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Oregon Natural Desert Ass'n v. Jewell

Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (2016) | 840 F.3d 562; 2016 WL 6127053

4 min read

TL;DR: Environmental groups challenged a wind farm approval. The court found the agency's environmental review violated NEPA by using inaccurate data to assess wildlife impacts, but held the plaintiffs failed to properly raise a separate, more technical claim during the administrative process, thereby failing to exhaust it.

Legal Significance: An agency's scientific analysis under NEPA is arbitrary and capricious if based on factually inaccurate data or flawed extrapolation. To exhaust administrative remedies, a party must raise issues with sufficient specificity to alert the agency to the distinct claim being made.