The Indian Peaks Band of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, represented by the Native American Rights Fund, filed a Notice of Appeal and Petition for Stay with the US Department of the Interior on Wednesday, challenging the Bureau of Land Management's March 2, 2026, approval of the Pine Valley Water Supply Project.
The notice, filed with the Department's Office of Hearings and Appeals, Interior Board of Land Appeals in Washington DC, seeks review of the Bureau of Land Management's decision authorising a large‑scale groundwater extraction and pipeline project in southern Utah, and asks the Board to stay the project approvals while the appeal is pending.
The Band argues the decision violates federal law, including the National Environmental Policy Act, and unlawfully threatens the Band's federally reserved water rights and culturally significant resources.
The Band's former Reservation, which is on their ancestral lands, is located just several kilometres west of the Pine Valley Water Supply Project's proposed wellfield.
The Native American Rights Fund is a non-profit organisation which for 56 years has worked to defend and assert the legal rights of Native Americans. It noted that the amount of water the Cedar Valley Water Conservancy seeks to extract from the Pine Valley exceeds the amount of water available and "will harm the Band's water resources".
Chairperson Tamra Borchardt-Slayton of the Indian Peaks Band of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah said "these water resources are fundamental to our Band's history, culture, and future".
"Federal law is clear that the Band's water rights must be protected, and we are asking the Interior Department to do just that," she said.
The Indian Peaks Band holds federally reserved water rights associated with its former reservation lands under longstanding federal law. Those rights, which predate many other uses of water in the region, "remain protected today and cannot be impaired by federal agency action", the Native American Rights Fund said.
The appeal asserts that the Board of Land Management failed to adequately consider these rights or uphold its federal trust responsibility to Tribal Nations before approving the project.
Native American Rights Fund staff attorney Tom Murphy said federal agencies have both a legal and moral obligation to protect Tribal water rights.
"This appeal seeks to ensure that those obligations are honored for the Band's water rights," he said.
The appeal and petition for stay were filed pursuant to 43 C.F.R. Part 4, which governs administrative appeals of Board of Land Management decisions. If granted, the stay would preserve the status quo and prevent construction or further project commitments while Interior Board of Land Appeals considers the merits of the appeal.
