Magistrate Denies Companies’ Bid To Depose Tribal Officials In Pipeline Dispute

Mealey's (April 5, 2022, 1:36 PM EDT) -- MADISON, Wis. — A request by energy companies to depose officials of a Wisconsin Indian tribe over their denial of water quality certifications in connection with the companies’ proposed projects to abate pipeline hazards was rejected April 4 by a federal magistrate judge, who said that while the officials’ actions were “quintessentially administrative” rather than legislative, the desire to hear the “thought-processes” for their decisions is not “proportional to the needs of this case.”...