Heartwood, Inc. v. Agpaoa, 09-5761

Standing issue in environmental nonprofit corporations suit against the Regional Forester and U.S. Forest Service

Heartwood, Inc. v. Agpaoa, 09-5761, concerned a challenge to the district court's judgment on the administrative record in favor of the Regional Forester and the Forest Service, in a nonprofit corporations' challenge to a forest plan and  a final environmental impact statements (EIS) adopted by the Regional Forester and the U.S. Forest Service.

In reversing the judgment, the court remanded the case for lack of jurisdiction in concluding that plaintiffs lack standing to maintain this action where, Ctr. For Biological Diversity v. Lueckel, 417 F. 3d (6th Cir. 2005) clarified that environmental plaintiffs seeking to establish standing must identify particular segments of a river, sections and sub-sections of a forest, or passes in a mountain range that they use and will continue to use, and that agency action will detrimentally affect, and here, plaintiffs' standing affidavits are too general in their identification of site-specific activities that diminish or threaten to diminish their members' enjoyment of the designated forest sub-sections.

Related Link:

• Read the Sixth Circuit's Full Decision in Heartwood, Inc. v. Agpaoa, 09-5761