Wyoming has filed an appeal in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals for the Environmental Protection Agency decision that drew the borders of the Wind River Indian Reservation to include Riverton.
The Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes say the EPA’s decision rights a historical wrong, while the state says it's jurisdictional overreach by the federal government that raises questions about law enforcement jurisdiction, taxation and other issues. Northern Arapaho Tribe spokesman, Mark Howell, says the tribe is happy to go to court and expects it will resolve this long-standing question.
“Final determination once and for all on the question of the reservation boundaries. Once that determination is made and it comes as we think it will then we need to sit down with all the parties involved and work out the practical implementation of the determination,” says Howell.
The reservation’s borders have been disputed for years. Thursday the EPA put a stay on its decision for the lands in question until the courts can weigh in.
