U.S. Appeals Court upholds Verde Valley `cleanest air' designation Story-Date: 01:39 a.m. PST Tuesday , August 11, 1998 ------------------------------------------------------------ U.S. Appeals Court upholds Verde Valley `cleanest air' designation SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The Yavapai-Apache Nation won the right to give its air the strictest federal protection, as a federal court rejected Arizona's claim that the tribe failed to consider the consequences of such protection on businesses. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 3-0 Monday, with one judge partially dissenting, to uphold the Environmental Protection Agency's November classification of the reservation's air as "Class I," a rating usually used for national parks. Arizona, led by former Gov. Fife Symington, had tried to overturn the designation, saying it could disrupt further development in the Verde Valley by holding new businesses within a six-mile radius of tribal lands to a higher standard for emissions than almost anywhere in the state. The tribe sought the designation in 1993 in part because of concerns about the Phoenix Cement Co.'s plans to burn old tires for fuel at a nearby plant. The state argued that the Yavapai-Apache Nation had failed to properly detail consequences of redesignation, especially the effects it would have on the cement company. But the court ruled that the EPA has no mandate to review such specifics. "Congress intended to ... substitute a system that would give a greater role to local government, and restrict the role of the federal government by eliminating the authority EPA had to override a local government's classification of any area on the ground that the local government improperly weighed energy, environment and other factors," said the opinion by Judge Alfred Goodwin. The state also argued that only the largest out of the five parcels of land covered by the redesignation is a reservation. The court was unable to decide whether the four other parcels of land were declared reservations by Congress or by the Secretary of the Interior. It also ruled that their status is irrelevant because redesignating the largest parcel Class I effectively redesignates the surrounding four parcels as well. Most of Arizona's air is rated Class II. ------------------------------------------------------------