Court Opinion

ID: 9863991
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-25 11:49:59.808296+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:07:09.853677
License: Public Domain

Judge BERZON’S
dissent.
I dissent as to whether the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) violated the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (“FLPMA”). The FLPMA, as the majority states, incorporates the requirements of Executive Order 13007 (“E.O.13007”) with regard to the accommodation of Indian use of sacred sites.
The BLM’s analysis of why E.O. 13007 did not apply was faulty for three reasons: the analysis failed to recognize that comments regarding the proposal did point to the area where the mine is being built as an area in which worship occurs; it demanded quantification of that use as a condition of Executive Order coverage, when no such quantification is necessary; and it required greater specificity of location than comports with Shoshone religious practices. As to the last point, to require greater specificity would interfere with Shoshone religious practices, as those practices appear to regard certain recognized natural areas, rather than specific set locations, as places for worship.
*669I therefore would hold the BLM’s conclusions arbitrary and capricious and remand for further proceedings.