Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge HENDERSON. 2
Thе National Association of Home Builders and its member organizations, Southern Arizona Home Builders Association and Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, appeal the dismissal of their lawsuit challenging the determination (Determination) by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (collectively, Agencies) that two reaches of the Santa Cruz River in southern Arizona constitute “traditiоnal navigable water[s]” (TNW)
3
so as to come within the Agencies’ regulatory authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA).
4
NAHB challenges the TNW Determination as both procedurally and substantively defective. The district court dismissed the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction on the ground the CWA precludes a pre-enforcement challenge to a TNW Determination. We affirm the dismissal on the alternative jurisdictional ground that the appellants lack standing under Article III of the United States Constitution.
See Moms Against Mercury v. Food & Drug Admin.,
I.
The CWA provides that “the discharge of any pollutant by any person” — i.e., “any addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source”' — -“shall be unlawful” unless it complies with one of several enumerated CWA provisions, including sections 402 and 404. 33 U.S.C. §§ 1311(a), 1362(12).
6
Section 404 and 402 authorize the Agencies to issue permits, after notice and an opportunity for public hearing, to discharge into navigable waters dredged and fill material and other pollutants. 33 U.S.C. §§ 1344, 1342;
see Nat’l Ass’n of Home Builders v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng’rs,
On May 23, 2008, the Corps issued a memorandum reciting that the two “[Santa Cruz] Reaches are navigable-in-fact, and thus a TNW, susceptible to use in interstate commerce associated with recreational navigation activities” and, accordingly, they “are subject to the jurisdiction of Section 404 of the CWA.” May 23, 2008 Memorandum for the Record of Col. Thomas H. Magness, Dist. Dir., U.S. Army, at 5-6 (Compl.ex. 2). On December 3, 2008, the EPA issued a letter setting out its own “determination to affirm the [Corps’s] designation of the two reaches as TNWs.” Dec. 3, 2008 Letter to John Paul Woodley, Jr., Asst. Sec’y of the Army (Civ *11 il Works), from Benjamin H. Grumbles, Asst. Adm’r, EPA, at 2 (Complex. 1).
NAHB filed this action in March 2009, challenging the TNW Determination insofar as it “has the effect of expanding the agencies’ jurisdiction over dry desert washes, arroyos and other water features within the Santa Cruz River watershed under the Clean Water Act.” Compl. ¶ 2. The complaint sets out two claims, asserted both on NAHB’s own behalf and in its representational capacity on behalf of individual members. Count 1 challenges the TNW Determination as violative of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. § 701 et seq., because the Agencies provided no notice or opportunity to be heard before issuing the TNW Determination. Count 2 challenges the substance of the TNW Determination as unlawful. The complaint seeks declaratory and injunctive relief, requesting that the district court (1) declare the TNW Determination to be invalid and (2) “set aside the TNW Determination! ] • • • and enjoin the Corps and EPA from relying on the TNW Determinations in any future jurisdictional determinations in the Santa Cruz River watershed.” Compl. 19-20.
On August 18, 2010, the district court granted the Agencies’ motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) on the ground the CWA precludes pre-enforcement judicial review of a TNW Determination.
See Nat’l Ass’n of Home Builders v. U.S. EPA
II.
“Because Article III limits the constitutional role of the federal judiciary to resolving cases and controversies, a showing of standing ‘is an essential and unchanging’ predicate to any exercise of our jurisdiction.”
Fla. Audubon Soc’y v. Bentsen,
A. Organizational Standing
To establish organizational standing, NAHB must “allege[ ] such a ‘personal stake’ in the outcome of the controversy as to warrant the invocation of federal-court jurisdiction”; that is, it must demonstrate that it has “ ‘suffered injury in fact,’ including ‘[s]uch concrete and demonstrable injury to the organization’s activities — with [a] consequent drain on the organization’s resources — constituting] ... more than simply a setback to the organization’s abstract social interests.’ ”
Nat’l Taxpayers Union, Inc. v. United States,
*12
NAHB alleges it has “spent considerable staff time and monetary resources in the quest to clarify CWA jurisdiction,” such as submitting comments to the EPA and to the Corps, testifying before the United States Senate and partiсipating in “numerous court cases,” including this one. Compl. ¶ 21; Decl. of Thomas J. Ward, NAHB Vice President of Litig. & Legal Servs. ¶¶ 8, 17-19 (filed Feb. 4, 2010) (Ward Decl.). But these claims do not suffice. First, this litigation’s expenses do not qualify as an injury in fact.
See Spann v. Colonial Village, Inc.,
B. Representational Standing
NAHB also claims representational standing on behalf of its members. To establish representational standing, an association must demonstrate that “ ‘(a) its members would otherwise have standing to sue in their own right; (b) the interests it seeks to protect are germane to the organization’s purpose; and (c) neither the claim asserted nor the relief requested requires the participation of individual members in the lawsuit.’ ”
Ass’n of Flight Attendants-CWA,
1.
The complaint alleges that “[m]any of [NAHB’s] members have or will attempt to obtain permits under Section 404 that authorize discharges of fill materials into waters within the federal CWA jurisdiction in connection with their projects” and “have an interest in the manner in which suсh regulation takes place, including the types of watercourses that are subject to the agencies’ regulatory jurisdiction.” Compl. ¶ 30. NAHB does not explain, however, how the TNW Determination adversely affects either the “manner” of regulation or, with any specificity, the “types of watercourses” subject to regulation. NAHB does not here contest “whether the Santa Cruz River itself may be subject to Clean Water Act jurisdiсtion — an issue that is not raised in this action.” Compl. ¶ 2. Yet this is the only issue the TNW Determination in fact resolved.
