Opinion ID: 2658141
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: FLPMA and NEPA Claims Regarding Dewatering.

Text: The Tribes next contend that BLM violated FLPMA and NEPA by failing to adequately analyze the Project’s impacts on water resources. FLPMA requires that BLM avoid unnecessary or undue degradation of public lands, 43 U.S.C. § 1732(b), and NEPA requires that BLM consider measures that may mitigate the adverse impacts of a proposed project, 40 C.F.R. §§ 1502.14(f), 1502.16(h). The Tribes argue that BLM failed to address mitigation measures specific to ground 5 water in situ, failed to propose new mitigation measures relating to surface water resources, and failed to consider the religious use and significance of water in the Mount Tenabo region. Because the Tribes did not raise the issue of mitigation measures specific to ground water in situ during the initial or supplemental EIS public comment periods, they have waived this challenge. See Dep’t of Transp. v. Pub. Citizen, 541 U.S. 752, 764–65 (2004); Havasupai Tribe v. Robertson, 943 F.2d 32, 34 (9th Cir. 1991). As for mitigation measures relating to surface water resources, BLM proposed a detailed water resources mitigation plan and analyzed the effectiveness of that plan in accordance with our prior opinion. See S. Fork Band Council, 588 F.3d at 727. Finally, BLM did in fact consider the religious significance of water in the Mount Tenabo region, but the Tribes did not identify religious uses of any particular springs or seeps within the Project area. BLM’s analysis of the Project’s impacts on water resources was not arbitrary or capricious. AFFIRMED. 6 FILED