Thursday, January 10, 2008

Feldman v. Bomar (9th Cir. - Jan. 10, 2008)

Here's a case that hits close to home. 87 miles to the Northwest, to be exact:

National Park Service: "Non-native feral pigs are eating all the rare, native plants on Santa Cruz Island. And causing lots of other problems too. We're going to get rid of them."

Pig-Huggers: "Wait! Don't kill them! Can't you just sterilize them, or give them birth control, or something like that?"

NPS: "No. That's a hassle. Killing's easier. Faster, too."

PHs: "Okay then, I'm going to sue. You violated NEPA and CEQA."

District Court: "No they didn't."

PHs: "Here's my appeal to the Ninth Circuit."

NPS: "Go ahead. By the way, at this point, we've already killed all the pigs. They're dead, Jim. No relief. Dismiss the appeal as moot."

Ninth Circuit: "Yep. Done."

The actual opinion is a little bit longer. And not in dialogue form. But that's nonetheless pretty much what it says.