Interior Department Escapes Liability Over Permit Delay Claims

The Interior Department won’t have to face claims its agencies and the Environmental Protection Agency dragged their feet in approving a permit to build a waste management facility on tribal land.

Cortina Integrated Waste Management Inc. failed to show that the Interior Board of Indian Appeals violated the Administrative Procedure Act by “arbitrarily and capriciously” affirming a decision to end its lease with the Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation of the Cortina Rancheria, said Judge William B. Shubb of the US District Court for the Eastern District of California in a Thursday order.

Shubb granted summary judgment to Interior, two DOI ...