Kleppe v. Sierra Club
United States Supreme Court
427 U.S. 390 (1976)
The Sierra Club and other environmental groups (plaintiffs) sued Secretary of the Interior Thomas Kleppe and other officials (defendants), seeking to compel a comprehensive environmental impact statement (EIS) covering the entire Northern Great Plains Region before approving any coal-related or mining operations there, based on NEPA's requirement that agencies include an EIS in every recommendation or report on proposals for legislation or other major federal actions significantly affecting the environment. The district court granted the defendants summary judgment, finding no pending legislative proposal or major federal action requiring an EIS, but the court of appeals reversed, holding a regional program was sufficiently "contemplated" to require one, prompting the Supreme Court's grant of certiorari.
Whether section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act requires a federal agency to include an environmental impact statement at the time of a recommendation or report on proposals for legislation and other major federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.