Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation v. Bonneville Power Administration

342 F.3d 924, 2003 WL 22038692
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 2, 2003
DocketNos. 01-71736, 01-71740
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 342 F.3d 924 (Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation v. Bonneville Power Administration) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation v. Bonneville Power Administration, 342 F.3d 924, 2003 WL 22038692 (9th Cir. 2003).

Opinion

OPINION

WALLACE, Senior Circuit Judge:

Petitioners Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Nez Perce Tribe (collectively, Tribes), Sierra Club, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Institute for Fisheries Resources, and Idaho Rivers United (collectively, Sierra Club), and Petitioner-Intervenor State of Oregon petition for review of numerous decisions of the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). Petitioners argue that the BPA both exceeded its legal authority and violated its statutory duty to treat fish and wildlife equitably with power. Except as otherwise explained, we have jurisdiction over Petitioners’ timely-filed petitions under 16 U.S.C. § 839f(e). We dismiss some petitions for want of jurisdiction, and we deny the remainder on the merits.

I.

Created in 1937, BPA is the marketing authority for almost all federally generated electric power in the Pacific Northwest. 16 U.S.C. § 838f. The BPA administrator must exercise his hydroelectric power responsibilities “in a manner that provides equitable treatment” for fish and wildlife. 16 U.S.C. § 839b(h)(ll)(A)(i). Petitioners contend that BPA violated this equitable treatment mandate through twenty-two years of agency inaction and by an August 8, 2001, Decision Document which announced BPA’s intention to implement biological opinions issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service. Petitioners also assert that BPA lacks authority to issue emergency declarations affecting hydrosystem operations.

BPA’s actions may be set aside if they are arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law. 16 U.S.C. § 839f(e)(2) (imposing standards of 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A)). Agency action is arbitrary and capricious if the agency

has relied on factors which Congress has not intended it to consider, entirely failed to consider an important aspect of the problem, offered an explanation for its decision that runs counter to the evidence before the agency, or is so implausible that it could not be ascribed to a difference in view or the product of agency expertise.

Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass’n of U.S., Inc. v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 463 U.S. 29, 43, 103 S.Ct. 2856, 77 L.Ed.2d 443 (1983). Due to the complex subject matter and BPA’s factual and legal expertise, we give special, substantial deference to BPA’s interpretation of the Northwest Power Act. Aluminum Co. of Am. v. Central Lincoln Peoples’ Util. Dist., 467 U.S. 380, 389, 104 S.Ct. 2472, 81 L.Ed.2d 301 (1984); Northwest Envtl. Defense Ctr. v. Bonneville Power Admin., 117 F.3d 1520, 1530 (9th Cir.1997) (NEDC). BPA’s inter[929]*929pretation will be upheld if it is a “reasonable interpretation of the relevant provisions.” NEDC, 117 F.3d at 1530.

II.

The Tribes argue that, for twenty-two years, BPA failed to treat fish and wildlife on par with power. They point to various decisions in which BPA has allegedly failed its statutory mandate: its 1995 Business Plan, its 1997 System Operations Review Environmental Impact Statement, its 1998 Subscription Strategy, and a 2002 rate case. The Tribes acknowledge that they do not challenge these prior decisions, but instead challenge BPA’s alleged unreasonable delay in creating a document, plan, mechanism, decision-making tool, or decision to provide equitable treatment.

We are not convinced that the Tribes truly challenge BPA’s unreasonable delay rather than its prior decisions. See Puget Sound Energy, Inc. v. United States, 310 F.3d 613, 621-22 (9th Cir.2002) (determining the true nature of the claim before determining its timeliness); Ecology Ctr., Inc. v. U.S. Forest Serv., 192 F.3d 922, 926 (9th Cir.1999) (“This court has refused to allow plaintiffs to evade the finality requirement with complaints about the sufficiency of an agency action dressed up as an agency’s failure to act.”) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). We need not determine the true nature of the Tribes’ claims because we lack jurisdiction to consider either characterization.

A.

The Tribes filed their petitions for review on November 6, 2001. BPA’s 1995, 1997, and 1998 actions fall well beyond 16 U.S.C. § 839f(e)(5)’s ninety-day limit for judicial review, a jurisdictional defect. Puget Sound, 310 F.3d at 616. As for the 2002 rate case, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had not approved the rate determination at the time the petitions were filed, and therefore BPA’s action was not final. 16 U.S.C. § 839f(e)(4)(D). We therefore lack jurisdiction to review any of these actions.

As for the Tribes’ claim of unreasonable delay, we lack jurisdiction because it is not a reviewable agency action under the Northwest Power Act (Act). “It is now settled that the APA [Administrative Procedure Act] does not provide an independent fount of jurisdiction to review agency action.... Jurisdiction must come from a source other than the APA.” Pub. Util. Comm’r of Or. v. Bonneville Power Admin., 767 F.2d 622, 627 (9th Cir.1985) (PUCO), citing Califano v. Sanders, 430 U.S. 99, 107, 97 S.Ct. 980, 51 L.Ed.2d 192 (1977). The Act, the relevant jurisdictional statute, gives this court exclusive jurisdiction only over timely challenges to BPA’s final actions. 16 U.S.C. § 839f(e); Puget Sound, 310 F.3d at 617. The Act is the “sole means of obtaining judicial review for those classes of claims covered by the statute.” PUCO, 767 F.2d at 627.

The Tribes assume that agency inaction is agency action under the Act because such is agency action under the APA. 5 U.S.C. § 551(13) (defining “agency action” as including an agency’s failure to act); 5 U.S.C. § 706(1) (authorizing courts to “compel agency action unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed”). Yet the APA’s definition of an “agency action” does not necessarily apply to the Act. The Act states, “[f|or purposes of sections 701 through 706 of Title 5, the following actions shall be final actions subject to judicial review. ...” 16 U.S.C.

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