Kescoli

■ Peabody Western Coal Company (Peabody) conducts coal mining operations at the Kayenta/Black Mesa mining complex pursuant to lease agreements entered into with the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe. The United States Department of the Interior Office of Surface Mining (OSM) issued a permit to Peabody, which contained eighteen special conditions, governing Peabody’s mining activities under the lease agreements at the Kayenta mine complex. Peabody challenged the majority of the special conditions. The present dispute arises out of the modification of special condition one through a settlement agreement entered into among Peabody, the OSM, the Navajo Nation, and the Hopi Tribe.

Maxine Kescoli, an enrolled member of thé Navajo Nation, opposes the settlement of special condition one because she believes the condition, as modified by the settlement, does not guarantee adequate protection of sacred burial sites. After an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) and the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) approved the settlement, Kescoli brought this action in the district court, naming as defendants the Secretary of the Interior, the OSM, and the IBLA. Kesco: li sought a declaration that the…