Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of Fort Hall Reservation v. Hammond

The federal district court for the District of Idaho ruled that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) violated the 1900 Act (which implemented the 1898 Cession Agreement in which the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes ceded a portion of Fort Hall Reservation to the U.S.), the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, and NEPA in connection with approval of a land exchange from the United States to a private company for building new gypstacks for waste from a phosphate processing facility. The NEPA violation related to BLM’s failure to consider design options for cooling ponds and gypstack expansion and its reliance on other agencies’ enforcement. The court rejected other NEPA arguments, including regarding air quality. Although the complaint alleged that BLM’s assessment of impacts on both air quality and climate change was incorrect, the court’s decision did not address any arguments specific to climate change.

The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes filed a lawsuit in federal court in Idaho challenging the U.S. Department of Interior’s approval of a land exchange to facilitate expansion of phosphogypsum stacks located on a Superfund site adjacent to the Fort Hall Reservation. The Tribes alleged that the environmental impact statement failed to satisfy National Environmental Policy Act requirements, including by failing to adequately evaluate air quality and climate change impacts. The Tribes also asserted violations of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, the Act of June 6, 1900 (which the Tribes alleged reaffirmed off-reservation treaty rights), the Fort Bridger Treaty of 1868, and the U.S.’s trust responsibility.