Bedroc Ltd., L.L.C. v. U.S.

Decision Date30 December 2002
Docket NumberNo. 01-17080.,01-17080.
Citation314 F.3d 1080
PartiesBEDROC LIMITED, L.L.C., a Nevada Limited Liability Company, Plaintiff-Counter-Defendant-Appellant, and Western Elite, Inc., a Nevada corporation, Plaintiff-Appellant, and Earl Williams, an individual, Plaintiff-Counter-Defendant, v. The UNITED STATES of America; Gale A. Norton, Secretary of the Interior; United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management; and Curtis L. Tucker, Area Manager, Caliente Resource Area Bureau of Land Management, Defendants-Counterclaimants-Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

L. Eric Lundgren, Lundgren Law Offices, P.C., Cheyenne, WY, for the plaintiffs-appellants.

Blaine T. Welsh, Assistant United States Attorney, Environment and Natural Resources Division, Las Vegas, NV, for the defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Nevada; Philip M. Pro, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-98-01012-PMP.

Before HAWKINS, GRABER, and TALLMAN, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

GRABER, Circuit Judge.

In this appeal, we must decide whether sand and gravel are "valuable minerals" within the meaning of the Pittman Underground Water Act (the Act or the Pittman Act), 43 U.S.C. §§ 351-359 (1935).1 The now-repealed Act provided grants, or "patents," of federal public lands to people who found underground sources of water in the deserts of Nevada. Under the terms of the Act, these patents reserved "all the coal and other valuable minerals" to the United States. Pittman Act § 8.

Plaintiff BedRoc Limited2 brought this action to quiet title in a parcel of land granted under the Act in 1940 to BedRoc's predecessor in interest. Citing the mineral reservation, the United States has claimed title to the sand and gravel on the parcel; BedRoc contends that sand and gravel are not "valuable minerals" within the meaning of the Act and thus were not reserved to the government. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the United States. We affirm.

We hold that sand and gravel are encompassed by the reservation of "valuable minerals" to the United States. The purpose of the Act and its legislative history instruct us to construe the reservation broadly. Moreover, government documents concerning minerals, published contemporaneously with the statute's enactment, describe the then-lucrative market for sand and gravel.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
A. Historical Background

In 1910, only 81,875 people lived in Nevada. The federal government owned most of the land in Nevada. The lack of a tax base held back development of the state's infrastructure. The Homestead Acts, a successful tool for development in other western states, had failed to populate Nevada because of the lack of water available for agricultural cultivation. 54 Cong. Rec. S706 (1916).

At the time, it was thought that the future development of the state depended largely on the discovery of underground water, which could be used to irrigate land for agricultural purposes. Nevada's congressional representatives, however, failed to gain the necessary support to fund projects to explore for underground water. Id. As an alternative, Nevada Senator Key Pittman proposed the Pittman Underground Water Act as a means of encouraging private citizens to search for underground water in order to cultivate Nevada's arid lands.

Passed in 1919, the Act provided that the Department of the Interior would certify certain "nonmineral" public lands to parcel out to prospective settlers. Pittman Act § 1. Initially, the government issued two-year permits, giving settlers the exclusive right to drill wells in a parcel of up to 2,560 acres. Id. If a settler could demonstrate successful irrigation of at least 20 acres, the United States would grant the settler a patent of up to 640 acres. Pittman Act § 5. The remaining acres would be divided into homesteads and distributed under the 160-acre Homestead Act. Pittman Act § 6.

The Act and the patents issued pursuant to the Act contain the following mineral reservation:

That all entries made and patents issued under the provisions of this Act shall be subject to and contain a reservation to the United States of all the coal and other valuable minerals in the lands so entered and patented, together with the right to prospect for, mine, and remove the same. The coal and other valuable mineral deposits in such lands shall be subject to disposal by the United States in accordance with the provisions of the coal and mineral land law in force at the time of such disposal.

Pittman Act § 8 (emphasis added).

B. BedRoc's Patent

On March 12, 1940, Newton and Mabel Butler received a patent under the Act for 560 acres of land in Lincoln County, Nevada. "[I]n conformity with the ... Act," the patent reserved to the United States "all the coal and other valuable minerals in the lands so granted, together with the right to prospect for, mine, and remove the same upon compliance with the conditions of and subject to the limitations of Section eight of said Act."

