Montana Environmental Information Center v. Stone-Manning

We must decide whether a challenge to potential approval of a surface mining permit is ripe for judicial review.

I

Montana Environmental Information Center and Sierra Club (collectively, “MEIC”) sued Tracy Stone-Manning, the Director of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, in her official capacity. MEIC claims that Stone-Manning will violate duties imposed by the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (“SMCRA”), 30 U.S.C. §§ 1201-1328 , by approving a pending application for Area B of the Rosebud Mine. Invoking the statute’s citizen-suit provision, 30 U.S.C. § 1270 (a)(2), MEIC asked for declaratory and injunctive relief.

A

SMCRA establishes a “cooperative federalism” regime for mining regulation. See Hodel v. Va. Surface Mining & Reclamation Ass’n, 452 U.S. 264, 289 , 101 S.Ct. 2352 , 69 L.Ed.2d 1 (1981). Under SMCRA, Congress “offer[s] States the choice of regulating ... according to federal standards or having state law preempted by federal regulation.” New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144, 167 , 112 S.Ct. 2408 , 120 L.Ed.2d 120 (1992) (citing Hodel, 452 U.S. at 288 , 101 S.Ct. 2352 ); see also 30 U.S.C. § 1253 .

Montana adopted a regulatory…