The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of Idaho filed suit against the federal government last week in hopes of stopping a land swap.

The Bureau of Land Management plans to swap 719 acres of public land for 666 acres of land owned by J.R. Simplot Co. The company plans to use the land to expand operations at a phosphate processing plant.

The public land is adjacent to the Fort Hall Reservation and was owned by the tribe until ceded by an 1898 agreement. The tribe says the swap will prevent its members from accessing parts of the reservation and will create more pollution.

The Simplot Pocatello Don Plant was declared a Superfund site in 1990.

Get the Story:
Tribes sue over Simplot land swap in Idaho (AP 1/11)
Tribes Say BLM Would Poison Their Land (Courthouse News Service 1/8)