dissenting:
In this case, the EPA used a cost-benefit analysis to allow the continued use of a highly toxic chemical, AZM. The adverse effects of AZM on people exposed to AZM, such as agricultural workers, include “headache, nausea, and dizziness. Anxiety and restlessness are also prominent. Worsening may result in twitching, weakness, tremor, incoordination, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea. Often prominent are sweating, salivation, tearing, and rhinorrhea.” In 2006, after receiving written comments from the public (“notice and comment”), the EPA issued an order that permitted growers to continue spraying of AZM on certain crops until 2012, after which the use of AZM would be “phased out.”
In short, without hearing any witness testimony or reviewing anything other than the submission of written comments,1 the EPA struck the cost-benefit analysis in favor of the AZM manufacturers and the growers who use AZM and against the agricultural workers and the environment.
Because AZM’s toxic effects endanger the health of agricultural workers, the plaintiff-appellants, United Farm Workers of America (“Farm Workers”)2 opposed the continued use of AZM and challenged the EPA’s order in federal district court.
To resolve this case we are required to interpret the words “public hearing” under Section 16(b) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), 7 U.S.C. § 136 et seq. Under § 16(b), whether the Farm Workers should have filed for review in federal district court or in the federal court of appeals depends on whether the EPA’s notice and comment procedure amounted to a “public hearing.” 7 U.S.C. § 136n(b). Simply put, if there was a public hearing, the Farm Workers would have been correct to file in the court of appeals. 7 U.S.C. § 136n(b). If there was not a public hearing, the Farm Workers were correct to file in district court. 7 U.S.C. § 136n(a)-(b).
The Farm Workers sought review in the district court. They correctly determined that the court of appeals lacked jurisdiction to hear their challenge to the EPA’s order because the only evidentiary material presented to the EPA was in the form of written comments. The Farm Workers correctly concluded that this limited process did not constitute a public hearing. Unfortunately for the Farm Workers, the district court granted the defendant-appellee-intervenors’3 (the AZM manufacturers) motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.4 The district court held that the *1085court of appeals was the appropriate forum for the Farm Workers’ challenge to the EPA’s order because the EPA’s notice and comment procedure constituted a “public hearing.” The majority would affirm the district court’s ruling that the EPA’s solicitation of written comments from the public is a “public hearing” under § 16(b) and that the Farm Workers should have filed their challenge to the EPA’s order in the court of appeals. Maj. Op. at 1082-83.5 I disagree.
DISCUSSION
I. The Words “Public Hearing” in Section 16(b) Refer to a Quasi-Judicial Process, not Mere Solicitation of Written Comments from the Public
Section 16(b) of FIFRA does not define the phrase “public hearing.” An examination of (1) the remaining language in § 16(b); (2) other sections of FIFRA; and (3) case law interpreting § 16(b), however, leads to the inexorable conclusion that a “public hearing” requires some sort of quasi-judicial process at the agency level. In the absence of other procedures, solicitation of written comments from the public will not suffice as a “public hearing.”
A. Section 16(b)’s Reference to a “Party to the Proceedings” Indicates that a Public Hearing is a Quasi-Judicial Process
FIFRA § 16(b) allows a “person who will be adversely affected by [an EPA] order and who had been a party to the proceedings ” to challenge in the court of appeals “any order issued by the [EPA] Administrator following a public hearing.” 7 U.S.C. § 136n(b) (emphasis added).6
The phrase “a party to the proceedings” clearly contemplates a quasi-judicial proceeding at the agency level, not the agency’s solicitation of written comments from the public. If solicitation of written comments from the public satisfied § 16(b)’s “public hearing” requirement, as the majority concludes, then the “parties] to the proceedings” before the EPA would be difficult to identify. Would every member of the public who submitted a written comment, no matter how long or substantive, be a “party to the proceedings?” Surely that cannot be the case.7
The majority cites Environmental Defense Fund v. Costle for the proposition that, despite the fact that § 16(b) refers to a “party to the proceedings,” the Environmental Defense Fund court refused to restrict the meaning of a “public hearing” to a “quasi-judicial” proceeding. Maj. Op. at 1083 (citing Envtl. Def. Fund v. Costle, 631 F.2d 922 (D.C.Cir.1980)). The majority downplays, however, the role that the extensive record played in the Environmental Defense Fund decision. In Environmental Defense Fund, unlike in the present case, in addition to written comments, the parties submitted “legal memoranda” and “briefs.” Envtl. Def. Fund, 631 F.2d at 926. Further, in Environ*1086mental Defense Fund the record included proceedings before an administrative law judge (“ALJ”). Id. at 925.
