A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Hopi Tribe of Arizona over water quality on the reservation.

The water supply on the reservation contains levels of arsenic that exceed limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency. The tribe said the Bureau of Indian Affairs violated its trust obligations by failing to fix the system.

Judge Lawrence J. Block of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, however, said the tribe failed to cite a law that created such a duty. He acknowledged that his hands were tied by precedent in a series of Indian trust cases.

"The court is not unmindful of the sometimes tragic relationship between the federal government and the various Indian tribes. And it may be that plaintiff’s argument that the trust relationship between the United States and its various Indian tribes should be construed broadly given that tragic relationship and the at times almost complete economic dependency that exists in this relationship," Block wrote. "Nonetheless, this court is bound by the law even if the result is not to the court’s liking."

Turtle Talk has posted documents from the case, Hopi Tribe v. US.

Get the Story:
Court Rules Arizona Tribe Failed to Identify Legal Basis for Drinking Water Quality Claims (Bloomberg BNA 10/9)

District Court Decision:
Hopi Tribe v. US (October 4, 2013)