By Ann S. Kim, Associated Press 11/19/01
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) The Maine Indian tribes embroiled in a legal dispute with paper companies are arguing that they need not give the companies access to documents about water quality.
Two days after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene, the Penobscot Nation and Passamaquoddy Tribe filed a motion in Cumberland County Superior Court that describes a Catch-22 for the paper companies.
The tribes argue in the motion filed Thursday that the state does not have the authority to dictate the terms under which the general public can enter their reservations. At the same time, the tribes contend that the Maine Freedom of Access Act does not require them to make the documents available off the reservations.
Matthew D. Manahan, the lawyer for the paper companies, said he would not comment on matters pending before the court. The companies have 21 days to file their response.
The underlying dispute is rooted in the state's bid to become the sole overseer of wastewater discharges into Maine waters.
The tribes believe the paper companies have too much influence with state officials and want the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to maintain its authority on tribal land.
Great Northern Paper Inc. and Georgia Pacific Corp. are part of a group that wants the documents for a lawsuit against the EPA.
A state court ruled that the tribes must relinquish the documents, and the tribes have lost their appeals to the state supreme court and the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled in May that the state's access law applies to the tribes when they exercise authority as municipal governments and ordered the tribes to turn over communications with the state and federal governments.