People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Allen M. Rivers, Dr. v. Department of Health & Human Services Dr. Louis W. Sullivan

Dr. Allen Rivers, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) appeal the district court’s holding on summary judgment that they lacked standing to sue several federal agencies whom they alleged violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by awarding animal research grants without preparing Environmental Impact Statements (EISs). We have jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (1988), and we affirm.

Appellants sued the Department of Health and Human Services and other federal agencies, charging that the agencies’ failures to prepare EISs before awarding research grants to institutions in the San Francisco area violated NEPA. 42 U.S.C. §§ 4331-4335 (1988). In their complaint, appellants alleged that the Department’s grants funded research involving animals that resulted in a number of environmental impacts which adversely affected Rivers’ and PETA members’ uses of the San Francisco Bay area for recreation, aesthetic, and “quality of life” and health purposes.

Appellees moved for summary judgment, in part, on the ground that even assuming that animal research results in the environmental impacts appellants alleged, appellants’ complaint…