ELR Citation: ELR 20230
No(s). 04-36167 (9th Cir. Nov 13, 2006)

The court upheld the dismissal of Native American tribes' claims against the U.S. government for authorizing the expansion of certain gold mines. Specifically, the tribes argued that the government violated its obligation to protect tribal trust resources—primarily water rights—by authorizing the creation or expansion of two cyanide heap-leach gold mines located upriver from the tribes' reservation. But because none of the statutes or treaties cited by the tribes imposed a specific duty on the government to manage non-tribal resources for their benefit, the tribes did not have a common-law claim for breach of trust. Consequently, the tribes had to rely on the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) for a private right-of-action. But the tribes' National Environmental Policy Act and Federal Land Policy and Management Act claims, subject to the APA, were either barred by statute of limitation, failed to present a "final agency action," or did not involve a controversy for which the tribes had standing to pursue. The lower court, therefore, properly dismissed their claims.