- Court: 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Archives
- Area(s) of Law: Administrative Law
- Date Filed: 03-01-2013
- Case #: 11-16122
- Judge(s)/Court Below: Circuit Judge Trott for the Court; Circuit Judge Rawlinson and District Judge Block
Farmers and farming entities (鈥淔armers鈥) that irrigate their land with water from the San Luis Unit of the Central Valley Project claimed that the United States Bureau of Reclamation (鈥渢he Bureau鈥) needed to provide the irrigation districts with more water than the Bureau was providing at the time. Absent a statute allowing judicial review of agency action, the APA provides for challenges to 鈥渇inal agency action,鈥 which includes a 鈥渇ailure to act.鈥 The Farmers alleged only that the Bureau failed to deliver enough water, which the Court regarded as a proper discretionary allocation, not a final agency action. The Court noted that a 鈥渇ailure to act鈥 under the APA is 鈥渢he failure of the agency to issue an agency rule, order, license, sanction or relief,鈥 and that under 搂 706(1), judicial review 鈥渋s properly understood to be limited鈥o a discrete action.鈥 Specifically, the Court clarified that 鈥渂road programmatic attack[s] on an agency鈥檚 administration of a program are prohibited.鈥 The Court held that absent final agency action or unlawfully withheld action, the Farmers鈥 claims were merely a broad attack on the Bureau鈥檚 operation of the Central Valley Project, which did not establish subject matter jurisdiction under the APA. AFFIRMED.