Yakama’s quest for treaty rights in United States v. Oregon suffered another setback in federal district court. Here are the materials:
Colville Confederated Tribes
Case Note on Trail Smelter (Pakootas v. Teck Camino)
The Harvard Environmental Law Review published a case note on the Trail Smelter case, “Pakootas v. Teck Cominco Metals, Ltd.“ The Supreme Court will decide shortly whether or not the hear the case, though the Solicitor General has argued in favor of a denial of cert. The case involves water pollution of tribal waters at Colville by a Canadian smelter.
Teck Camino Cert Petition and Briefs
The materials in the Teck Camino v. Pakootas case are at the Supreme Court Project website, here. Today, the United States responded to the Court’s call for the views of the Solicitor General by arguing in favor of a denial of the petition. In some respects, this is a victory for the tribal member plaintiffs, because it upholds the Ninth Circuit’s decision that CERCLA applies to the Canadian company’s discharges. But in another respect, it is a loss, because the EPA attempted to render the case moot by refusing to enforce its own finding that Teck Camino was liable. The SG argued that the case was moot because of this action.
Turtle Talk 