American Colloid Co. v. Babbitt, 97-8018

• Decision Date: 27 May 1998
• Docket Number: No. 97-8018,97-8018
• Citation: 145 F.3d 1152
• Parties: 28 Envtl. L. Rep. 21,178, 98 CJ C.A.R. 2568 AMERICAN COLLOID COMPANY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Bruce BABBITT, Secretary, United States Department of Interior, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

Page 1152

145 F.3d 1152

28 Envtl. L. Rep. 21,178, 98 CJ C.A.R. 2568

AMERICAN COLLOID COMPANY, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Bruce BABBITT, Secretary, United States Department of Interior, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 97-8018.

United States Court of Appeals Tenth Circuit.

May 27, 1998.

R. Dennis Ickes of Parry, Lawrence, & Ward, Salt Lake City, UT, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

David A. Kubichek, Assistant United States Attorney (David D. Freudenthal, United States Attorney for the District of Wyoming, and Nicholas Vassallo, Assistant United States Attorney, on the brief), Cheyenne, WY, for Defendant-Appellee.

Before KELLY, McKAY, and HENRY, Circuit Judges.

McKAY, Circuit Judge.

In 1990, the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management [BLM] determined that two mining claims held by Appellant, American Colloid Company [American Colloid], were null and void ab initio. The basis for the BLM's decision was the fact that American Colloid's predecessors-in-interest in the claims had failed to file a stipulation regarding the claims which was required by the order of the Secretary of the Interior that opened the lands to mining entry. The statute authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to require the stipulation states that the Secretary may require that the stipulation be filed before the vesting of any rights in a claim on subject lands. See 43 U.S.C. § 154. American Colloid appealed the BLM's determination to the Department of the Interior Board of Land Appeals [IBLA], and a panel comprised of two administrative law judges affirmed the BLM's decision. See American Colloid Co., 128 I.B.L.A. 257 (1994). American Colloid appealed the IBLA decision to the district court. After briefing and oral argument, the district court affirmed the IBLA panel. See Appellant's App. at 1-13. American Colloid now appeals the district court's decision to this court.

The land encompassing the disputed claims [Bethel Nos. 1 and 2] was withdrawn from entry under the general mining laws for the purpose of serving the nation's reclamation interests. See Appellee's App. at 1-4. In 1954, the Secretary of the Interior opened the land to entry under the general mining laws. See Appellant's App. at 25. The Secretary's order opening the land required claimants to file a stipulation reserving a right of way to the United States to utilize the land for any future reclamation needs, in addition to performing the other requirements to perfect a claim. See id. The Secretary published a notice of the opening order in the Federal Register. See id. The notice stated that the stipulation had to be filed before any rights to mining claims on the land vested. See id.

American Colloid's predecessors-in-interest in Bethel Nos. 1 and 2 staked the claims in April 1954, after the land was opened by the Secretary. See id. at 26. American Colloid's predecessors-in-interest never filed the stipulation required by the Secretary's order opening the land to entry. See Appellee's App. at 26. In 1988, the BLM determined that the Bethel Nos. 1 and 2 claims were on lands subject to the Secretary's order requiring the stipulation, and it notified American Colloid that "[their] rights to hold the ... claims are subject to ... evidence that the stipulation requirements of the order dated February 26, 1954, were complied with. Absent this evidence, the Bethel Nos. 1 and 2 claims are null and void, ab initio." Id. at 6. In 1989, a rival claimant filed the required stipulation on his own behalf. See id. at 11. In 1990 the BLM declared American Colloid's claims null and void ab initio. See id. at 28. It was not until January of 1994 that American Colloid executed and filed the stipulation required by the opening order. See Appellant's App. at 26.

American Colloid contends the district court erred in agreeing with the IBLA that 43 U.S.C. § 154 allowed the BLM to void its mining claims. American Colloid also argues that the IBLA decision cannot be sustained because the "inconsistent opinions" of the IBLA panel violate the Administrative Procedures Act [APA] and the federal regulations governing IBLA decisions. Appellant's Opening Br. at 9. It also maintains that the portion of the Secretary's order requiring the stipulation is void because it violates the APA's notice and comment provisions.

