ELR Citation: 41 ELR 20142
No(s). 07-905 (D.D.C. Mar 27, 2011)

A district court granted the United States' motion to dismiss a Native American tribe's claims against it in connection with the government's remediation of a former uranium mill located on the Navajo Nation Reservation near Tuba City, Arizona. In 1985, the DOE and the tribe entered into a cooperative agreement concerning the government's selection and performance of remedial actions at the mill. Because the agreement released the United States from all claims "arising out of the performance of any remedial action" at the site, the Tribe waived its right to sue under the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act. In addition, none of the federal statutes invoked by the tribe create a right of action or waive the government's sovereign immunity. Nor can the tribe bring any of its claims under the APA because it failed to allege any final agency action. And the tribe failed to identify a specific trust duty that government failed to fulfill.