City of Albuquerque v. Browner
United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
97 F.3d 415 (10th Cir. 1996)
The Isleta Pueblo Indians, treated as a state under the Clean Water Act for certain purposes, adopted water-quality standards for their reservation stricter than federal requirements. The City of Albuquerque (plaintiff), located upstream, held a discharge permit for its wastewater treatment facilities into the Rio Grande, which flows through the reservation; when the EPA (defendant) moved to revise Albuquerque's permit to comply with the tribe's stricter standards, Albuquerque sued, arguing the Clean Water Act didn't authorize tribes to exceed federal standards or enforce requirements beyond reservation boundaries. The district court granted summary judgment for the EPA, and Albuquerque appealed.
Whether the Clean Water Act permits Indian tribes to set water standards that are more stringent than those required by federal law.