Montana Environmental Information Center v. Haaland

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals concluded in an unpublished memorandum that it lacked appellate jurisdiction to review a decision by the federal district court for the District of Montana remanding an environmental impact statement (EIS) for a coal mine expansion to the Office of Surface Mining for additional analysis, including quantification of the socioeconomic costs of the expansion’s greenhouse gas emissions. The Ninth Circuit cited the general rule that administrative remand orders are not “final” and found that the exception to this rule did not apply because an immediate appeal was not necessary for the appellant coal company and union to obtain the relief they sought, given that the district court’s decision did not foreclose the possibility of the agency reapproving the project and since the appellants could challenge any decision by the agency to block the expansion on remand.