When reviewing a district court's decision affirming an agency action, we employ the identical standard of review utilized by the district court. See Santa Fe Energy Prods. Co. v. McCutcheon, 90 F.3d 409, 413 (10th Cir.1996). We do not accord the district court's determination of the case any deference. See id. We do give deference to the decisions of the Interior Board of Land Appeals, and we will set aside an IBLA decision only if it is arbitrary, capricious, otherwise not in accordance with law, or not supported by substantial evidence. See 5 U.S.C. § 706; Hoyl v. Babbitt, 129 F.3d 1377, 1382 (10th Cir.1997). "The court's function is exhausted where a rational basis is found for the agency action taken." Sabin v. Butz, 515 F.2d 1061, 1067 (10th Cir.1975).

In reviewing an agency's interpretation of a statute that the agency is charged with administering, we must determine

whether Congress has directly spoken to the precise question at issue. If the intent of Congress is clear, that is the end of the matter; for the court, as well as the agency, must give effect to the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress. In ascertaining the plain meaning of the statute, the court must look to the particular statutory language at issue, as well as the language and design of the statute as a whole. But if the statute is silent or ambiguous with respect to the specific issue, the question for the court is whether the agency's answer is based on a permissible construction of the statute, that is, whether the agency's construction is rational and consistent with the statute. However, if a court, employing traditional tools of statutory construction, ascertains that Congress had an intention on the precise question at issue, that intention is the law and must be given effect.

In interpreting statutes, we begin with the relevant language. When the terms of a statute are unambiguous, our inquiry is complete, except in rare and exceptional circumstances.

Aulston v. United States, 915 F.2d 584, 588-89 (10th Cir.1990) (internal citations and quotations omitted), cert. denied, 500 U.S. 916, 111 S.Ct. 2011, 114 L.Ed.2d 98 (1991).

The statute at issue, 43 U.S.C. § 154, allows for the location of mining claims in areas previously withdrawn from entry under the general mining laws. The statute provides, in pertinent part:

Where public lands of the United States have been withdrawn for possible use for construction purposes under the Federal reclamation laws, and are known or believed to be valuable for minerals and would, if not so withdrawn, be subject to location and patent under the general mining laws, the Secretary of the Interior, when in his opinion the rights of the United States will not be prejudiced thereby, may, in his discretion, open the land to location, entry, and patent under the general mining laws, reserving such ways, rights, and easements over or to such lands as may be prescribed by him ... and/or the said Secretary may require the execution of a contract by the intending locator or entryman as a condition precedent to the vesting of any rights in him, when in the opinion of the Secretary same may be necessary for the protection of the irrigation interests.... The Secretary may prescribe the form of such contract which shall be executed and acknowledged and recorded in the county records and United States local land office by any locator or entryman of such land before any rights in their favor attach thereto .... Notice of such reservation or of the necessity of executing such prescribed contract shall be filed in the Bureau of Land Management and in the appropriate local land office, and notations thereof shall be made upon the appropriate tract books, and any location or entry thereafter made upon or for such lands, and any patent therefor shall be subject to the terms of such contract and/or to such reserved ways, rights, or easements and such entry or patent shall contain a reference thereto.

43 U.S.C. § 154 (emphasis added).

The statute clearly states that the Secretary may require the filing of the stipulation as a condition precedent to the vesting of any rights in the claimant. The Secretary's order opening the land at issue to entry states that, pursuant to the Secretary's authority under section 154, an entryman had to execute and record the stipulation in the county records and the United States Land and Survey Office "before locations [were] made." Appellant's App. at 25. We find no ambiguity inherent in the word "before." American Colloid does not argue that the stipulation was filed prior to the time the claims were declared void. American Colloid finally filed the required stipulation almost forty years after the original entry and location of the claims and almost four years after American Colloid's claims were declared null and void ab initio because the required stipulation was missing. The IBLA decision that American Colloid possessed no rights to Bethel Nos. 1 and 2 because the stipulation was not filed is logical given the unambiguous intent of Congress to grant the Secretary the power to require the stipulation prior to the vesting of any rights. The language of this statute required no interpretation by the BLM or the IBLA. We see no error in the conclusion that Congress' intent in enacting section 154 was followed by the BLM in declaring the claims to Bethel Nos. 1 and 2 null and void.

American Colloid asserts that the district court erred in affirming the IBLA decision because the concurring opinion of one of the panel members reveals a disagreement between the judges on a material issue of law. American Colloid argues that because there...