Federal appeals court hears Indian legal battle

BOSTON – Maine Indian tribes, battling to keep their water clean, shouldn’t be forced to turn over their internal documents to a group of paper companies, an attorney for the tribes told a federal appeals court Friday.

Kaighn Smith, attorney for the Passamaquoddy Tribe and the Penobscot Nation, said the law doesn’t allow outsiders to intrude into “internal tribal matters.”

But an attorney for the companies, who are seeking information on the tribe’s dealings with federal water quality regulators, urged the court to defer to a Maine judge who has already ruled that the documents should be released under the state public records law.

“The world has changed. … For whatever reason, we got the final judgment first from the state court,” said Catherine Connors, who represented Great Northern Paper Inc., Georgia-Pacific Corp. and Champion International Paper Corp.

The two sides outlined their cases before a three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which took the case under advisement. Maine’s Supreme Judicial Court is to hear an appeal next week of the state judge’s decision. But the tribes want the federal court to jump into the case.

Indian leaders gathered at the courthouse were concerned that the case could have impacts on other tribes around the country.

“If they tamper with the sovereignty of the people in Maine, we’re concerned what kind of law is being used here,” said Alma Ransom, one of the three chiefs of the Mohawk Nation of New York.

“Freedom – that’s what it’s all about,” said William Phillips, chief of the Micmac tribe, which is also based in Maine but not involved in the case. “We want freedom, freedom to govern ourselves on our own property.”

The controversy over the documents is part of a larger dispute.

The state wants to take over all water quality regulation within its bounds from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a move that companies welcome as a way to cut onerous red tape. The tribes say they want the EPA to continue to monitor waters on their lands.

Richard Doyle, governor of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point, said the companies sought disclosure of the tribes’ internal documents because “they think we have some kind of conspiracy with the EPA.”

Doyle said there was no conspiracy, but the tribes do believe EPA will do a better job than state regulators.

“They’re less influenced by the money of the paper companies,” he said. “They have to deal with us on a government-to-government relationship. We’re partners.”

The Justice Department is mulling whether the EPA should monitor the Indian waterways.

Doyle, another governor of the Passamaquoddy tribe and the governor of the Penobscot Nation, were ordered to jail after they refused to turn over the records. The jail terms have been delayed until the appeals are resolved.

Spokesmen for the three paper companies didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment.

Jeff Toorish, president of the Maine Pulp & Paper Association, had no comment on the legal wranglings.

But he said, “We are up against incredibly stiff competition around the world. Maine already has extremely advanced – probably the most advanced – environmental laws in the country. So we’re certainly not interested in anything in any form that’s going to make it more difficult to attract investment to Maine mills.”