NY Power Authority Response
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Case 5:82-cv-00783-LEK-TWD Document 610 Filed 02/04/13 Page 1 of 42 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK --------------------------------------------------------------------------------x THE CANADIAN ST. REGIS BAND OF MOHAWK INDIANS, : Civil Action Nos. Plaintiff : 82-CV-783 82-CV-1114 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, : (NPM) Plaintiff-Intervenor, : v. : STATE OF NEW YORK, et al., : Defendants. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------x THE ST. REGIS MOHAWK TRIBE, by THE ST. REGIS MOHAWK TRIBAL COUNCIL and THE PEOPLE OF THE LONGHOUSE AT AKWESASNE, by THE MOHAWK : NATION COUNCIL OF CHIEFS, : Civil Action No. Plaintiffs, 89-CV-829 : (NPM) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, : Plaintiff-Intervenor, : v. : STATE OF NEW YORK, et al., : Defendants. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------x DEFENDANT NEW YORK POWER AUTHORITY’S RESPONSE TO PLAINTIFFS’ OBJECTIONS TO MAGISTRATE JUDGE REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION MANATT, PHELPS & PHILLIPS, LLP 7 Times Square New York, New York 10036 (212) 790-4500 Attorneys for Defendant New York Power Authority Case 5:82-cv-00783-LEK-TWD Document 610 Filed 02/04/13 Page 2 of 42 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Preliminary Statement.................................................................................................................... 1 Argument ....................................................................................................................................... 4 I. The Magistrate Correctly Found That the Island Claims Are Inherently Disruptive ........ 4 A. There Is No Dispute That the Plaintiffs’ Claims Are “Inherently Disruptive” Within the Meaning of Cayuga .......................................................... 5 B. The Magistrate Correctly Concluded Cayuga and Oneida Do Not Turn on the Remedies – Whether Judicial or Administrative – Sought by Plaintiffs ......... 6 C. The FPA Provisions That Apply to Indian Reservations Are Not Relevant Under Cayuga and Do Not Prevent Disruption ..................................................... 7 1. The FPA Has No Provisions to Address the Concerns Raised in Sherrill........................................................................................................ 8 2. The FPA Contemplates Settled Ownership as to Project Lands, Particularly as to Tribal Interests, Not the Unilateral Insertion of “Reservations” During the Project Term ................................................... 9 D. A Unilaterally Established Indian Reservation on the Islands Would Spell Unthinkable Disruption to the Project ................................................................. 12 1. The FPA Empowers the Department of the Interior to Impose Any Condition Related to an On-Site Reservation, Even Over FERC’s Objections ................................................................................................ 12 2. Reservation Status in the Islands Would Occasion a Decades-Long Jurisdictional Power Struggle, Precisely the Danger Addressed in Sherrill...................................................................................................... 13 3. The Parties’ Settlement Agreement, Aside from Being Plainly Inadmissible, Demonstrates the Potential Disruption Feared by NYPA....................................................................................................... 15 II. The Magistrate Correctly Concluded That Cayuga Required Dismissal as to the Islands, Which Have Undergone Extraordinary Development Reflecting Firmly Settled Expectations......................................................................................................... 16 A. Nothing in the Federal Power Act or the Project History Undermines the Settled Expectations of Non-Indian Ownership in the Islands ............................ 17 1. The Federal Government’s Regulatory Presence Does Not Lessen the Societal Expectations in Settled Land Ownership ............................. 17 2. The United States’ Repeated Endorsement of NYPA’s Possession Strengthens Settled Expectations and the Case for Laches ..................... 19 B. All Relevant Facts Demonstrate Well Settled Expectations Are Present, Compelling Dismissal.......................................................................................... 21 -i- Case 5:82-cv-00783-LEK-TWD Document 610 Filed 02/04/13 Page 3 of 42 TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Page 1. Plaintiffs Concede Their Long Delay and That the Islands Have No “Indian Character” ................................................................................... 21 2. The Magistrate Correctly Considered the Island Claims as a Whole and Found that the Islands Have Been Subject to Enormous Development............................................................................................ 