See
Compl. exs. 1, 2. It did not determine whether any particular “watercourse” other than the two reaches of the Santa Cruz River itself (“dry desert washes, arroyos and other water features,” Compl. ¶ 2) is jurisdictional and therefore subject to the CWA’s permit requirements. The Agencies decide through an individual site-specific “jurisdictional determination” whether a particular watercourse in the Santa Cruz River watershed is within their CWA jurisdiction, using the jointly developed
“Rapanos Guidance”
document
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and based on the particular watercourse’s “nexus” to waters the Agencies have determined to be TNW (in this case the Santa Cruz’s two reaches).
See Precon Dev. Corp. v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Citing no authority, NAHB argues that the TNW Determination “foreclos[es] the issue of the nearest TNW for site-specific [jurisdictional determinations] within the watershed.” Appellants’ Br. 59. We see no reason, however, that an individual landowner or developer may not contest the TNW Determination in a challenge to a site-specific jurisdictional designation under the judicial rеview provisions of the CWA and implementing regulations.
See
33 U.S.C. § 1319(b) and 33 C.F.R. § 326.5 (providing for judicial actions by Agencies to enforce compliance or cease-and-desist order or to obtain penalties); 33 U.S.C. § 1319(g) and 33 C.F.R. § 326.6 (providing for judicial review of penalties);
see, e.g., Rápanos v. United States, supra
(reviewing Corps jurisdictional determinations in proceeding arising from both enforcement actions against developers and appeal of property owner’s permit denial). Nor are we swayed by NAHB’s assertion that its members
now
face “the choice of applying for a permit for activities that are outside the scope of the agencies’ authority under the CWA or face significant civil or criminal enforcement penalties for failing to do so.” Appellants’ Br. 59. These are the same statutory and regulatory alternatives NAHB members faced before the TNW Determination.
See
33 U.S.C. § 1319; 33 C.F.R. § 326.1-326.6. Without an additional allegation that the TNW substantially increased the risk of regulation or enforcement relating to particular property, we have no basis to conclude the TNW caused a “concrete and particularized” and “actual or imminent” threat to any landowner, let alone any particular NAHB member.
Lujan,
2.
NAHB also cites supporting declarations to establish its members’ standing. One declarant recites he is “personally aware of NAHB members that recently applied for and received authorization to discharge stormwater under CWA Section 402 in connection with construction activities on lands within the Santa Cruz River watershed and where the receiving water was identified as the Santa Cruz River.” Ward Decl. ¶ 9. But the declarant fails to explain whether the TNW Determination motivated the landowner to seek an application for a permit or how the relief NAHB seeks— declaratory and injunctive relief — would remedy the
past
injuries the members may have already incurred in applying for the permits.
See City of Los Angeles v. Lyons,
C. Procedural Standing
Finally, NAHB claims that even if it has not established a substantive injury to support its standing, it nonetheless has “procedural” standing to challenge the Agencies’ failure to provide notice and an opportunity to submit comments pursuant to the APA. See 5 U.S.C. § 553(b), (c). This argument fails as well and for the same reason — no imminent injury in fact has been alleged.
In
Summers v. Earth Island Institute,
the Supreme Court made clear that “deprivation of a рrocedural right without some concrete interest that is affected by the deprivation — a procedural right
in vacuo
— is insufficient to create Article III standing.”
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the district court’s dismissal of NAHB’s complaint for lack of jurisdiction on the alternative ground that it lacks Article III standing to chаllenge the Agencies’ TNW Determination.
So ordered.
Notes
. Circuit Judge Kavanaugh concurs in the opinion except for Part II.B.l.
. The "traditional definition” of " ‘navigable waters’ ... required that the 'waters’ be navigable in fact, or susceptible of being rendered so.”
See Rapanos v. United States,
. The three affiliated appellants make their arguments collectively as "Home Builders.” For convenience, we treat them as a single entity under the parent organization's acronym, NAHB.
. Accordingly, we express no opinion regarding the district court’s or this court's jurisdiction over a pre-enforcement challenge.
. The CWA defines "pollutant” as "dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biоlogical materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water.” 33 U.S.C. § 1362(6).
. The Supreme Court has recognized that "the term ‘navigable’ is of ‘limited import’ and that Congress evidenced its intent to 'regulate at least some waters that would not be deemed "navigable” under the classical understanding of that term.’ ”
Solid Waste Agеncy of N. Cook Cnty. v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng’rs,
. EPA and Army Corps of Engineers Guidance Regarding Clean Water Act Jurisdiction after Rapanos v. United States & Carabell v. United States, http://www.usace.army.mil/ CECW/Documents/cecwo/reg/cwa_guide/cwa_ juris_2dec08.pdf (dated December 2, 2008) (visited November 30, 2011); see also EPA and Army Corps of Engineers Guidance Regarding Identification of Waters Protected by the Clean Water Act, 76 Fed.Reg. 24,479 (May 2, 2011) (notice of availability of and request for comments on proposed new guidance).
