Here.
Colville Tribes Settle Trust Management Claims for $193 Million
Here.
Colville Confederated Tribes
News Article about Rising Tribal Enrollment Numbers (Excluding the Disenrollment Tribes, of course)
Good news:
The swelling membership of the Tulalip Tribes, based near Everett, Washington, for example, is a point of pride for tribal member and state representative John McCoy, who believes improved health care and an above-average birth rate are at play.
“We’re living longer. Our babies are surviving birth,” says McCoy, adding that more jobs on reservations, led by tribal gaming, is another reason for the growth. “So we have our peoples coming back from other states. They’re coming home because there is an economy.”
At Tulalip, that adds up to a 22 percent growth rate over the past decade. Other tribes around the country have grown even faster.
And not so good:
At the other end of the spectrum are tribes whose enrollments are stagnating, including for example the Colville Confederated Tribes in northeast Washington.
Tribal councilmember Ricky Gabriel has proposed a referendum to relax the blood requirement in the tribal constitution so more children of mixed marriages can enroll.
“I’ve had a lot of very positive [reactions],” he says. “The elders are extremely happy about this. They’re pushing hard. They’re seeing their grandchildren not be able to be enrolled.”
Enrollment in the tribe currently requires a minimum of one-quarter Colville blood. But when you have intermarriage, that bloodline is diluted. It takes just a couple of generations of intermarriage to put the children at risk of being disqualified from membership.
Then the tribal population withers. The proposed referendum would change the rules to count any Indian blood toward the minimum.
Washington SCT Decides Five Corners Family Farmers v. State — Groundwater Allocation Case
Here is the majority and here is the dissent.
Here is the tribal amicus brief.
Challenge to Colville State Tax Agreement Dismissed
Here are the materials in Tonasket v. Sargent (W.D. Wash.):
Challenge to Colville Membership Decision Dismissed by Federal Court
Here are the materials in Desautel v. Dupris (E.D. Wash.):
Pakootas v. Teck Camino: Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of CERCLA Citizen Suit Filed by Colville Members
Here is the opinion.
An excerpt:
As the district court correctly concluded, it lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate the Pakootas and Michel claims for penalties for the 892 days of noncompliance with the unilateral administrative order, and properly dismissed their claims.
Ninth Circuit Affirms Wapato Heritage v. Evans — UPDATED
Here is today’s opinion. A related unpublished opinion disposing of other claims presumably will appear later in the day is here.
The briefs are here.
Lower court materials.
An excerpt detailing the issue:
Plaintiff-Appellant Wapato Heritage, L.L.C. (Wapato),appeals the district court’s order denying its motion for summary judgment and motion for reconsideration, and grantingDefendants-Appellees’ motion for summary judgment andmotion to dismiss. We address whether Wapato’spredecessor-in-interest, William Wapato Evans, Jr. (Evans),effectively exercised his option to renew a lease agreement(Lease) between Evans and certain Native American landowners (Landowners) covering real property known as MosesAllotment No. 8 (MA-8). The district court ruled that Evansdid not comply with the Lease’s requirements that he notifyall the Landowners that he intended to renew the Lease.Wapato, the current holder of all the Lessee’s rights under theLease, timely appealed.
Trial Court Orders in Wapato Heritage LLC v. United States — Allotment Case
Here are the opinions out of the Eastern District of Washington:
Wapato Heritage DCT Order Granting Partial Summary J
Wapato Heritage DCT Order to Dismiss
An excerpt:
On May 19, 2006, Plaintiff submitted to Defendant a proposed “Replacement Lease” for MA-8, which would run for a term of 99 years and allow housing development on part of MA-8. In order to secure approval of the Replacement Lease, Plaintiff needed to obtain the consent of a majority of the beneficial owners of MA-8. To that end, Plaintiff and the BIA scheduled a number of meetings in the summer of 2006 with Indian landowners to provide information about the Replacement Lease. During the summer of 2006, Plaintiff asserted that a majority of beneficial owners had consented to the Replacement Lease, and included its own approximately 24% ownership interest in calculating that majority. Plaintiff’s interest is a life estate, with the remainder reverting to the Colville Confederated Tribes (“Tribe”).
Court Dismisses Teck Camino Counterclaim against Colville
Here is the opinion in Pakootas v. Teck Camino (E.D. Wash.) in which the court dismisses counterclaims by the polluter (Teck Camino) against one of the plaintiffs (the Colville Confederated Tribes) on grounds that tribes cannot be liable under CERCLA — DCT Order Dismissing Teck Camino Counterclaims
Here are the briefs:
Colville Motion to Dismiss Counterclaims
Colville Employment Case in Tribal Court — News Coverage
From the Wenatchee World:
NESPELEM — A judge for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation has upheld an administrative law judge’s decision ordering the tribe to rehire and give backpay to five employees who were fired during budget cuts last November.
But the July 23 ruling by Colville Tribal Chief Judge Steven Aycock also asks the employees and tribal government to “sit down and discuss a resolution that all can live with” given the tribe’s budget troubles.
Aycock wrote that relief is “problematic,” due to the tribes’ financial problems. “The positions are not budgeted. No monies have been budgeted for backpay,” he wrote. Instead, he’s asked each party to file a recommendation for appropriate relief within 60 days, and the court will revisit the issue of relief on Sept. 15.
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