Opinion ID: 2109887
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Voluntary Relinquishment

Text: Under Justice Stevens' rationale, any inherent regulatory power the Tribe may have to regulate non-Indian activities on the reservation may be voluntarily surrendered by the Tribe itself. The PSC found that: The Devils Lake Sioux Tribe has established no comprehensive system for the regulation of electric utilities on the reservation, and this is the only instance where the Tribe has attempted any type of electric utility regulation. There is no tribal regulation of rates, service and safety standards or service territory generally. The tribe does not employ engineers, accountants and other professionals or technicians to regulate utilities. The Tribe has traditionally accommodated, if not acquiesced in, the State's exclusive and long-standing regulation of electric power suppliers. Tribal accommodation to traditional state regulation is a significant consideration. See Montana, supra, 450 U.S. at 564 n. 13 and 566, 101 S.Ct. at 1258 n. 13 and 1259; Burlington Northern Railroad Co. v. Dept. of Public Service Regulation, 221 Mont. 497, 720 P.2d 267, 269 (1986). The Tribe's failure to assert jurisdiction over electric utility investment in the past has permitted, if not induced, substantial investments within the reservation which will probably not be recovered if services are duplicated. Furthermore, in view of the large land holdings by nonmembers of the Tribe within the reservation when compared with the reduced amount of trust and tribal-owned lands, it is doubtful that the Tribe retains, in Justice Stevens' words, the power to define the essential character of the territory. Brendale, supra, 109 S.Ct. at 3015. We conclude that, under the circumstances, the Tribe does not derive power from its inherent sovereignty to regulate the choice of electric suppliers to the DTI area.