While the EPA’s notice and comment procedure poses special problems in identifying who qualifies as a “party to the proceedings,” no such confusion arises when the proceedings at the agency level are quasi-judicial in nature. When the proceedings before the agency involve opposing parties presenting their arguments to an “ALJ,” the “parties to the proceedings” are readily determinable.
B. FIFRA Section 6(d) suggests that a public hearing is a quasijudicial process
FIFRA § 6(d) indicates that a “public hearing” is a quasijudicial process. Section 6(d), entitled “Public hearings and scientific review,” describes a fairly extensive adjudicative process allowing for subpoenas and live testimony. 7 U.S.C. § 136d(d). The “public hearing” contemplated in Section 6(d) is to be overseen by a “healing examiner” whose decisions regarding discovery “shall be guided by the principles of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.” 7 U.S.C. § 136d(d). Our interpretation of the words “public hearing” in § 16(b) should be shaped by the definition set forth in § 6(d) of the same statute. Thus, a public hearing is more than just notice and comment procedure, but includes oversight by a hearing examiner and the submission of live testimony.
C. Notice and comment would be sufficient to constitute a public hearing in the context of a quasi-judicial proceeding
The majority relies on Northwest Food Processors v. Reilly, 886 F.2d 1075 (9th Cir.1989), and Environmental Defense Fund to support its proposition that solicitation of comments alone constitutes a “public hearing” under FIFRA § 16(b). Maj. Op. at 1083. 8 Far from supporting the majority’s conclusion, these cases demonstrate that a “public hearing” under § 16(b) refers to a quasi-judicial process. Unlike this case, where only written notice and comment proceedings took place, the administrative proceedings in both Northwest Food Processors and Environmental Defense Fund were quasi-judicial proceedings before an ALJ. Nw. Food Processors, 886 F.2d at 1077 (describing agency proceedings before an ALJ); Envntl. Def. Fund, 631 F.2d at 925 (describing agency proceedings before a “Chief’ ALJ).
The majority also cites Humane Society of United States v. EPA, 790 F.2d 106 (D.C.Cir.1986), to support its conclusion that “notice and comment” constitutes a “public hearing.” Maj. Op. at 1083. Reliance on Humane Society, however, is also misplaced, as the administrative proceedings in that case involved more than simply “notice and comment.” Indeed, in Humane Society the administrative proceedings comprised “[wjell over 20,000 pages in hearing testimony and exhibits ... with dozens of parties actively participating in the proceeding. Over 90 wit*1087nesses testified.” 790 F.2d at 112 n. 49 (emphasis added). The Humane Society administrative record also included an “adjudicatory hearing” overseen by an ALJ. Id. at 109 n. 7, 112 n. 46; see also 46 Fed.Reg. 59,622 (1981) (notice of “adjudicatory hearing”).
The majority concludes by citing Fla. Power & Light Co. v. Lorion, 470 U.S. 729, 745, 105 S.Ct. 1598, 84 L.Ed.2d 643 (1985), for the proposition that absent a “firm indication” to the contrary, we should presume that Congress intends to place the review of administrative decisions under the Administrative Procedure Act in the courts of appeal. That case considered whether the court of appeals could review a petition under 42 U.S.C. § 2239(b) and the Hobbs Act. See, e.g., Lorion, 470 U.S. at 737-45, 105 S.Ct. 1598. Lorion did not, however, “intimate that it was ruling as a matter of general administrative procedure.” Nader v. EPA 859 F.2d 747, 754 (9th Cir.1988); see also Am. Portland Cement Alliance v. EPA 101 F.3d 772, 779 (D.C.Cir.1996). Nothing in Lorion discusses or refers to FIFRA, the statute involved in this case.