22 3. The Islands – Whose Very Geography Has Been Changed by the Project – Are Not “Undeveloped” ........................................................... 24 4. Plaintiffs Cannot Avoid Dismissal By Casting NYPA as a “Wrongdoer”............................................................................................ 25 III. The United States’ Newly-Asserted Claim to Underlying Fee Title Cannot Save Plaintiffs’ Claims ............................................................................................................. 27 A. The United States Did Not Bring This Action To Protect Its Alleged Ownership Interest In The Islands ....................................................................... 28 B. The United States Does Not Have an Ownership Interest in the Islands............. 30 C. Laches Is Appropriate Given the United States’ “Egregious Delay” in Bringing Suit and the Absence of a Statute of Limitations ................................. 33 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 35 -ii- Case 5:82-cv-00783-LEK-TWD Document 610 Filed 02/04/13 Page 4 of 42 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Page CASES Andrus v. Allard , 444 U.S. 51, 65-66 (1979) .......................................................................................................18 Cayuga Indian Nation v. Pataki , 413 F.3d 266 (2d Cir. 2005)............................................................................................. passim City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation , 544 U.S. 197 (2005)......................................................................................................... passim City of Tacoma v. FERC , 460 F.3d 53, 131 (D.C. Cir. 2006)....................................................................................13, 15 Cuglar v. Power Authority , 4 A.D.2d 801, 802 (3d Dep’t 1957).........................................................................................24 Escondido Mutual Water Co. v. La Jolla Band of Mission Indians , 466 U.S. 765, 772, 779 (1984)...........................................................................................12, 13 Forest Props., Inc. v. United States , 177 F.3d 1360, 1366 (Fed. Cir. 1999)......................................................................................24 FPC v. Tuscarora Indian Nation , 362 U.S. 99, 115 (1960)...........................................................................................................14 Harcourt v. Gaillard , 25 U.S. 523, 527-28 (1827) .....................................................................................................33 In re New York Power Authority , 105 FERC ¶ 61,102 (Oct. 23, 2003) ........................................................................................10 In re Power Authority of the State of New York , 12 F.P.C. 172 (July 15, 1953) .......................................................................................... passim Lingle v. Chevron U.S.A. Inc. , 544 U.S. 528, 538-39 (2005) ...................................................................................................18 Mont. Power Co. , 38 F.P.C. 766 (1967), aff’d , Mont. Power Co. v. F.P.C. , 459 F.2d 863 (D.C. Cir. 1972)...................................................................................................8 Nez Perce Tribe v. Idaho Power Co. , 847 F. Supp. 791, 800-01 (D. Idaho 1993) ..............................................................................11 Oneida Indian Nation of New York v. County of Oneida , 617 F.3d 114 (2d Cir. 2010), cert. denied 132 S. Ct. 452 (2011).................................... passim Oneida Indian Nation of New York v. State of New York , 860 F.2d 1145, 1150 (2d Cir. 1988).........................................................................................30 Onondaga Nation v. State of New York , -- Fed. Appx. --, No. 10-cv-4273, 2012 WL 5075534 (2d Cir. Oct. 19, 2012) (summary order), rehear’g denied Slip. Op., No. 10-4273 (2d Cir. Dec. 21, 2012) ...........6, 22 -iii- Case 5:82-cv-00783-LEK-TWD Document 610 Filed 02/04/13 Page 5 of 42 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES (continued) Page Onondaga Nation v. State of New York , No. 05-cv-0314 (LEK), 2010 WL 3806492 (N.D.N.Y. Sept. 22, 2010) ...................6, 8, 24, 26 Pacific Gas & Elec. Co. v. FERC , 720 F.2d 78, 86-87 (D.C. Cir. 1983)..........................................................................................9 Penn Cent. Transp. Co. v. City of New York , 438 U.S. 104, 136 (1978)...................................................................................................18, 24 Portland Gen. Elec. Co. , 20 FERC ¶ 61,294 (1982)....................................................................................................8,