News & Updates from WAGLAC
March 14, 2023
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The 2023 Summer WAGLAC meeting will be held in conjunction with the AGA/CWAG annual meeting on June 20th in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. In addition to the roundtable discussion of natural resources, environmental, public lands, water, energy, and Indian law matters there will be a half-day seminar during the summer WAGLAC meeting.
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Cattle country fends off climate villain label
By Marc Heller | 03/06/2023
Visitors to historic Dodge City, Kansas can’t miss that its economic core is red meat. With two meatpacking plants and a feedlot with thousands of cattle, the evidence — a sometimes overwhelming smell of livestock — is just as obvious. If there’s a place where concerns about meat’s role in the climate crisis hits home, Dodge City and the surrounding countryside are it. Farmers and the companies that deal in beef are experiencing a mix of defensiveness, anger, and guarded optimism as they chart a course for survival in a world that’s often telling people to eat less meat or none at all. So far, they say, the messaging war hasn’t shaken Americans’ appetite for steak and burgers — but it’s frustrating, nonetheless.
Ranches have been in the family for generations. Ranchers consider farms low impact, from an environmental standpoint. A large number graze cattle on hardy grass breeds, don't irrigate, or irrigate very little, and use only horses — not vehicles — to patrol the pastures and check on newly born calves. But they also represent a challenge for companies like National Beef Packing Co. and Cargill Inc., which both have processing facilities in Dodge City, which are looking to reshape the conversation about beef to be more embracing of the concept of climate-related sustainability.
Cattle spend a few months in feedlots before heading to slaughter; debates over the livestock industry’s greenhouse gas impacts haven’t spoiled consumer demand for beef, government reports suggest. Consumer demand for meat remains strong, according to industry groups and the Department of Agriculture, which said demand should be robust enough to maintain prices that farmers are paid for cattle.
A growing amount of research points to livestock’s climate-related impact. From birth to consumption, cattle rate high in climate emissions compared to other agricultural sources. The cattle and climate issue becomes more muddied with the growth of lab-grown meat, which the industry refers to as “cultivated". The cell-based technology produces cultivated meat comprised of all the essential components found in conventional meat, such as fat and muscle cells, as well as the related extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins.
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Nations agree on ‘world-changing’ deal to protect ocean life
By Leo Sands and Dino Grandoni | WAPO | March 5, 2023
“More than 190 countries have reached a landmark deal for protecting the biodiversity of the world’s oceans, agreeing for the first time on a common framework for establishing new protected areas in international waters.
Environmental advocacy groups heralded the finalized text — which still needs to be ratified by the United Nations — as a new chapter for Earth’s high seas. Just 1.2 percent of them are currently environmentally protected, exposing the vast array of marine species that teem beneath the surface — from tiny plankton to giant whales — to threats such as pollution, overfishing, shipping and deep-sea mining.”
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A mouse, a wolf and a sage grouse will get another ESA look
GREENWIRE | BY: MICHAEL DOYLE, SCOTT STREATER | 03/10/2023 01:44 PM EST
The Fish and Wildlife Service is embarking on an Endangered Species Act review of the list of 27 high-profile animals — including the Gunnison sage grouse, Mexican wolf, and Preble's meadow jumping mouse — that will help settle their places on the list of protected plants and animals. The status assessments announced recently identify 27 species in the agency’s Mountain-Prairie Region.
The bird and the bouncy little rodent are listed as threatened and the wolf is listed as endangered under the ESA. All three species have excited more than their fair share of controversies that could resurface as Fish and Wildlife Service biologists commence their reviews.
Called five-year reviews by ESA cognoscenti, the studies are designed to obtain the “best scientific and commercial data available” in order to guide decisions about keeping the species on the threatened or endangered List. They are required under the law. A five-year review does not automatically change a species’ protections or status. It provides recommendations that could range from reclassifying a species to staying put.
FWS plans to publish a notice of the five-year status review in the Federal Register, kicking off a 60-day public comment period running through May 12 for the 27 species other than the wolf, which has a 30-day comment period. The service is requesting the public to submit new studies or data on the grouse and other species “that has become available since the last review for the species,” according to an advance notice in the Register.
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Attorney General Bird Takes Further Action Against EPA’s Delayed E15 Decision
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers took another step to challenge the EPA’s illegally delayed decision regarding the sale of year-round E15 gasoline. They sent an intent-to-sue letter to the EPA demanding that the EPA change the proposed rule to allow for E15 sales this summer.
