Seariver Maritime Financial Holdings Inc. v. Norman Y. Mineta

309 F.3d 662 SEARIVER MARITIME FINANCIAL HOLDINGS INC.; SeaRiver Maritime, Inc.; Seariver Maritime International Inc., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Norman Y. MINETA, Secretary, United States Department of Transportation; John Ashcroft, Attorney General, United States Department of Justice; Native Village of Port Graham; Valdez Native Tribe, Defendants-Appellees. No. 01-35762. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted April 3, 2002. Filed October 31, 2002. COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED E. Edward Bruce, Covington & Burling, Washington, DC, for the plaintiffs-appellants. Mark B. Stern, Department of Justice, Civil Division, Washington, DC, for the defendants-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Alaska, H. Russel Holland, Chief Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-97-00060-HRH. Before D.W. NELSON, THOMPSON and PAEZ, Circuit Judges. OPINION PAEZ, Circuit Judge. 1 At midnight on March 23, 1989, the T/V Exxon Valdez ran aground onto Bligh Reef in Alaska, spilling nearly eleven million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound (the "Sound"). The following year, Congress passed the…