Farrell-Cooper Mining Co. v. United States Department of the Interior

LUCERO, Circuit Judge.

Under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), agencies may require regulated parties to pursue administrative appeals before seeking review in federal court. But as the Supreme Court explained in Darby v. Cisneros, 509 U.S. 137, 113 S.Ct. 2539, 125 L.Ed.2d 113 (1993), intra-agency review “is a prerequisite to judicial review only when expressly required by statute or when an agency rule requires appeal before review and the administrative action is made inoperative pending that review.” Id. at 154, 113 S.Ct. 2539. This rule prevents agencies from enforcing initial…