Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Indians v. Hodel
| Decision Date | 09 August 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 88-15116,TRUCKEE-CARSON,88-15116 |
| Citation | 882 F.2d 364 |
| Parties | PYRAMID LAKE PAIUTE TRIBE OF INDIANS, Plaintiff, v. Donald P. HODEL, Secretary of the Interior, Defendant-Appellant, v.IRRIGATION DISTRICT; Newlands Project Water Rights Holders; State of Nevada; Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribes, Defendants-Intervenors-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Robert S. Pelcyger and Fredericks & Pelcyger, Boulder, Colo., for plaintiff Pyramid Paiute Tribe of Indians.
Dirk D. Snell, Atty., Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., for defendant-appellant Secretary of the Interior.
Frederick G. Girard and Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann & Girard, Sacramento, Cal., for defendant-intervenor-appellee Truckee-Carson Irrigation Dist.
Brian Chally, Deputy Atty. Gen., State of Nev., Carson City, Nev., for defendant-intervenor-appellee State of Nev.
Gordon H. DePaoli and Woodburn, Wedge & Jeppson, Reno, Nev., for defendants-intervenors-appellees Newlands Project Water Rights Holders.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada.
Before CHAMBERS, Senior Circuit Judge, BROWNING and BEEZER, Circuit Judges.
The Secretary of the Interior and the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Indians appeal an order compelling the Secretary to release 21,435 acre feet of water from the Stampede Reservoir on the Little Truckee River to the Lahontan Reservoir for irrigation of lands in the Newlands Project, a federal reclamation project operated under contract by the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District (District). We reverse and remand.
This litigation concerns the administration of the decree entered in 1973 in Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Indians v. Morton, 354 F.Supp. 252 (D.D.C.1973). Judge Gesell's opinion summarizes the background facts. See also Nevada v. United States, 463 U.S. 110, 114-16, 103 S.Ct. 2906, 2910-11, 77 L.Ed.2d 509 (1983).
The underlying dispute involves the waters of the Truckee River, which if not diverted, naturally flow into Pyramid Lake within the Tribe's reservation. Some of the river's water is diverted at the Derby Dam through the Truckee Canal to the Lahontan Reservoir for the benefit of the District and, ultimately, of Newlands Project Water Rights Holders. See Pyramid Lake I, 354 F.Supp. at 259 (map). Truckee River water can be stored either in Stampede Reservoir upstream of Derby Dam or in Lahontan Reservoir downstream of Derby Dam. Water stored in Stampede Reservoir can be released to flow to Pyramid Lake for the benefit of the Tribe and its fisheries or diverted to Derby Dam to flow to Lahontan Reservoir for irrigation purposes. Once water is diverted to Lahontan Reservoir at Derby Dam, it cannot be returned upstream to benefit the Tribe. This is the critical factor underlying the present dispute.
By the late 1960s, diversion of water from the Truckee River had seriously depleted Pyramid Lake and "had the effect of making fish native to the Lake endangered protected species, and ha[d] unsettled the erosion and salinity balance of the Lake to a point where the continued utility of the Lake as a useful body of water [was] at hazard." Id. at 255.
In 1967 the Secretary of the Interior issued a general regulation providing for adoption of operating criteria for management of the waters of the Truckee River, thus "initiat[ing] Departmental controls, lacking in the past, to limit diversions by [the District] from the Truckee River within decreed rights, and thereby mak[ing] additional water available for delivery to Pyramid Lake." 43 C.F.R. Part 418, Sec. 418.1(b) (1988). A committee composed of representatives of various governmental agencies under the chairmanship of the Regional Director of the Bureau of Reclamation was directed to recommend operating criteria, for the purpose, among others, of "minimiz[ing] the diversion of flows of the Truckee River for District use in order to make available to Pyramid Lake as much water as possible." Id. at Sec. 418.3(a)(2). The regulation further provided that "[t]he United States may temporarily store part of the District's supply in upstream facilities provided that water so stored which is within the District's entitlement shall be credited to the District and shall be released to the District at its request." Id. at Sec. 418.4(f).
Beginning in 1967 the Secretary of the Interior implemented this general regulation by periodically issuing operating criteria to govern diversions of water from the Truckee to Lahontan Reservoir for use on the Newlands Project. Pyramid Lake I, 354 F.Supp. at 255.
In 1970 the Tribe initiated litigation in the District Court of the District of Columbia challenging the operating criteria in effect at that time on the ground that in issuing them the Secretary "failed to fulfill his trust responsibilities to the Tribe by illegally and unnecessarily diverting water from Pyramid Lake." Id.
Judge Gesell held the Secretary was obligated by his trust responsibilities to the Tribe to "insure, to the extent of his power, that all water not obligated by court decree or contract with the District goes to Pyramid Lake," id. at 256, and that the Secretary had failed to so do. The court noted "that the manner in which the Secretary chooses to manage and commit water stored in Stampede Reservoir will have an effect on the situation," id. at 258, and cautioned that the contract between the Secretary and the District Id.
