National Mining Ass'n v. Babbitt
The court affirms in part and reverses in part a district court decision upholding U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) regulations that govern damage to land, structures, and certain water supplies caused by mining subsidence. The court first holds that a regulation establishing a rebuttable presu...
Molinary v. Powell Mountain Coal Co.
The court affirms the dismissal of a land trust's action alleging that a coal company that owned the mineral rights to a tract of the trust's land violated the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) and other federal and state laws. The trust alleged that the company's failure to comply ...
Granholm ex rel. Mich. Dep't of Natural Resources v. Federal Energy Regulatory Comm'n
The court holds that a state's failure to seek rehearing of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) order on remand in a case involving a hydroelectric power license application deprives the court of jurisdiction. After denying the state's initial motions for rehearing, FERC filed an uno...
National Mining Ass'n v. Department of the Interior
The court upholds some provisions and strikes down other provisions of an Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) interim final rule that required a surface mining permit applicant to disclose all environmental violations it incurred at its mining operations. The court first holds...
Rith Energy, Inc. v. United States
The court holds that the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement's (OSM's) denial of a surface mining permit to a company was not a taking. The company's mining plan would invade the rock strata overlying an aquifer that supplies a local community with drinking water. The court first ho...
Envirocare of Utah, Inc. v. NRC
The court upholds two Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) orders that refused on standing grounds a radioactive waste disposal facility's request for hearing and intervention in the licensing proceedings of two competitor disposal facilities. The court first holds that the NRC correctly stated that ...
Appolo Fuels, Inc. v. Babbitt
The Sixth Circuit affirms a district court judgment upholding the Interior Board of Land Appeals' (IBLA's) decision that a mining company violated federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) regulations requiring the elimination of cliff-like rock walls known as "highwalls" at its sur...
Molinary v. Powell Mountain Coal Co.
The court holds that the citizen suit provision of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), §520(f), provides a federal cause of action for the recovery of damages resulting from violation of state regulations that are a part of the state's surface coal mining and reclamation regulat...
American Colloid Co. v. Babbitt
The court upholds a U.S. Department of Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) determination that a company's failure to file a stipulation of entry rendered its mining claims null and void ab initio. When the Secretary of the Interior opened certain lands to mining claims in 1954, he required that a ...