Governor Kim Reynolds led a bipartisan group of seven governors in a letter to the EPA on April 28, 2022, requesting a waiver to extend the sale of E15 through the summer months. E15 is already sold during fall, winter, and spring. The letter requests that the EPA issue a waiver allowing the sale of year-round E15 starting April 28, 2023. Sending the letter is a required step under federal law at least 60 days before filing a lawsuit. Should the EPA fail to change the rule’s effective start date, the States have reserved the right to sue.
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Advisory Committee Charts a Path Forward for Controlling Destructive Invasive Species
U.S. Department of the Interior
After being disbanded in 2019, newly appointed members of the Invasive Species Advisory Committee (ISAC) gathered this week to discuss strategies to prevent, eradicate and control invasive species, which impose substantial costs on society and cause damages that impact the global economy, including an estimated $120 billion in environmental damages and losses annually in the United States.
Chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act and managed by the Department of the Interior, the ISAC has provided valuable input to the National Invasive Species Council on a wide range of federal priorities and emerging issues since it was created in 1999. The Council comprises the senior leadership of 12 federal departments and agencies, and four executive offices of the President. Co-chairs are the secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture and Commerce.
During this week’s meeting, ISAC members and other subject matter experts provided updates on priorities such as the implementation of the President Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, early detection and rapid response, wildland fire, climate change, and underserved communities. ISAC members represent a broad range of expertise and stakeholder interests that includes non-federal government agencies; academia, research institutions, and scientific societies; the private sector and industry/trade associations; conservation and land management organizations; landowners, farmers, ranchers, foresters, and other resource users; public health specialists; education and outreach specialists; regional organizations; and citizen scientists, recreationists and other public interest groups.
The new ISAC members were appointed on December 23, 2022, by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. Membership includes 13 voting members and ex-officio members representing stakeholder non-governmental organizations.
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San Carlos Apache Tribe supports passage of the “Save Oak Flat from Foreign Mining Act” and submits Congressional testimony opposing the proposed Resolution Copper Mine
The Gila Herald
The San Carlos Apache Tribe strongly supports the passage of the Save Oak Flat from Foreign Mining Act introduced, which would stop plans to construct the Resolution Copper Mine 70 miles east of Phoenix on public land owned by the American people. Resolution Copper Limited Liability Company is owned by the two largest foreign mining companies in the world.
A 2014 law mandates that the Chi’chil Bildagoteel/Oak Flat be given to Resolution Copper within 60 days of publication of an Environmental Impact Statement under the National Environmental Policy Act. The law was passed after it was rejected by Congress through regular order, which allows for a transparent and public process, but was instead attached at the last minute behind closed doors as a non-germane rider to a must-pass defense spending bill with no opportunity for amendment.
The U.S. Forest Service published a Final Environmental Impact Statement with serious deficiencies in January 2021. The current Administration subsequently withdrew the FEIS on March 1, 2021, because of a lack of required consultation with Indian tribes and the need to review whether the FEIS complied with federal laws, stopping the 60-day deadline to give away Chi’chil Bildagoteel/Oak Flat. The San Carlos Apache Tribe has filed a federal lawsuit on the basis that the FEIS violates federal laws. Two other federal lawsuits are also pending.
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Attorney General Bonta Announces $1.7 Million Settlement with Five Gas Station Owners and Operators for Environmental Violations at Northern California Gas Stations
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, along with the many California district attorneys, announced a $1.7 million settlement with several owners and operators of gas stations resolving allegations that the defendants violated state environmental laws while operating above-ground and underground storage tank systems at 14 gas stations.
The settlement includes robust injunctive terms to improve the defendants’ operational safety and compliance with state laws to avoid potential contamination of soil and groundwater. Both above-ground and underground storage tank systems are subject to strict regulations in California because of the potential for even a small tank leak, if undetected, to cause substantial contamination of soil and groundwater. For example, California requires that all underground storage tank systems be designed and constructed with primary and secondary levels of containment, continuous monitoring systems, constant vacuum pressure, equipment to prevent spills and leaks, and automatic leak detectors.
The settlement resolves these allegations. The settlement requires the defendants to pay $1.7 million in civil penalties and imposes more than a dozen injunctive terms, including employment of an environmental compliance coordinator and annual reporting requirements.
