ELR Citation: ELR 20738
No(s). 87-4394 (9th Cir. Apr 14, 1988)

The court holds that the environmental impact statement (EIS) prepared by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for its noxious weed control program for five northwest states adequately considered alternatives involving less use of herbicides and contained a sufficient worst-case analysis. The court first holds that the EIS contained an adequate discussion of alternatives. BLM considered and rejected the alternative of adopting an integrated pest management process with chemical spraying as a last resort. BLM reasonably considered the alteration of grazing patterns as beyond the scope of the EIS for this program, which is designed to eradicate the weeds in the short term. The court holds that BLM's failure to invite plaintiff environmental groups to participate in the EIS scoping process violated the National Environmental Policy Act's regulations. The court holds, however, that plaintiffs were not prejudiced by the lack of notice, since they were able to raise their concerns early in the EIS process. The court holds that BLM conducted an independent analysis of the safety of the chemicals and did not simply rely on Environmental Protection Agency data from the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act registration process. The court holds that the EIS contains an adequate worst-case analysis. The worst-case analysis adequately discusses the impact of inert ingredients and possible contamination of the herbicides, and does not ignore data about the herbicides' more serious impacts.

[The district court decision appears at 18 ELR 20567.]

Counsel for Plaintiffs-Appellants
Ralph A. Bradley
Bradley & Gordon
1397 Willamette St., Eugene OR 97401
(503) 343-8247

Counsel for Defendants-Appellees
Kathleen P. Dewey
Land and Natural Resources Division
Department of Justice, Washington DC 20530
(202) 633-4519

Counsel for Intervenor-Appellee
John DiLorenzo Jr.
Moshofsky, DiLorenzo & Dietz
1700 Standard Ins. Ctr., 900 SW 5th Ave., Portland OR 97204
(503) 225-0010

Before Goodwin and Leavy, JJ.