CONCLUSION
When Congress chose the phrase “public hearing” in § 16(b) of FIFRA, it intended, as with other administrative proceedings, that where a quasi-judicial “public hearing” took place a matter should be reviewed by the court of appeals where an adequate record already existed and no fact finding remained. Where the factual record is inadequate and where no quasi-judicial “public hearing” has taken place, Congress intended to allocate jurisdiction to the district court for the development of the record. In this case, there has been no public hearing, but only the submission of written comments to the agency. The district court would conduct a public hearing, take the testimony of witnesses, rule on challenges to the evidence submitted, and render a decision based on the court’s factual findings and on the applicable law. Accordingly, in this case the district court had jurisdiction.
Further, the text of the FIFRA and prior court decisions interpreting § 16(b) reveal that a “public hearing” refers to a quasi-judicial process, not the mere solicitation of written comments from the public. The Farm Workers were correct, therefore, in seeking review of the EPA’s order in the district court.
Moreover, the merits of this case, although not at issue on appeal, warrant close inspection of proper jurisdiction to ensure that the Farm Workers have a forum for their complaints. Here, the Farm Workers sought review of an EPA order allowing for the continued use of a highly toxic pesticide, endangering agricultural workers and the environment.9 Using a cost-benefit analysis based on the submission of written comments, the EPA determined that the commercial gains in the continued use of AZM outweighed the potential risks to human health and safety and the environment. The majority construes § 16(b) in such a way as to preclude review of this compelling case and that is why I dissent.
. The EPA did conduct "meetings” with "stakeholders” in Michigan, California, Oregon, and Washington, which are areas of high AZM use, which were considered in addition to the written comments. Transcripts of these “meetings” are not part of the record.
. Other groups are joined as plaintiffs, including: Sea Mar Community Health Center, Pineros y Campesinos Unidos Del Noroeste, Beyond Pesticides, Frente Indígena de Organizaciones Binacionales, and Arnulfo Lopez.
. Defendant-intervenor-appellees are: Gowan Company, Makhteshim Agan of North America, Inc., and Bayer Cropscience LP. These three companies manufacture AZM.
. It is worth noting that the EPA did not join in the AZM manufacturers' motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.
. The majority further holds that the Farm Workers can no longer seek review in our court because the 60 day time limit for filing their petition has expired. Maj. Op. at 1083 (citing 7 U.S.C. § 136n(b)).
. Challenges to "other final actions of the Administrator” "not following a hearing” must be brought in district court under Section 16(a) of the FIFRA. 7 U.S.C. § 136n(a). Unlike 16(b), Section 16(a) does not require the person challenging the EPA’s action to have been a "party to the proceedings” before the EPA. 7 U.S.C. § 136n(a)-(b).
. In this case, the EPA received comments from "growers, grower groups, university extension agents, worker and environmental advocacy groups, registrants, and other members of the public.” I do not believe that all of these organizations, corporations, and individual members of the public were "parties to the proceedings” before the EPA.
. The majority correctly notes that the courts in Environmental Defense Fund and Northwest Food Processors based their decisions on the adequacy of the administrative record. Maj. Op. at 1083. The majority neglects to mention, however, that the courts in Environmental Defense Fund and Northwest Food Processors examined the adequacy of the administrative record when the administrative proceedings involved a quasi-judicial process. Nw. Food Processors, 886 F.2d at 1077; Envntl. Def. Fund, 631 F.2d at 925. In fact, as the Farm Workers argue, "every published case that discusses FIFRA’s jurisdictional provisions under section 16 involved either quasi-judicial proceedings before an administrative law judge or public proceedings with live witness testimony.”
. The EPA’s final decision of November 16, 2006, explains that AZM is "very highly toxic to freshwater and marine fish and invertebrate species as well as to birds, mammals, and beneficial insects, such as honey bees” with a “high risk of mortality to numerous aquatic and terrestrial species” when used on apples.