By: Gale Courey Toensing
BOSTON - A federal appeals court has ruled that a group of Passamaquoddy Indians can move forward with a lawsuit they hope will stop a liquefied natural gas terminal development on tribal land.
The three-judge panel's ruling Sept. 14 reversed a federal district court judge's decision last November that the group, Nulankeyutmonen Nkihtaqmikon (''We Protect Our Homeland''), lacked legal standing to sue the BIA for approving in 2005 a land lease between the tribe and Quoddy Bay LLC, an Oklahoma developer seeking to construct an LNG terminal on a three-quarter-acre parcel of tribal land at Split Rock.
Additionally, the appeals panel ruled that the group's claims were ripe for review even though the LNG terminal has not been approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The decision was written by 1st Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Juan R. Torruella.
In May 2005, the tribal government and Quoddy Bay LLC formalized a 50-year land lease agreement that included four distinct phases: permitting, construction, operations, and removal and remediation. The lease was sent off to the BIA May 19, 2005, for review, in accordance with the Indian Long Term Leasing Act of 1955.
The BIA approved the lease on June 1, 2005, ''solely for the site investigation required for the FERC permitting process in the development of an Environmental Impact Statement,'' according to the court document. The BIA said that the site investigation did not require an EIS before the lease was approved, and that continuing the lease would be contingent on FERC approval.
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