Judge Gesell invalidated the challenged operating criteria and in 1973 approved new operating criteria to be amended only by written agreement of the parties or by order of the court. Id. at 260-62. The 1973 operating criteria reflected the objective of maximizing storage in Stampede Reservoir and minimizing diversion to Lahontan. Id. at 262. They provided that when a specified amount of uncommitted water was available in Stampede Reservoir, the water allotted to the District would not be diverted to Lahontan Reservoir, but instead would be retained in Stampede Reservoir, and the District would be given credit therefor. Id. at 264 (1973 operating criteria Sec. B(3)). The criteria further provided that water credited to the District in Stampede Reservoir at the end of the 1973 water year would be carried over as a credit in Stampede Reservoir for the 1974 water year. Id. at 264-65 (1973 operating criteria Sec. B(8)).
The Secretary did not appeal Judge Gesell's decision. This court subsequently upheld the decree against collateral attack. See Truckee-Carson Irrigation Dist. v. Secretary of Dep't of Interior, 742 F.2d 527, 530 (9th Cir.1984).
In 1985 the case was transferred from the District of the District of Columbia to the District of Nevada. The District of Nevada retained jurisdiction to oversee implementation of the 1973 decree and thus to enforce the Secretary's fiduciary duties to the Tribe. Because Pyramid Lake is home to the cui-ui fish and a species of cutthroat trout that have been endangered or threatened with extinction by past reductions in the flow of Truckee River water into the Lake, the district court's jurisdiction was also invoked under the Endangered Species Act, 16 U.S.C. Secs. 1531-1543. See Carson-Truckee Water Conservancy Dist. v. Watt, 549 F.Supp. 704, 706 (D.Nev.1982), aff'd in part and vacated in part, sub nom. Carson-Truckee Water Conservancy Dist. v. Clark, 741 F.2d 257, 260 (9th Cir.1984).
The present dispute arose when the Secretary sought approval of proposed operating criteria to govern diversions from the Truckee River during 1987. The District objected to the 1987 operating criteria. A bench trial was held in April 1987. Among the issues raised was whether the proposed 1987 operating criteria allowed the District to carry over to 1988 a credit for water retained in Stampede Reservoir for use by the District during 1987, but not used. The District contended the 1987 operating criteria allowed carry over of this Stampede Reservoir "credit water"; the Secretary and Tribe argued that it did not. The court took the matter under submission but did not decide it during the 1987 water year, which ended on October 31. In November 1987, after the close of the 1987 water year, the Secretary moved to dismiss as moot both the Secretary's petition for approval of the 1987 operating criteria, and the District's objections to approval. The court granted the motion on January 15, 1988.
Meanwhile, in December 1987, the District requested the release of its Stampede Reservoir "credit water" to Lahontan Reservoir. While this request to the administrative authorities was pending, the district court's January 15 order of dismissal was filed. On April 5, 1988, the Regional Director of the Bureau of Land Management denied the District's request for release of the water on the ground that under the terms of the 1987 operating criteria the Stampede Reservoir "credit water" could not be carried over beyond the 1987 irrigation season. On June 6, 1988, the District filed a motion in the district court challenging this order and asking the district court to release the water. On August 9, 1988, the district court granted the motion. This appeal followed.
For reasons that will appear, we questioned our jurisdiction sua sponte and requested additional briefing. 1 See Liberty Mutual Ins. Co. v. Wetzel, 424 U.S. 737, 740, 96 S.Ct. 1202, 1204-05, 47 L.Ed.2d 435 (1976). We are now satisfied appellate jurisdiction exists.
Releases of water pursuant to the court's order of August 9 began on August 11, 1988. The next day the Tribe filed an emergency motion in this court for stay pending appeal. 2 The Tribe argued that "[o]nce the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Confed. Tribes and Bands of Yakama Indian v. Lowry
...the availability of new evidence, or the need to correct a clear error or prevent manifest injustice.'" Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe v. Hodel, 882 F.2d 364, 369 n. 5 (9th Cir.1989) (quoting 18 C. Wright, A. Miller & E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure § 4478, at 790); see Frederick S. Wy......
-
Thompson v. Paul
...is controlled by principles of the law of the case doctrine rather than collateral estoppel."); Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Indians v. Hodel, 882 F.2d 364, 369 n. 5 (9th Cir.1989) ("Under the [law of the case] doctrine, . . . a trial court has discretion to reconsider its prior, non-final ......
-
Ctr. for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Bureau of Land Mgmt.
...possible to mitigate the Project's adverse effects on listed species and critical habitat. Compare Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Indians v. Hodel, 882 F.2d 364, 368–69 (9th Cir.1989), with Feldman v. Bomar, 518 F.3d 637, 642–44 (9th Cir.2008). 3. “The term ‘take’ means to harass, harm, pursu......
-
Phelps v. Wyeth, Inc.
...availability of new evidence, or the need to correct a clear error or prevent manifest injustice.’ ” Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Indians v. Hodel, 882 F.2d 364, 369 n. 5 (9th Cir.1989) (quoting U.S. v. Desert Gold Mining Co., 433 F.2d 713, 715 (9th Cir.1970)).Background Plaintiffs filed th......
-
Case summaries.
...United States, 463 U.S. 110 (1983); United States v. Bell, 602 F.3d 1074 (9th Cir. 2010); Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe of Indians v. Hodel, 882 F.2d 364 (9th Cir. 1989); Truckee-Carson Irrigation Dist. v. Sec'y of Dep't of Interior, 742 F.2d 527 (9th Cir. 1984); United States v. Alpine Land &a......