Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Law

Fmc Corp. V. Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Seth T. Bonilla Apr 2020

Fmc Corp. V. Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, Seth T. Bonilla

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In 1998, FMC Corporation agreed to submit to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ permitting processes, including the payment of fees, for clean-up work required as part of consent decree negotiations with the Environmental Protection Agency. Then, in 2002, FMC refused to pay the Tribes under a permitting agreement entered into by both parties, even though the company continued to store hazardous waste on land within the Shoshone-Bannock Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho. FMC challenged the Tribes’ authority to enforce the $1.5 million permitting fees first in tribal court and later challenged the Tribes’ authority to exercise civil regulatory and adjudicatory jurisdiction over …


Highway Culverts, Salmon Runs, And The Stevens Treaties: A Century Of Litigating Pacific Northwest Tribal Fishing Rights, Ryan Hickey Oct 2018

Highway Culverts, Salmon Runs, And The Stevens Treaties: A Century Of Litigating Pacific Northwest Tribal Fishing Rights, Ryan Hickey

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Isaac Stevens, then Superintendent of Indian Affairs and Governor of Washington Territory, negotiated a series of treaties with Indian tribes in the Pacific Northwest during 1854 and 1855. A century and a half later in 2001, the United States joined 21 Indian tribes in filing a Request for Determination in the United States District Court for the District of Washington. Plaintiffs alleged the State of Washington had violated those 150-year-old treaties, which remained in effect, by building and maintaining culverts under roads that prevented salmon passage. This litigation eventually reached the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which held in favor …


Akiachak Native Community V. United States Department Of Interior, Lillian M. Alvernaz Jan 2017

Akiachak Native Community V. United States Department Of Interior, Lillian M. Alvernaz

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Alaska Native Tribes have long been classified differently than the federally recognized Indian tribes in the rest of the country. The Akiachak decision contributes to the shifting treatment of Alaska Native Tribes and clarifies their relationship with the federal government. The ability to put land into trust is essential to the protection of generations to come and the exercise of sovereign authority. By enabling Alaska Native tribes the ability to petition to put tribally owned fee land in trust, the DOI promotes and encourages tribal self-governance and empowerment.


United States V. Washington, Kirsa Shelkey Dec 2016

United States V. Washington, Kirsa Shelkey

Public Land & Resources Law Review

Pacific Northwest Treaties, now known as the Stevens Treaties, were negotiated in the 1850’s between the U.S. and Indian tribes, including the Suquamish Indian Tribe, Jamestown S'Klallam, Lower Elwha Band of Klallams, Port Gamble Clallam, Nisqually Indian Tribe, Nooksack Tribe, Sauk-Suiattle Tribe, Skokomish Indian Tribe, Squaxin Island Tribe, Stillaguamish Tribe, Upper Skagit Tribe, Tulalip Tribes, Lummi Indian Nation, Quinault Indian Nation, Puyallup Tribe, Hoh Tribe, Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Indian Nation, Quileute Indian Tribe, Makah Indian Tribe, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, and the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe (“Tribes”). The Stevens Treaties stated that “the right of taking fish, …


Tribal Water Rights Settlements And Instream Flow Protection, Dylan M. Desrosier Jan 2015

Tribal Water Rights Settlements And Instream Flow Protection, Dylan M. Desrosier

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Native American Tribes have been fighting for access, legal recognition, and the control over their water rights for more than a century. Today less than ten percent of the 566 federally recognized Tribes have had their rights legally defined and secured under the law. One particularly complicated and compelling aspect of tribal reserved water rights involves the protection of water instream. Since the McCarran Amendment and state court quantification of Winters reserved rights, Tribes have sought to quantify and protect reserved water rights through negotiated settlement agreements. Although the settlements seek to bring certainty, resolution, and final integration of reserved …


Western Montana Water Users Assoc., Llc V. Mission Irrigation District, David A. Bell Oct 2013

Western Montana Water Users Assoc., Llc V. Mission Irrigation District, David A. Bell

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The Western Montana Water Users challenged the authority of the Flathead Joint Control Board to enter into a Water Use Agreement with Tribal, State, and Federal governments. This procedural challenge alleged that the Joint Control Board, made up of the irrigation districts, did not have the ability under Montana statutes to act for the irrigators without a specific vote of the members and approval from the district court. Two days after receiving the case the Montana Supreme Court reversed, determining that the statutes were inapplicable and the Joint Control Board had authority to enter the agreement.