Appellate Litigation

Often we are successful in attaining our clients’ goals without litigation, but we also have significant litigation experience. A list of Jill Grant’s environmental cases follows:

• Navajo Nation v. Regan, 563 F. Supp. 3d 1164 (D.N.M. 2021) (granting nationwide vacatur of 2020 “waters of the United States” rule).

• S. Coast Air Quality Mgt. Dist. v. EPA, No. 15-71600 (9th Cir.) (settlement reached affirming EPA’s decision to designate a tribe’s reservation as its own Air Quality Planning Area under the CAA).

• Okla. Dept. of Env. Quality v. EPA, 740 F.3d 185 (D.C. Cir. 2014) (state challenge to scope of Indian country subject to EPA’s New Source Review Rule under the Clean Air Act).

• Felix v. Pic-N-Run, No. CV-09-8015 PCT/JCT, 2010 WL 1846347 (D. Ariz. May 4, 2010) (finding lack of jurisdiction over tribe in case seeking to impose liability for leaking USTs).

• Mich. v. EPA, 268 F.3d 1075 (D.C. Cir. 2001), cert. denied, 532 U.S. 970 (2002) (requiring EPA to make determinations of Indian country under CAA by notice and comment proceedings).

• Ariz. Pub. Serv. Co. v. EPA, 211 F.3d 1280 (D.C. Cir. 2000), cert. denied sub nom., 532 U.S. 970 (2001) (upholding Tribal Authority Rule under the Clean Air Act and recognizing statutory delegation to tribes of authority over air quality within the reservation, including on trust lands).

• HRI, Inc. v. EPA, 198 F.3d 1224 (10th Cir. 2000), rev’d on rehearing en banc, 608 F.3d 1131 (10th Cir. 2010) (determining jurisdiction over in-situ uranium mine under the underground injection provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act).

• Grand Canyon Air Tour Coal. v. FAA, 154 F.3d 455 (D.C. Cir. 1998) (petitions for review of rule setting routes over Grand Canyon not ripe because FAA changed its position during and immediately after oral argument).

• Del. Valley Citizens Council v. Davis, 932 F.2d 256 (3rd Cir. 1991) (suit against state environmental agency under Clean Air Act).

• U.S. v. Coastal Refining and Marketing, Inc., 911 F.2d 1036 (5th Cir. 1990) (upholding mandatory penalties under Clean Air Act).

• Ctr. for Nuclear Responsibility v. NRC, 781 F.2d 935 (D.C. Cir. 1986) (upholding NRC decision regarding nuclear power plant license).

Ms. Grant also has prepared and filed amicus curiae briefs in numerous cases to represent the interests of our clients. These amicus filings often have proved critical to the outcome of the litigation, and include the following:

• Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 21-454 (2022) (authored with EarthJustice on behalf of a number of federally recognized tribes which challenges whether the 9th Circuit used the proper test for determining whether wetlands are “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1362(7)).

• BP Am. Prod. Co. v. Burton, 549 U.S. 84 (2006) (requiring companies to pay additional royalties on tribal and federal leases by finding that six-year statute of limitations did not apply to orders to pay).

• U.S. v. Navajo Nation, 537 U.S. 488 (2003) (breach of trust case).

• Dept. of the Interior v. S.D., 519 U.S. 919 (1996) (vacating and remanding 8th Circuit decision finding IRA § 5 unconstitutional).

• EXC, Inc. v. Jensen, 588 Fed. Appx. 720 (9th Cir. 2014) (reply brief filed August 23, 2013 decision pending) (scope of tribe’s adjudicatory jurisdiction over traffic accident caused by tour bus).

• U.S. v. Arrieta, 436 F.3d 1246 (10th Cir. 2006) (affirming Indian country status of fee lands within Pueblo land grants).

• Amoco Prod. Co. v. Watson, 410 F.3d 722 (D.C. Cir. 2005) (upholding federal government’s determination that oil and gas producers owed additional royalties to federal government and to tribes).

• Burlington Res. Oil & Gas Co. v. Dept. Of Interior, 21 F. Supp.2d 1 (D.D.C. 1998) (affirming application of dual accounting requirement under Indian natural gas leases).

• Baldwin v. Auto Owners Ins. Co., No. CH-CV-333-09 (Chinle Dist. Ct. Sept. 24, 2010) (denying insurance company’s motion to dismiss a claim for payment of cleanup costs due to releases of gasoline from storage tanks; case is still pending).

• State v. Romero, 140 N.M. 299 (2006) (upholding tribal jurisdiction over fee land within Pueblo land grants).

Some of Ms. Grant’s cases before administrative tribunals are also listed on our page for Administrative Law.