In the early 1990s, a lessee began taking sand and gravel from the property. Earl Williams purchased the property in 1993 and continued to extract sand and gravel. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued trespass notices to Williams on March 26 and April 1, 1993. Williams challenged the notices. In response, the BLM issued a decision stating that Williams' removal of the sand and gravel trespassed against the government's reserved interest in the "valuable minerals" on the property. The Interior Board of Land Appeals upheld that decision on appeal, relying on the legislative history of the Act and on the intent of Congress in enacting it. Earl Williams, 140 I.B.L.A. 295, 304-13 (1997).

BedRoc acquired the property from Williams in 1995 and continued to remove sand and gravel. Pursuant to an agreement with the Department of the Interior, BedRoc placed money in escrow from the sale of each cubic yard of sand and gravel removed, pending final resolution of the ownership dispute.

C. District Court Proceedings

In the district court, BedRoc sought to quiet title in the sand and gravel and to determine how much of the funds in escrow should be paid to the government if the district court concluded that the mineral reservation included sand and gravel. BedRoc and the government filed cross-motions for summary judgment on the issue of ownership. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the United States.

Before the district court resolved the remaining issues, the parties reached a settlement regarding the funds in escrow. The settlement provided that BedRoc could appeal only the ownership issues to this court. The district court entered a final judgment pursuant to the parties' stipulation, and this timely appeal followed.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review de novo a grant of summary judgment. Robi v. Reed, 173 F.3d 736, 739 (9th Cir.1999). We also review de novo questions of statutory interpretation. Lopez v. Wash. Mut. Bank, 302 F.3d 900, 903 (9th Cir.2002).

"We interpret a federal statute by ascertaining the intent of Congress and by giving effect to its legislative will." Ariz. Appetito's Stores, Inc. v. Paradise Village Inv. Co. (In re Ariz. Appetito's Stores, Inc.), 893 F.2d 216, 219 (9th Cir.1990). First, we examine the statute's text. Siripongs v. Davis, 282 F.3d 755, 758 (9th Cir.2002). If the text of the statute makes Congress' intent clear, we need look no further. United States v. Romo-Romo, 246 F.3d 1272, 1275 (9th Cir.2001). "Where the language is not dispositive, we look to the congressional intent revealed in the history and purposes of the statutory scheme." United States v. Buckland, 289 F.3d 558, 565 (9th Cir.2002) (en banc) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted).

DISCUSSION
A. The Statutory Text

"The word `mineral' is used in so many senses, dependent upon the context, that the ordinary definitions of the dictiothrow but little light upon its signification in a given case." N. Pac. Ry. Co. v. Soderberg, 188 U.S. 526, 530, 23 S.Ct. 365, 47 L.Ed. 575 (1903). A review of the dictionary definitions of "mineral" bears out that principle. Broadly, a "mineral" includes anything that is neither animal nor vegetable. Webster's Third New Int'l Dictionary 1437 (unabridged ed.1993). Some definitions name "sand" specifically as an example of a "mineral." See, e.g., Merriam-Webster Dictionary, available at http://www.m-w.com/. But, neither the text of the statute nor dictionary definitions answer the precise question here: Did Congress intend sand and gravel to be included in the reservation of "valuable minerals" under the Pittman Act? Pittman Act § 8 (emphasis added).

The word "valuable" does not clarify the ambiguity. For purposes of statutory construction, we must determine "whether the language at issue has a plain and unambiguous meaning with regard to the particular dispute in the case." Robinson v. Shell Oil Co., 519 U.S. 337, 340, 117 S.Ct. 843, 136 L.Ed.2d 808 (1997) (emphasis added). Although the ordinary meaning of the phrase "valuable minerals" does not evoke images of sand and gravel, neither does the phrase obviously exclude those substances. Sand and gravel are not "valuable" in the way that diamonds or gold might be. However, late-nineteenth century dictionaries confirm that "valuable" did not simply mean "precious"; as it does today, "valuable" also described an object's utility. See Joseph E. Worcester, A Dictionary of the English Language 1614 (1897) (defining "valuable" as "having value or worth; being possessed of worth or useful properties; ... useful"). In that sense, sand and gravel have value, both for their usefulness and for their commercial worth.

When the mineral reservation is read in context, the significance of the modifier "valuable" diminishes. The mineral reservation provision, section 8 of the Act, refers to minerals several...

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