyl Corp., 989 F.2d at 524; see, e.g., Nat'l Res. Def. Council, 275 F.Supp.2d at 1141 ("Voluntary remand also promotes judicial economy by allowing the relevant agency to reconsider and rectify an erroneous decision without further expenditure of judicial resources."); Sierra Club, 560 F.Supp.2d at 24-25 ("Remand in this case will serve
Having concluded that the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation should be remanded for reconsideration, the Court must now determine whether it has the authority to vacate the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation, thereby reinstating the preceding 1992 Critical Habitat Designation for the owl, and if so, whether vacatur is appropriate. The federal defendants argue that in light of their confession of "legal error" the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation should be vacated, explaining that "`[t]he usual remedy for a procedural violation of the APA is to set the regulation aside.'" Fed. Defs.' Mot. at 10 (quoting Endangered Species Comm. of the Building Ass'n v. Babbitt, 852 F.Supp. 32, 41 (D.D.C.1994)). The federal defendants and Seattle Audubon plaintiff-intervenors also argue that vacatur is consistent with the purposes of the ESA, as it would permit the prior, more expansive 1992 Critical Habitat Designation to be reinstated for the owl. See, e.g., Fed. Defs.' Mot. at 11-12. The CIC plaintiffs counter that granting vacatur based solely upon defendants' confession of error would allow the federal defendants to circumvent the APA, by effectively authorizing the repeal of an agency rule without public notice and comment or judicial consideration of the merits. CIC Opp'n Br. at 14-15. The CIC plaintiffs also argue, among other things, that vacatur of the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation would be inequitable as it would rescind the settlement agreement that the Interior Department entered into with the CIC plaintiffs in 2003. See CIC Opp'n Br. at 24-26; see also infra n. 5. As explained below, the Court concludes that it lacks the authority to vacate the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation at this stage of the litigation.
The federal defendants and the Seattle Audubon plaintiff-intervenors argue that the Court has the authority to vacate the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation without making a determination of the merits as a result of the federal defendants' confession of legal error. See Fed. Defs.' Mot. at 11-13; Fed. Defs.' Reply Br. at 18-23; see also Seattle Audubon Post-Argument Br. at 4 ("Here, by itself, the federal defendants' confession of legal error is sufficient to justify vacating the 2008 critical habitat revision under 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)."). Although two courts have agreed with this position and exercised their equitable power to summarily vacate critical habitat designations, see Coal. of Arizona/New Mexico Counties for Stable Econ. Growth v. Salazar, No. 07-876, slip op. at 5 (D.N.M. May 4, 2009); Natural Res. Def. Council, 275 F.Supp.2d at 1143, this Court is not persuaded that it has the authority to order vacatur of the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation without an independent determination that the FWS's action was not in accordance with the law. See generally 5 U.S.C. § 706(2) (directing a reviewing court to hold unlawful and set aside agency action, findings, and conclusions that it finds to be arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law). To summarily grant the federal defendants' request for vacatur "would allow the Federal defendants
The Court also declines the invitation of the Seattle Audubon plaintiff-intervenors to proceed with partial summary judgment briefing on the issue of whether the improper influence of Deputy Assistant Secretary MacDonald caused the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation to depart from the best available science. See Seattle Audubon Post-Argument Br. at 5.
The Court, therefore, concludes that remand of the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation
Next, the federal defendants and the Seattle Audubon plaintiff-intervenors ask the Court to remand the 2008 Recovery Plan to the agency and to order the FWS to issue a revised plan within nine months of the Court's remand order.
Finally, the federal defendants ask the Court to order the FWS, after issuance of the revised recovery plan, to evaluate whether revision of the 1992 Critical Habitat Designation is appropriate, and if so, to complete rulemaking for a new critical habitat designation with 24 months of the issuance of the recovery plan. The Court finds this request—which was premised upon vacatur of the 2008 Critical Habitat
However, in view of the federal defendants' confession of legal error as to the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation, the Court is sensitive to the need for new rulemaking for the owl to be undertaken as expeditiously as possible. Accordingly, by no later than September 30, 2010, the parties are directed to submit a joint proposed timetable to the Court addressing the length of time within which rulemaking for a new critical habitat designation for the northern spotted owl shall be completed; in the event that the parties are unable to reach a joint recommendation, each party shall submit an individual recommendation by that time. The Court will withhold issuance of its Order remanding the 2008 Critical Habitat Designation to the FWS pending resolution of this issue.
For the foregoing reasons, the Court
