This court disagrees and is of the opinion that the Forest Service provided sufficient notice to satisfy the statutory requirements of
5 U.S.C. § 553(b). In addition, this court concludes that the Forest Service provided the public with a sufficient basis to comment. The seven page notice was published in the Federal Register and included the nature, legal authority, terms, and substance of the proposed rule. Specifically, it included a summary for the proposed rule; an address where comments could be sent and a deadline for those comments; the name and address of two contacts who could provide further information and copies of relevant documents upon request; background information; and a section-by-section analysis.
See 58 Fed.Reg. 26,940–44 (May 6, 1993). While the APA does impose a duty on federal agencies to reveal the basic reason for a proposed rule, it does not require federal agencies to notify the public of the existence of any specific documents in a Federal Register notice of proposed rule.
See B.F. Goodrich Co. v. Dept. of Transp., 541 F.2d 1178, 1184 (6th Cir.1976) (“The Administrative Procedure Act does not require that every bit of background information used by an administrative agency be published for public comment.... The basic data upon which the agency relied in formulating the regulation was available to petitioners for comment”),
cert. denied, 430 U.S. 930, 97 S.Ct. 1549, 51 L.Ed.2d 773 (1977). Similarly, in the present case, the Forest Service included sufficient information in the published notice to allow meaningful public comment. Therefore, plaintiffs fail to state a claim because the agency did not have the duty to publish the so-called “Rainbow Reports,” but merely the duty to provide sufficient notice to allow meaningful comment. Accordingly, this court dismisses count five.