Fort Mojave Indian Tribe v. California Department of Health Services

This case concerns the California Department of Health Services’ (DHS) approval of an environmental impact report (EIR) and license for the construction and operation of a low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) disposal facility at Ward Valley, San Bernardino County, in the Mojave Desert. Petitioners, the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe (Tribe) and three nonprofit corporations, sought a writ of mandate invalidating DHS’s decisions certifying the EIR and granting the license to real party in interest US Ecology, Inc. (US Ecology). California Radioactive Materials Management Forum (Forum), an organization of institutions that generate LLRW and require its disposal, intervened in opposition. The trial court gave judgment denying the petition on all substantive grounds, but requiring that the approvals be set aside and reconsidered in light of a scientific report, issued after their grant, which discussed the possibility of contamination of the Colorado River from the facility.

All parties have appealed. Petitioners seek broader relief from DHS’s decisions, while respondents seek reversal of the limited grant of the writ and thus denial of the petition. We have concluded that there was…