In 2020, BLM transferred about 713 acres of ceded lands of the former Fort Hall Reservation to Simplot. The Ninth Circuit held that the 1900 law ratifying the Tribes’ 1898 land agreement barred the transfer under FLPMA. If the exchange stands, treaty-protected rights to hunt, fish, graze, and cut timber would end on those parcels. The district court has not yet decided a remedy. The government and Simplot are asking the Supreme Court to review the ruling.
The exchange gives Simplot more land to expand its gypstack, the pile of toxic phosphogypsum waste from the phosphate fertilizer plant it’s operated next to the Fort Hall Reservation since the 1940s. According to the Tribes’ brief, the expansion would let the plant keep operating beside the Reservation for about another 65 years. Simplot’s Don Plant is part of the Eastern Michaud Flats Superfund site. The EPA says cleanup is ongoing, and groundwater from the Simplot portion still carries about 200 pounds of phosphorus a day into the Portneuf River. The Don Plant and its gypstack has contaminated the Tribes’ air, land, and water for over 80 years.
Now § 1091(b) of the Senate FY2027 defense bill would provide that, “notwithstanding any other provision of law,” the Secretary’s approval and issuance of the patent for these lands under FLPMA “are reaffirmed and ratified.” Donna Thompson, Chairwoman of the Fort Hall Business Council of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, states that Idaho’s Senator Jim Risch made a deal with Senator Mike Lee to add the provision into the defense bill with no hearing, no vote, and no consultation. The Senate hasn’t passed the bill. The Tribes’ brief in opposition to cert argues that review is premature, in part because Congress could moot the case. The Tribes are asking the public to urge Idaho’s delegation to remove § 1091(b).
Resources
- Shoshone-Bannock Tribes v. U.S. Dep’t of the Interior, No. 23-35543 (9th Cir. Aug. 22, 2025)
- Order denying rehearing en banc (9th Cir. Apr. 21, 2026)
- Petition for certiorari, Dep’t of the Interior v. Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, No. 26-96
- Petition for certiorari, J.R. Simplot Co. v. Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, No. 26-109
- Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ brief in opposition, Nos. 26-96, 26-109 (Oct. 21, 2026)
- S. 4784, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027 (reported in Senate), § 1091(b)
- BLM, Blackrock Land Exchange FEIS Vol. 1 (May 2020)
- BLM, Blackrock Land Exchange Final Environmental Impact Statement Vol. 2 (May 2020)
- EPA, Eastern Michaud Flats Superfund Site: Cleanup Activities
- Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Protect Public Land from Simplot’s Toxic Waste Dump Expansion (Oct. 15)
- NARF Tribal Supreme Court Project: case docket
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