Indian country sacred sites

Tribal Challenge to Willits Bypass Project

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here is the complaint in Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians of California v. United States Dept. of Transportation (N.D. Cal.):

Complaint

An excerpt:

Defendants in this case must not be allowed to destroy historic properties, cultural resources, and sacred sites to build the Willits Bypass Project. This case challenges Defendants’ ongoing failure to properly identify and protect Plaintiffs’ ancestral, sacred, cultural, and archaeological sites and resources in the construction of the Willits Bypass Project. As a result of Defendants’ ground-disturbing activity both along the route and in the mitigation lands of the Willits Bypass Project, Defendants have destroyed the ancestral Native American sacred and cultural sites of Plaintiffs the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians and the Round Valley Indian Tribes of California and failed to protect such places in the area of the Project, including the mitigation lands.

Ninth Circuit Decides Pit River Tribe v. Bureau of Land Management re: Medicine Lake Highlands

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion. An excerpt from the court’s syllabus:

The panel reversed the district court’s order granting judgment on the pleadings in an action brought by environmental organizations challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s continuation of 26 geothermal leases in northeastern California’s Medicine Lake Highlands.

The panel held that the district court incorrectly treated the environmental organizations’ claims as arising under only § 1005(a) of the Geothermal Steam Act. BLM’s 1998 decision to continue the 26 unproven leases in the Glass Mountain Unit under § 1005(a) was issued simultaneously with its decision to reverse and vacate its earlier decision to extend those leases on a lease-by-lease basis under § 1005(g). The panel held, thus, that the environmental organizations’ challenge to BLM’s decisions issued on May 18, 1998 implicated both § 1005(a) and § 1005(g).

Because BLM must conduct environmental, historical, and cultural review under the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act before granting lease extensions under § 1005(g), the panel held that the environmental organizations’ claim fell within § 1005(g)’s zone-of-interests, and the organizations had
stated a claim under § 1005(g).

The panel declined the environmental organizations’ invitation to rule on the merits of its Geothermal Steam Act claims, and remanded for further proceedings.

Briefs:

Pit River Opening Brief

BLM Answer Brief

Pit River Reply

NYTs’Op/Ed: “Selling Off Apache Holy Land”

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Ninth Circuit Briefs in Challenge to Interior Withdrawal of Grand Canyon Lands from Uranium Mining

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here are the opening briefs in National Mining Assn. v. Jewell:

16 – Open Brief – no Addendum (Quaterra)

18 – Open Brief & Addendum (NMA)

20 – Open Brief (AEMA)

29 – Utah, AZ, NV, MT – Amicus in Favor of Reversal

Yount 9th Circuit Informal Appeal 

US Brief

Tribal Amicus

Navajo Amicus

Intervenors Response Brief 

Lower court order here; briefs here. Other materials here.

Federal Court Affirms Interior Withdrawal of Grand Canyon Lands from Uranium Mining

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here is the order in Yount v. Jewell (D. Ariz.):

Doc 238 SJ Order in Yount v Jewell 9-30-14

Briefs here. Other materials here.

IPR on KBIC/Bad River Letter to UN Special Rapporteur re: Mining

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

An excerpt:

A tribe in the Upper Peninsula is appealing to the United Nations in an effort to restrain sulfide mining. The tribe hopes to strengthen its position through an international agreement signed by the Obama Administration.

The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community says mines that produce sulfuric acid can pollute the water and threaten places sacred to tribes in the Great Lakes. The Keweenaw tribe fought the Eagle Mine, a new copper and nickel mine under construction in Marquette County.

The owner, Kennecott Eagle Minerals says it is leading a resurgence of mining in the Upper Peninsula.

One of the issues raised was the mine’s proximity to Eagle Rock, a rock outcropping that has been used for sacred ceremonies. Eagle Rock is prominently cited in a document sent to the United Nations. It says tribes are overwhelmed by the development of new mines and the State of Michigan does not consider their cultures when issuing permits.

Many American Indian tribes are raising issues like these with the U.N. now because the U.S. endorsed the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People in 2010. A U.N. official is visiting this week to gather information about implementing the declaration.

An attorney for the Keweenaw tribe says the declaration is not law, it’s a political document that sets out principles. But she says it could lead to new laws that would help tribes in the Great Lakes region oppose sulfide mining.

Keweenaw Bay and Bad River Chippewa Media Release on Report on Mining to UN Special Rapporteur

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here (Media release. Bad River 5.2.2012):

Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa recently collaborated on a Statement of Information submitted to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples documenting concerns about the activities of multinational mining corporations in Anishinabe territories.  The Statement of Information is available here http://www.badriver-nsn.gov/images/stories/docs/activities_anishinaabeg.pdf.

Today, members of the Bad River Band Council are attending a consultation with the UN Special Rapporteur in Mission, South Dakota.  Representatives from Keweenaw Bay Indian Community plan to attend another consultation with the UN Special Rapporteur later this month.