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…

The court holds that the owners of royalty interests in federal oil and gas leases are not entitled to royalty payments from their lessee. During ongoing title disputes over mineral patent rights…

The court holds that an 11-month period between the publication of a new statutory fee for unpatented mining claims and the compliance deadline afforded a claim holder a reasonable opportunity to…

The court holds that the Secretary of the Interior must continue to process a mining company's patent application for mining lode claims to determine whether it is exempt from a statutory…

The court holds that a federal statutory requirement that holders of unpatented mining claims pay $100 per claim in 1993 and 1994 or else forfeit their claims did not effect an uncompensated…

The court holds that the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not bar a citizen group that was denied attorney fees by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality from asserting a…

The court upholds Department of the Interior (DOI) regulations allowing state agencies that administer federally approved programs under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) to…

A district court issued a final order vacating BLM's and the U.S. Forest Service's approval of on-the-ground mining exploration activities in a part of western Colorado's North Fork…