United States v. Pend Oreille County Public Utility District No. 1

135 F.3d 602, 98 Daily Journal DAR 993, 98 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 710, 28 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20555, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 1107
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 28, 1998
DocketNos. 95-36289, 96-35022 and 96-35045
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 135 F.3d 602 (United States v. Pend Oreille County Public Utility District No. 1) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Pend Oreille County Public Utility District No. 1, 135 F.3d 602, 98 Daily Journal DAR 993, 98 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 710, 28 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20555, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 1107 (9th Cir. 1998).

Opinions

Opinion by Judge BOOCHEVER; Dissent by Judge FERGUSON.

BOOCHEVER, Circuit Judge:

The United States and the Kalispel Indian Tribe appeal, and the Pend Oreille County Public Utility District No. 1 cross-appeals, the district court’s decision awarding damages to the Tribe for the utility’s flooding of tribal lands. This is the third appeal to this court from continuing controversies arising out of the 1955 construction of the Box Canyon dam in Washington.

[606]*606FACTS

The statement of facts is drawn in large part from the two previous Ninth Circuit decisions in this case, United States v. Pend Oreille Public Utility District No. 1, 926 F.2d 1502 (1991) (“Kalispel I ”), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 956, 112 S.Ct. 415, 116 L.Ed.2d 436 (1991), and United States v. Pend Oreille Public Utility District No. 1, 28 F.3d 1544 (9th Cir.1994), (“Kalispel II”), cert. denied, 514 U.S. 1015, 115 S.Ct. 1356, 131 L.Ed.2d 214 (1995).

The Kalispel Indian Reservation in northeastern Washington has as its western boundary the Pend Oreille river. In 1952, the Federal Power Commission (“FPC”) (called after 1977 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or “Commission”) issued a license under § 4(e) of the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. § 797(e), to the Pend Oreille County Utility District (“PUD”) to build and operate the Box Canyon dam, downstream from the reservation. Section 4(e) states that the Commission is authorized and empowered

To issue licenses ... for the purpose of constructing, operating, and maintaining dams, water conduits, reservoirs ... or other project works necessary or convenient ... for the development transmission, and utilization of power across, along, from, or in any of the streams or other bodies of water over which Congress has jurisdiction ... or upon any part of the public lands and reservations of the United States ... Provided, That licenses shall be issued within any reservation only after a finding by the Commission that the license will not interfere or be inconsistent with the purpose for which such reservation was created or acquired....

16 U.S.C. § 797(e).

Construction was completed in 1955. Before the dam was built, the water level of the river on the reservation’s border rose to approximately 2041 feet during the spring, and receded to 2022 feet by late summer. After the dam was completed, the spring level remained at 2041 feet, but during the remaining months of the year the water level rarely dropped below 2032 feet. The dam thus caused land that formerly was flooded only in the spring (and could thus be used for agriculture when the waters receded) to remain underwater all year. The newly submerged lands were not included in the project boundary in PUD’s license application, which maintained that Indian lands would not be affected by the dam.

In 1980, the United States brought a trespass action against PUD on behalf of the Kalispel Indian Tribe (“Tribe”) and individual Indians who had been allotted land along the river. The complaint alleged that the dam unlawfully flooded riparian land traditionally used by the Tribe for agriculture (wild hay), and sought damages and injunc-tive relief under § 10(e) of the FPA, which provides that “when licenses are issued involving the use of ... tribal lands embraced within Indian reservations the Commission shall ,.. fix a reasonable annual charge for the use thereof....” 16 U.S.C. § 803(e)(1). The Tribe intervened, joining in the claim for trespass and asserting title to the riverbed. The State of Washington also intervened, alleging that it had title to the riverbed.

Trial was conducted in three phases. The first two phases considered whether PUD had flooded reservation land and whether the Tribe or the State owned the riverbed. The district court held that PUD had trespassed on the reservation by raising the level of the river, and held that the State owned the riverbed. The State and PUD appealed the trespass determination, and the Tribe appealed the holding on title to the riverbed. This court affirmed the district court in Kal-ispel I, 926 F.2d at 1507,1510-11.

The final phase of the trial involved the remedy for PUD’s trespass. In 1985, the district court concluded that PUD had flooded approximately 186.7 acres of reservation land for thirty years without an easement or court order, and awarded damages of $46,-231. The court applied Washington state law and awarded the Tribe the rental value of the land for grazing. The Tribe and the United States filed a separate appeal from the damage award, arguing that federal law applied and that the damage award should have reflected the value of the land as a part of the Box Canyon Dam project.

[607]*607In Kalispel II, this court reversed the damage award. First noting that PUD again contended, as it did in Kalispel I, that it did not trespass on reservation land, the court repeated its determination that PUD had trespassed: “the Utility knew it had no right to flood Reservation land, but flooded it anyway, a finding supported by substantial evidence.” Kalispel II, 28 F.3d at 1547.

Second, the court considered the district court’s use of state law to determine damages and concluded that federal law applied. Although § 10(e) of the FPA prohibits the use of tribal lands unless the Commission fixes a “reasonable annual charge” for the use of the lands, 16 U.S.C. § 803(e)(1), the Commission had not adopted a general rule for determining annual charges for a licensee’s use of tribal lands. Id. at 1550-51. Nevertheless, the court discussed calculating the annual charge “on the basis of the value of the use of the land as part of the project,” and concluded

Although use of the value of the tribal lands as part of the power project in calculating the annual charge is not compelled by regulation or case law, we nevertheless conclude it is the most acceptable measure of damages for the Utility’s trespass.... [T]he power site formula was reflected in the governing regulation prior to 1938, and the United States has advised the court this is the formulation now applied by the [Federal Energy Regulatory] Commission in fixing annual charges for use of tribal lands on all power projects. Its use will also assure the Tribe will not suffer an uncompensated loss from the Utility’s past failure to comply with the Power Act and will encourage future compliance.
.... Requiring the Utility to reimburse the Tribe for the most profitable use of its land will encourage future applicants for licenses to fully disclose the effect of their projects on Indian reservation lands and current licensees to seek approval to use such lands from the Secretary and Commission.

Id. at 1551. The court remanded for recalculation of the damage amount.

Third, the Tribe and the United States appealed from the denial of an injunction against future flooding.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
135 F.3d 602, 98 Daily Journal DAR 993, 98 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 710, 28 Envtl. L. Rep. (Envtl. Law Inst.) 20555, 1998 U.S. App. LEXIS 1107, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-pend-oreille-county-public-utility-district-no-1-ca9-1998.