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City of Albuquerque v. Browner

97 F.3d 415 (1996)

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City of Albuquerque v. Browner

United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
97 F.3d 415 (1996)

  • Written by Lauren Groth, JD

Facts

Under the Clean Water Act (CWA), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (defendant) treated Indian tribes as states when implementing and enforcing certain provisions of the CWA. The Isleta Pueblo Indians set their own water-quality standards for water flowing through their reservation and adopted more stringent standards than those required by the EPA. The City of Albuquerque (the city) (plaintiff) was upstream from the Isleta Pueblo Indian reservation. The city received a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the discharge of water from its waste treatment facilities into the Rio Grande River, which flows through the Isleta Pueblo Indian reservation. In the 1990s, the EPA sought to revise the city’s NPDES permit in response to the Isleta Pueblo Indians’ heightened water-quality standards. The city sued the EPA over its approval of the Isleta Pueblo Indians’ higher standards. The city argued that the CWA did not authorize tribes to set higher water standards than those required by federal law and that tribal requirements could not be enforced beyond reservation boundaries. The district court denied the city’s request for a permanent injunction and granted summary judgment for the EPA. The city appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (McKay, J)

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