Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of Lake Traverse Reservation v. United States Corps of Engineers

124 F. Supp. 3d 958, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 108653, 2015 WL 4931152
CourtDistrict Court, D. South Dakota
DecidedAugust 18, 2015
DocketNo. 3:11-CV-03026-RAL
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 124 F. Supp. 3d 958 (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of Lake Traverse Reservation v. United States Corps of Engineers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. South Dakota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of Lake Traverse Reservation v. United States Corps of Engineers, 124 F. Supp. 3d 958, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 108653, 2015 WL 4931152 (D.S.D. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER ON PENDING MOTIONS

ROBERTO A. LANGE, District Judge.

Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation and Robert Shepherd, the Tribe’s chairman at the time this lawsuit started (collectively, “the Tribe”), filed a Complaint for declaratory, injunctive, and other relief. Doc., 1. Plaintiffs named as Defendants the United States Corps of Engineers, Robert J. Ruch, in his official capacity as district commander, and Steven E. Naylor, in his official capacity as regulatory program manager (collectively, “the Corps”). This Court granted in part Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction, Docs. 32, 69, ordered the Defendants to file the Administrative Record (AR), and set a briefing schedule, Doc. 71,

On February 5, 2015, the Tribe filed a Motion to Compel Production of the Whole Administrative Record. Doc, 73. On March 10, the Tribe filed a separate Motion to Supplement the Administrative Record. Doc. 77. On May 28, the Tribe filed a Motion to Reconsider Equitable Tolling Based Upon Intervening Authority. Doc. 81. The Defendants opposed all motions in separate briefs. Docs. 76, 79, 84. For the reasons explained below, the Motion to Compel Production is denied, the Motion to Supplement the Record is granted in part, and the Motion to Reconsider is denied.

I. FACTS

The circumstances leading to this case are described in greater detail in this Court’s previous opinions regarding the motion to dismiss, Docs. 32, 69, but a brief history of the case helps in understanding the issues framed by the pending motions. The case revolves around what the Tribe views as a potential commercial development project adversely affecting Enemy Swim Lake in northeastern South Dakota, [961]*961which Defendants have allegedly improperly permitted to occur under the guise of agricultural projects.

Merlyn Drake (Drake), who is not a member of the Tribe, owns land adjoining Enemy Swim Lake. Doc. 32 at 2. Drake has engaged in certain road and bridge construction activities in wetland areas adjacent to the lake, along the shore of the lake, and across a stream feeding into the lake. Doc. 32 at 2-3. In response to inquiries from Drake prior to the construction activities, the Corps sent a series of communications to Drake deeming that his construction activities did not require individual discharge permits under the Clean Water Act1 (CWA) because, as proposed, they were either exempt from CWA regulation altogether or authorized under a Nationwide General Permit (Nationwide Permit). Doc. 32 at 3-5.

The Tribe owns land around Enemy Swim Lake, which has cultural and religious significance to the Tribe. Doc. 32 at 2. The Tribe and others in the area became concerned about Drake’s activities on his lakeshore property, and in January 2005, the office of then United States Senator Tim Johnson organized a meeting to address those concerns at the Day County Courthouse in Webster, South Dakota. Doc. 32 at 4. At that meeting, tribal officials in attendance became aware of four prior Corps determinations (made on August 18, 1998, June 6, 2000, December 2, 2003, and December 4, 2003), Doc. 32 at 3-4, that Drake’s activities did not require individual discharge permits. Doc. 69 at 16-17.

The Corps later made two more determinations that Drake need not acquire individual discharge permits for certain activities on his lakeshore property. Doc. 32 at 4-5. On May 1, 2006, the Corps informed Drake through a letter that a proposed bridge across the primary inlet tributary to Enemy Swim Lake was exempt from CWA permitting as a farm road, and on May 4, 2009, the Corps informed Drake through a letter that another proposed crossing of wetlands north of the inlet utilizing culverts was authorized under a Nationwide Permit. Doc. 32 at 4-5.

In 2009, the Tribe made a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request regarding the Corps’ dealings with Drake and received responsive documents. Doc. 16 at 3; Doc. 18 at 2. In 2009 and 2010, the Tribe and the Corps exchanged several letters. On June 15, 2009, the Tribe asked the Corps to withdraw its determinations that some of Drake’s activities were exempt and others were authorized by the Nationwide Permits. Doc. 32 at 5. On August 30, 2010, the Corps wrote a letter to the Tribe explaining the bases for the Corps’ exemption and Nationwide Permit decisions and why it continued to believe its decisions were correct. Doc. 32 at 5.

The Tribe’s complaint against the Corps sought judicial review of various Corps actions (and failures to take action) under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. §§ 701-06. This Court granted in part the Corps’ motion to dismiss in an Opinion and Order dismissing “any and all Counts and claims challenging Corps’ exemption and Nationwide Permit determinations that were discussed during the January 25, 2005 meeting as having been granted, authorized, or determined” because they were barred by the statute of limitations. Doc. 32 at 22. Following two evidentiary hearings, this Court concluded that the determinations made on August 18, 1998, June 6, 2000, December 2, 2003, and December 4, 2003, were final and known to tribal officials as a part of the [962]*962January 25, 2005 meeting, and thus the Tribe’s .challenges, to those determinations were time barred. , -.Doc. 69. at 17. The Tribe’s claims .challenging the “Corps’ decisions not to modify, suspend, or revoke those determinations” were, dismissed qs non-justiciable. Doc. 32 at 22; Doc. 69 at 17. This Court also dismissed all claims the viability of which hinged upon the Tribe’s assertion of the August 30, 2010 letter being the sole final agency action. Doc. 32 at 22.

On January 8,2015, the Defendants filed a compact disc, which contains 756 individual, often multiple-page documents, that the Corps certified as the administrative record relevant to . remaining . claims. Docs. 72, 72-1. The Tribe then filed its Motion to Compel the Whole Administrative Record, Doc. 73, and its Motion to Supplement the Administrative Record. Doc. 77. On May 28, 2015, the Tribe filed its Motion to Reconsider, requesting that this Court reconsider its previous decision that the statute of limitations in this case, 28 U.S.C, § 2401(a), is not subject to equitable tolling because it is jurisdictional. Doc. 81 at 1-2.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Remaining Claims

Some of the dispute over the motion to compel and motion to supplement the record revolves around a disagreement between the parties about what claims remain after this Court’s prior orders granting in part the motion to dismiss. The claims dismissed by this Court fell within three categories: (1) final determinations on which the statute of limitations has run; (2) claims that depend upon characterizing the August 30, 2010 letter from the Corps to the Tribe as a final agency action; and (3) non-justiciable enforcement decisions “not to modify, suspend or revoke a. Section 404 permit,” Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation v. U.S. Corps. of Eng’rs, 918 F.Supp.2d 962, 970-74 (D.S.D. 2013) (quoting Mo. Coal, for the Env’t v. Corps of Eng’rs, 866 F.2d 1025, 1032 n. 10 (8th Cir.1989)).

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Bluebook (online)
124 F. Supp. 3d 958, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 108653, 2015 WL 4931152, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sisseton-wahpeton-oyate-of-lake-traverse-reservation-v-united-states-corps-sdd-2015.