Preservation of Los Olivos v. United States Department of the Interior

ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiffs Preservation of Los Olivos (“POLO”) and Preservation of Santa Ynez (“POSY”) are two citizen groups from the Santa Ynez Valley region of California. They filed this action seeking review of two orders of defendant Department of the Interior, Interior Board of Indian Appeals (IBIA): one dated February 3, 2006 and one dated June 29, 2007 (collectively, “the IBIA Order”). In those orders the IBIA held that Plaintiffs lack standing to challenge the decision of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (“BIA”) to approve the application of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians (“Tribe”) to have 6.9 acres of land taken into federal trust. Plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment that the IBIA erred in dismissing their administrative appeal. They also seek injunctive relief precluding defendants from enforcing a BIA Order dated January 14, 2005, which approved the application, until the IBIA has reviewed the merits of that appeal.

Plaintiffs have filed a motion for summary judgment on their First Amended Complaint. Their motion requests the Court to reverse and vacate the IBIA Order…