Bolt v. U.S.

• Citation: 944 F.2d 603
• Decision Date: 16 September 1991
• Docket Number: No. 90-35440,90-35440
• Parties: Alex Wayne BOLT, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, U.S. Department of the Interior; Bureau of Land Management; Ptarmigan Co., Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit)

Page 603

944 F.2d 603

Alex Wayne BOLT, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. UNITED STATES of America, U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management; Ptarmigan Co. Defendants-Appellees.

No. 90-35440.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted May 6, 1991.

Decided Sept. 16, 1991.

Frederick H. Boness, Preston, Thorgrimson, Shidler, Gates & Ellis, Anchorage, Alaska, for plaintiff-appellant.

John T. Stahr, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Alaska.

Before WRIGHT and O'SCANNLAIN, Circuit Judges, and PRO, ^* District Judge.

O'SCANNLAIN, Circuit Judge:

We consider whether the annual recordation requirements of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 ("FLPMA") are applicable to mining claims located within national parks.

I

Ptarmigan Company, Inc., is a corporation owned almost exclusively by Kirk Stanley. Ptarmigan owned a number of lode mining claims, the most valuable of which were the unpatented "Rambler Claims" in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve near Nabesna, Alaska.

Under section 314 of FLPMA, codified at 43 U.S.C. § 1744, mining claims must be recorded annually with the Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") "prior to December 31 of each year." 43 U.S.C. § 1744(a) (FLPMA § 314(a)). The Department of Interior has ruled that holders of mining claims in national parks must register annually with the BLM in the fashion required by FLPMA. See 36 C.F.R. § 9.5 (relying principally upon the Mining in Parks Act of 1976 ("MPA") for statutory authority).

On December 30, 1982, Stanley traveled the 300 miles to Anchorage to file the required affidavit for 1982. (Unbeknownst to Stanley, the Secretary of the Interior had promulgated a rule that permitted the annual filing to be accomplished by mail postmarked by December 30.) Unfortunately, Stanley was delayed by a winter storm, and did not arrive in Anchorage until 6:00 p.m. Believing the BLM office closed at that hour--it was not--Stanley instead went by the office on the following day, Friday, December 31. Finding the office closed for a national holiday, Stanley mailed his affidavit to the BLM on that day. It was received on Monday, January 3, 1983.

In May 1983, Ptarmigan began negotiations with Alex Wayne Bolt to lease the Rambler Claims. Ptarmigan and Bolt executed a written lease on July 1, 1983, conditioned upon National Park Service ("NPS") approval of Bolt's plan of operation. The NPS gave the go-ahead on July 18, though expressly advising that "[t]his action ... should in no way be construed as a final determination of validity of the claims which is yet to be made." Bolt began construction of a road to the claims and other preparations, ultimately expending in excess of $250,000.

On December 13, 1983, the BLM notified Ptarmigan by letter that the Rambler Claims were void due to Ptarmigan's late filing for 1982. Ptarmigan appealed to the Interior Board of Land Appeals ("IBLA"), and Bolt intervened. The appeal was stayed pending the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Locke, 471 U.S. 84, 105 S.Ct. 1785, 85 L.Ed.2d 64 (1985). Following Locke, the IBLA denied Ptarmigan's appeal in relevant part. ¹

Intervenor Bolt filed a complaint for review in the federal district court, asserting numerous claims. Among the contentions were the following: (1) FLPMA § 314 does not apply on its own terms to mining claims located in national parks; (2) the regulation adopted pursuant to the MPA that applies FLPMA § 314 to mining claims located in national parks, 36 C.F.R. § 9.5, exceeds statutory authority; (3) the NPS's approval of the plan of operation estopped the BLM from challenging the validity of the mining claims; and, (4) the forfeiture of the mining claims amounts to a taking under the fifth amendment.

On February 7, 1989, visiting District Judge Muecke dismissed the challenge to the regulation on the ground that the six-year statute of limitations applicable to actions against the government had elapsed. Bolt appeals the dismissal.

In a lengthy order issued March 30, 1990, District Judge Holland disposed of all remaining counts on a motion for summary judgment, although neither party had moved for summary judgment on the estoppel or taking issues. The court concluded that FLPMA § 314 applied to mining claims located in national parks, according substantial deference to the interpretation of the Secretary of the Interior. The taking claim was dismissed under a straightforward application of Locke. Finally, the estoppel claims failed because Ptarmigan was not shown to be ignorant of the facts and because Stanley could not prove that he relied to his detriment on the NPS's approval. Bolt appeals this order as well.

