APPENDIX
APPENDIX
APPENDIX
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7a<br />
adopted the first reading of the Silvicultural Rule for<br />
the first time in its initial amicus brief in this case.<br />
Until the United States filed that brief, there was no<br />
way for the public to know which reading of the Silvicultural<br />
Rule it would adopt. As the government<br />
states in its second amicus brief to us,<br />
At the time an ambiguous regulation is<br />
promulgated ... the public cannot reasonably<br />
be expected to challenge potential regulatory<br />
interpretations that are textually plausible<br />
but that the agency has not contemporaneously<br />
offered and may never adopt. Indeed,<br />
a rule encouraging such challenges to hypothetical<br />
interpretations would likely only foster<br />
unnecessary litigation.<br />
Because the Silvicultural Rule was subject to two<br />
readings, only one of which renders the Rule invalid,<br />
and because the government first adopted its interpretation<br />
of the Rule in its initial amicus brief in this<br />
case, this case comes within the exception in<br />
§ 1369(b)(1) for suits based on grounds arising after<br />
the 120–day filing window. Section 1369(b) therefore<br />
does not bar a citizen suit challenging EPA’s Silvicultural<br />
Rule interpretation first adopted in its initial<br />
amicus brief in this case. We thus have subject matter<br />
jurisdiction under 33 U.S.C. § 1365(a).<br />
III. Standard of Review<br />
We review de novo a district court’s dismissal<br />
under Rule 12(b)(6). Knievel v. ESPN, 393 F.3d 1068,<br />
1072 (9th Cir. 2005). We accept as true all of NEDC’s<br />
allegations of material facts and we construe them in<br />
the light most favorable to NEDC. Id.<br />
We review de novo the district court’s interpretation<br />
of the CWA and its implementing regulations.