Hamaatsa, Inc. v. Southwest Regional Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 55 IBIA 132 (2012)

INTERIOR BOARD OF INDIAN APPEALS Hamaatsa, Inc. v. Southwest Regional Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs 55 IBIA 132 (06/22/2012)

United States Department of the Interior

OFFICE OF HEARINGS AND APPEALS INTERIOR BOARD OF INDIAN APPEALS 801 NORTH QUINCY STREET SUITE 300 ARLINGTON, VA 22203

HAMAATSA, INC., Appellant, v. SOUTHWEST REGIONAL DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, Appellee.

Order Vacating Decisions and Dismissing Appeal

Docket No. IBIA 12-037

June 22, 2012

Hamaatsa, Inc. (Appellant), appealed to the Board of Indian Affairs (Board) from a September 27, 2011, decision (2011 Decision), which was superseded and replaced by a January 25, 2012, decision (2012 Decision), by the Southwest Regional Director (Regional Director), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).1 Both decisions address a proposal from the Pueblo of San Felipe (Pueblo) for the United States to accept a 159.12-acre parcel of land in trust for the Pueblo.2 Appellant claims that it is entitled to the use of a road that crosses the parcel. Although the Regional Director concluded—favorably to Appellant— that BIA would not take the parcel in trust until the dispute over the road was resolved, and although Appellant agreed with much of the Regional Director‟s analysis, Appellant appealed to the Board, arguing that the 2011 Decision was flawed in a critical respect. Appellant continued to pursue the appeal by objecting to the 2012 Decision. While the appeal was pending, the Pueblo withdrew its trust application for this parcel. The Regional Director moved to dismiss the appeal as moot and for an order vacating the underlying BIA decisions regarding the parcel to make clear that if the matter1

January 25, 2012, and the Superintendent‟s October 22, 2010, decision, as those decisions applied to the 159.12-acre parcel. I concur:

// original signed Steven K. Linscheid Chief Administrative Judge

//original signed Debora G. Luther Administrative Judge

[1]. The Regional Director issued the 2012 Decision after the Board granted his request for a limited remand to address ambiguities in the 2011 Decision.

2

The parcel at issue is described as Lots 1, 2, 3, and 4 of Section 3, Township 13 North, Range 6 East, New Mexico Principal Meridian, Sandoval County, New Mexico, containing 159.12 acres, more or less. The parcel was among the lands included in a decision by BIA‟s Southern Pueblos Agency Superintendent (Superintendent) to accept into trust 11,484.14 acres, more or less. See 2011 Decision at 3-4. With the exception of the 159.12-acre parcel, the Regional Director allowed the trust acquisition to be completed. See id. at 4. 55 IBIA 132

were ever to arise again, BIA would begin with a clean slate.3 Appellant agrees that the appeal should be dismissed as moot, but opposes the motion to vacate the Regional Director‟s decisions. Appellant contends that because it is possible that the Pueblo would resubmit its trust application for the parcel, it is important that the Regional Director‟s decisions “stand.” Appellant‟s Response to Motion to Dismiss at 3. We grant the Regional Director‟s motion, vacate the decisions, and dismiss the appeal, because Appellant has no legal right or interest in having a BIA decision, which has never become effective, and which pertains to a trust acquisition request that has been withdrawn and is now moot, somehow “stand.” A BIA official has a broad right to seek vacatur of his or her discretionary decision while an appeal is pending before the Board. The fact that the underlying dispute over the Pueblo‟s now-withdrawn trust acquisition request has...

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