II

Bolt challenges the government's application of FLPMA § 314 to mining claims located within national parks. He makes a two-pronged attack. First, Bolt insists that section 314 does not apply directly to such claims. Then, assuming we agree with the first contention, Bolt contends that the regulation applying section 314 to claims within national parks, 36 C.F.R. § 9.5, exceeded the agency's statutory authority. Bolt must convince us of both points in order to persuade us that Ptarmigan need not have complied with section 314's strictures.

A

Section 314 nominally applies to "[t]he owner of an unpatented lode or placer mining claim located prior to [the date of FLPMA]." 43 U.S.C. § 1744(a). The Secretary of the Interior argues that the statute includes claims within national parks. Bolt contends that the statute does not. Our resolution of this dispute involves a preliminary determination of the degree of deference owed to the Secretary's interpretation, if any, and then an examination of the Secretary's conclusion guided by the appropriate degree of deference.

The interpretation of a statute by the agency charged with its administration is generally entitled to "considerable weight." Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, 467 U.S. 837, 844, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 2782-83, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984). As we recently explained,

"if the statute is silent or ambiguous with respect to the specific issue," "the court does not simply impose its own construction on the statute .... Rather, ... the question for the court is whether the agency's answer is based on a permissible construction of the statute."

Transpacific Westbound Rate Agreement v. Federal Maritime Comm'n, 938 F.2d 1025, 1028 (9th Cir.1991) (quoting Chevron, 467 U.S. at 843, 104 S.Ct. at 2782). If the agency's construction does not conflict with the clear language of the statute, we will uphold the agency's position if reasonable. Id. at 1030 (citing Chevron, 467 U.S. at 845, 104 S.Ct. at 2783). "[I]t is axiomatic that the Secretary's interpretation need not be the best or most natural one," so long as it is reasonable. Pauley v. Bethenergy Mines, Inc., --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 2524, 2537, 115 L.Ed.2d 604 (1991) (citation omitted).

Notwithstanding these general principles, Bolt argues for an exception to Chevron deference where the statute at issue calls for a forfeiture. The pundits state that "the law abhors a forfeiture." According to Bolt, forfeiture statutes must be narrowly construed. The Secretary's interpretation of section 314 was not the most narrow possible, the argument goes, and thus we should not accord that interpretation Chevron deference.

Previously, we have questioned the " 'canon' of statutory construction" that civil forfeiture statutes are to be narrowly construed. See United States v. 594,464 Pounds of Salmon, 871 F.2d 824, 827 n. 6 (9th Cir.1989) (citing United States v. $122,043, 792 F.2d 1470, 1477 (9th Cir.1986) ). There is no punitive intent behind this forfeiture statute. The Supreme Court itself, in Locke, described a deference test for the Secretary's construction of the very statute at issue here, FLPMA § 314. See Locke, 471 U.S. at 96, 105 S.Ct. at 1793 ("These regulations provide a conclusive answer to appellees' claim, for where the language of a filing deadline is plain and the agency's construction completely consistent with that language, the agency's construction simply cannot be found 'sufficiently unreasonable' as to be unacceptable.") (quoting FEC v. Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, 454 U.S. 27, 39, 102 S.Ct. 38, 46, 70 L.Ed.2d 23 (1981) ).

At least in this case, we adhere to the principle that a statute is best interpreted by the agency charged with its application.

We next inquire into the reasonableness of the Secretary's "broad" construction of section 314. The MPA and FLPMA were enacted within a month of one another. Each act has a "recordation of mining claims" section, but only FLPMA has an annual filing requirement. The Department of the Interior issued regulations in 1977 requiring miners with claims in national parks to satisfy FLPMA's annual filing provisions. Bolt contends that Congress intended otherwise, enacting FLPMA simply for application to BLM-managed lands, while the MPA was intended to capture the complete requirements for maintenance of a claim within a national park.

Section 314, on its face, does not limit its requirements to land governed by the BLM. It requires that "[t]he owner of an unpatented lode or placer mining claim" comply with its provisions. 43 U.S.C. § 1744(a). Significantly, and unlike several other sections within FLPMA, section 314 is not limited to "public lands," which by FLPMA definition would not include lands in national parks. See id. § 1702(e) (FLPMA § 103(e) ) (defining "public lands" to include only BLM-managed land).

While much of FLPMA applies only to the BLM, nothing within the Act provides that FLPMA has no application to non-BLM lands. Some provisions expressly apply to the Department of Agriculture as well. Although most sections applicable to more than just BLM-managed land are explicitly designated as such, this is not...