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The President signed an executive order directing the entire Federal government to advance an ambitious equity and racial justice agenda—not as a one-year project, but as part of a sustained commitment to make the promise of America real for every American, including rural communities, communities of color, women and girls, Tribal communities, LGBTQI+ individuals, people with disabilities, and communities impacted by persistent poverty. Since then, the Administration has made significant progress advancing equity across the Federal Government, including by releasing a second executive order in February 2023 that strengthens the government’s ability to create opportunities for communities and populations that have been historically underserved, and continues to build an America in which all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential.
The President’s Budget builds on that progress by making historic investments to support underserved communities and combat racial disparities across the Nation, including in health, education, and economic opportunity.
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Idaho joins Texas lawsuit over new federal clean-water rules
By REBECCA BOONE | AP | February 28, 2023
“Idaho has joined a Texas lawsuit against the White House administration’s waterway protections, claiming the rules are too vague and violate state sovereignty rights.
The lawsuit, originally filed in southern Texas’ federal courts on January 18, was amended to include Idaho on Monday. In it, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador contend that a new interpretation of a Clean Water Act rule is too vague, oversteps the bounds of federal authority and puts the liberties of states and private property owners at risk.
The federal rule was finalized by President Joe Biden’s administration in December. It defines which “waters of the United States” — often called “WOTUS” — qualify for protection under the Clean Water Act.”
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All summaries are posted in CWAG's google docs account, accessible through the link below. Should you have any issues with the links, contact Patricia Salazar at [email protected] with any questions.
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Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians v. Haaland, ___ F. Supp. 3d ___, 2023 WL 2384443 (D. D.C., March 6, 2023). The Department of the Interior’s refusal to take land into trust for a casino was neither contrary to law nor arbitrary, given the terms of the Michigan Lands Claims Settlement Act limiting the purposes for which land could be acquired.
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U.S. v. D.B., ___ F.4th ___, 2023 WL 2360843 (8th Cir., March 6, 2023). Juvenile enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe could not assert on appeal that district court should have dismissed burglary charges due to failure to try him within 30 days of detention as required by Federal Juvenile Delinquency Act, 18 U.S.C. § 5036, due to juvenile’s signing of plea bargain agreement waiving right to appeal all ‘non-jurisdictional’ issues.
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Sauk-Seattle Indian Tribe v. City of Seattle, ___ P.3d ___, 2023 WL 2362747 (Wash. Ct. App., March 6, 2023). District court erred in dismissing Tribe’s complaint alleging that City’s promotion of its hydroelectric project as environmentally friendly constituted a public and private nuisance by causing the public perception that the decline in fisheries was due to tribal fishing, thereby harming the Tribe’s “brand and reputation.”
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Northern Arapaho Tribe v. Becerra, ___ F.4th ___, 2023 WL 2359238 (10th Cir., March 6, 2023). Holding: Tribe is entitled to contract support costs under ISDEAA contract for its administrative expenditures associated with collecting and then recirculating revenues generated by billing third-party insurers.
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Stimson Lumber Co. v. Coeur d’Alene Tribe, 2023 WL 2354888 (D. Idaho, March 4, 2022). Complaint alleging that terms of sawmill lease prohibited Tribe from referring lease dispute to tribal court did not present a federal question.
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American Indian Law Deskbook |
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Notice: 2022 Edition of the American Indian Law Deskbook is now available on Westlaw and in hard-copy and electronic formats.
Editions of the Deskbook are published annually by Thomson Reuters, and the 2022 Edition was issued during the week of May 23, 2021. It is available on Westlaw in the Secondary Sources/Texts & Treatises category, in hard copy, and in electronic format.
Please click the link below to order or reach out to Steven Strack at [email protected] with questions regarding obtaining a copy of the American Indian Law Deskbook.
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Western Attorneys General Litigation Action Committee |
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CWAG oversees and coordinates the Western Attorneys General Litigation Action Committee (WAGLAC), which consists of assistant attorneys general involved in litigation related to the environment, natural resources, public lands, and Indian law. WAGLAC was formed over 40 years ago and meets three times per year to discuss the latest developments in these areas of the law. AGO staff gain essential contacts throughout the country in these important areas of the law.
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Contributions For WAGLAC Newsletter |
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We rely on our readers to send us links for the WAGLAC Newsletter. If you have or know of a recent (published in the last two weeks) case, statute, or article relating to natural resources, environment, Indian law, or federalism that you would like us to consider for inclusion in the Newsletter, please do not hesitate to send it to Clive Strong at [email protected].
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For a complete database of all previously published WAGLAC newsletters, please click the Archive Button. |
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Conference of Western Attorneys General
5050 Laguna Blvd | Suite 112-323 | Elk Grove, California 95758
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