Native Village of Point Hope v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

MEMORANDUM

Native Village of Point Hope, Alaska Community Action on Toxics, and Northern Alaska Environmental Center appeal the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the EPA.

Native Village of Point Hope has standing to challenge the EPA’s action on behalf of one of its members, Franklin Sage. See Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Envtl. Servs., 528 U.S. 167, 181 , 120 S.Ct. 693 , 145 L.Ed.2d 610 (2000). Sage’s affidavit established a credible threat of injury that is traceable to the EPA’s action because it alleged that his family fishes for Arctic grayling in the Wulik River, that Sage trades for such fish, and that he is concerned that pollution in Red Dog Creek threatens the Arctic grayling population. See Ocean Advocates v. U.S. Army Corps of Eng’rs, 402 F.3d 846 , 859 (9th Cir.2005).

We reject Point Hope’s argument that the EPA was arbitrary and capricious in approving the site-specific water quality criterion for total dissolved solids (TDS) in Red Dog Creek during Arctic grayling spawning season without first obtaining additional data on the long term and delayed impacts to Arctic grayling from exposure to TDS at fertilization. The EPA’s reasonable…