Bay Area Nuclear Waste Coalition v. Manuel Lujan, Jr., Secretary of Interior, State of California, U.S. Ecology Inc., Applicants-Appellants

42 F.3d 1398 NOTICE: Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3 provides that dispositions other than opinions or orders designated for publication are not precedential and should not be cited except when relevant under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, or collateral estoppel. BAY AREA NUCLEAR WASTE COALITION, et al., Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Manuel LUJAN, Jr., Secretary of Interior, et al., Defendants. State of California, U.S. Ecology Inc., Applicants-Appellants. No. 93-15312. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted May 11, 1994. Decided Nov. 22, 1994. 1 Before: WALLACE, Chief Judge, CANBY, Circuit Judge, and KELLEHER, District Judge. * 2 MEMORANDUM ** 3 This action was commenced by a coalition of plaintiffs who sought to compel the Secretary of the Interior to designate critical habitat for a threatened species known as the desert tortoise, prior to the Secretary's transferring certain lands. The question we must decide is whether the settlement of that lawsuit renders moot this appeal by two entities that were denied permission to intervene as defendants in that action. We conclude that the appeal is moot. BACKGROUND 4 In 1990, the Secretary of the…