Shoshone-Bannock Tribes sue to stop swap of Simplot-owned land with BLM property in Idaho

Tribes sue over Simplot land swap in Idaho

POCATELLO, Idaho — The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes have filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management, contending that the government’s land swap with the J.R. Simplot Co. could lead to greater pollution and poor air quality.

In the lawsuit, which was filed Wednesday in Boise’s U.S. District Court, the tribes ask a federal judge to bar the land swap. The government in 2007 approved the deal, which would trade about 670 acres of Simplot-owned key mule deer winter range near Blackrock Canyon for 719 acres of BLM property near the company’s Don Plant phosphate production area.

Simplot wants the land so it can expand its gypsum stack, a pile of gray dirt that remains after phosphate is removed from slurry. The region contains large deposits of phosphate, which is used for agricultural chemicals and fertilizer.

The tribes contend that federal regulations weren’t properly followed when the government approved the swap, and that increasing the gypsum stack would degrade local air quality and pollute the Portneuf River.

Part of the land has been designated a Superfund site because of existing pollution from heavy metals, arsenic and other contaminants. Last year, federal environmental regulators began pressing the J.R. Simplot Co. to do more at the fertilizer plant to stem the flow of phosphates and other pollutants into groundwater and streams.

Though the land isn’t on the Fort Hall reservation, the tribes say they have standing to bring the lawsuit because it is next to their land and part of their aboriginal homelands.

Simplot spokesman Rick Phillips didn’t immediately return calls from The Associated Press, but he has said that the long-term viability of the Don Plant depends on the company’s ability to handle the gypsum product.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Web site describes phosphogypsum as a radioactive waste product created when processing phosphate ore. When phosphogypsum decays, it forms radon, a radioactive gas that can cause cancer.