Facts
- A wildfire burned roughly 27,000 acres in Montana’s Beaverhead–Deerlodge National Forest in 2007.
- The U.S. Forest Service approved the Rat Creek Salvage Project to log about 1,652 acres of burned forest to remove dead/dying trees and address forest health and economic concerns.
- The Forest Service Chief issued an Emergency Situation Determination allowing the project to proceed without delay from administrative appeals.
- Two conservation organizations sued, alleging violations of NEPA, NFMA, and the Appeals Reform Act, and sought a preliminary injunction to stop logging during the litigation.
- The district court denied preliminary relief, concluding the plaintiffs had not shown likely success on the merits or likely irreparable harm under Winter.
Issues
- After Winter, whether the Ninth Circuit may grant a preliminary injunction under a “serious questions” sliding-scale approach rather than requiring a strict showing of likely success on the merits.
- Whether the plaintiffs satisfied the governing preliminary injunction standard to enjoin the salvage logging project pending a merits decision.
Decision
- The Ninth Circuit reversed the denial of a preliminary injunction and directed the district court to issue injunctive relief.
- The court held that the “serious questions” sliding-scale approach remains valid after Winter when applied consistently with Winter’s requirements.
- The court found the plaintiffs raised serious questions on the merits, including challenges to the Emergency Situation Determination and to compliance with NEPA and NFMA.
- The court held the plaintiffs showed likely irreparable environmental harm because logging would cause permanent or long-lasting impacts that could not be remedied after trees were cut.
- The court concluded the balance of hardships tipped sharply toward the plaintiffs because the asserted government harms were primarily economic and temporary.
- The court determined the public interest favored preventing irreparable environmental injury and ensuring compliance with environmental statutes.
- A separate concurrence agreed that an injunction should issue but expressed caution about the majority’s framing or application of the standard.
Legal Principles
- A preliminary injunction requires: (1) likelihood of success on the merits, (2) likelihood of irreparable harm absent relief, (3) balance of equities in the movant’s favor, and (4) consistency with the public interest.
- Post-Winter, the Ninth Circuit may apply a sliding-scale approach: serious questions on the merits plus a balance of hardships tipping sharply toward the movant can justify relief, if the movant also shows likely irreparable harm and that the injunction is in the public interest.
- “Possibility” of irreparable harm is insufficient; the movant must show irreparable harm is likely.
- In environmental cases, likely irreparable harm may be established where challenged actions would cause permanent or long-duration impacts before judicial review on the merits.
Conclusion
The Ninth Circuit clarified that, after Winter, it may still grant preliminary injunctions under a serious-questions sliding-scale approach so long as the plaintiff proves likely irreparable harm and that the injunction serves the public interest; applying that standard, it ordered a preliminary injunction to halt the salvage logging project pending resolution of the statutory claims.