Bradford Island on the Columbia River. Photo Oregon Department of Environmental Quality

In what appears to be the first decision of its kind, a federal judge ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reimburse the Yakama Nation for costs associated with the cleanup of a contaminated island.

The tribe sued the agency in December 2014 after spending its own funds on the cleanup at Bradford Island, a treaty fishing site on the Columbia River. Judge Anna Brown agreed that the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, otherwise known as the Superfund law, required the tribe to be reimbursed.

“The Yakama Nation was forced to take the Corps to court to do what it should have done in the first place — pay for the tribe’s costs and allow it a seat at the table to make critical decisions about cleanup that affect our treaty fishing rights," Chairman JoDe Goudy said in a statement to The Yakima Herald-Republic.

Brown issued her decision on Monday after a magistrate issued a findings in December that largely supported the tribe's position. Attorney David Askman told the paper the ruling marked the first time that a tribe has recovered costs, which still need to be determined, under the Superfund law.

Bradford Island lies within the Bonneville Lock and Dam.

Turtle Talk has posted additional documents from the case, Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation v. United States of America.

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Judge rules in favor of Yakama Nation over cleanup (The Yakima Herald-Republic 2/4)