United States Ninth Circuit
Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone of Nev. v. US Dept. of Interior, 07-16336
In an action claiming that the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) approval of a mining company's amendment to a plan of operations for an existing mineral exploration project in Nevada violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the National Historic Preservation Act, and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed in part where 1) the BLM did not violate NEPA by approving the amendment without knowing the precise locations of drill sites, access roads, and other project activities; and 2) given the uncertainty of the exploration activities, the BLM imposed mitigation measures designed to adequately protect cultural resources in all phases of the amendment. However, the order is reversed in part where BLM's analysis of the cumulative impacts of the proposed amendment and the project was insufficient, and therefore violated NEPA.
Appellate Information
- Argued 01/15/2009
- Decided 06/18/2010
- Published 06/18/2010
Judges
- Before SIDNEY R. THOMAS and RICHARD A. PAEZ, Circuit Judges, and DAVID A. EZRA,District Judge.
Court
- United States Ninth Circuit
Counsel
- For Appellant:
- Roger Flynn, Jeffery C. Parsons, Western Mining Action Project, Lyons, CO, for petitioners Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone of Nevada, Western Shoshone Defense Project, and Great BasinMine Watch.
- For Appellees:
- Ronald J. Tenpas, Assistant Attorney General, Mark Haag, Attorney, Environment & Natural Resources Division, Department of Justice, Washington, DC, John Steiger, of Counsel, Office of the Regional Solicitor, United States Department of the Interior, Salt Lake City, UT, for respondents United States Department of the Interior; Robert V. Abbey, State Director; Gail G. Givens, Assistant Field Manager, Battle Mountain Field Office; Clinton R. Oke, Assistant Field Manager, Elko Field Office; United States Bureau of Land Management., Robert Tuchman, Thomas F. Cope, Linnea Brown, Holme Roberts & Owen LLP, Denver, CO, W. Chris Wicker, Woodburn and Wedge, Reno, NV, for respondent-intervenor Cortez Gold Mines.