Nequoia Ass'n, Inc. v. Dept. of Interior of US

• Decision Date: 30 December 1985
• Docket Number: Civ. No. C-82-1084W.
• Parties: The NEQUOIA ASSOCIATION, INC., and G & R Oil Sands Corporation, Plaintiffs, v. The DEPARTMENT OF the INTERIOR OF the UNITED STATES, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Utah

626 F. Supp. 827

The NEQUOIA ASSOCIATION, INC., and G & R Oil Sands Corporation, Plaintiffs, v. The DEPARTMENT OF the INTERIOR OF the UNITED STATES, et al., Defendants.

Civ. No. C-82-1084W.

United States District Court, D. Utah, C.D.

December 30, 1985.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Edward W. Clyde, Jeffrey W. Appel, Salt Lake City, Utah, Ken Chamberlain, Richfield, Utah, for plaintiffs.

Brent D. Ward, U.S. Atty., Kathleen B. Barrett, Asst. U.S. Atty., Pierce Elliott, Acting Regional Solicitor, U.S. Dept. of Interior, Salt Lake City, Utah, Gerald S. Fish, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D.C., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER

WINDER, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on defendants' motion for summary judgment. The parties fully briefed their arguments and then presented oral argument to this court on September 11, 1985. Ken Chamberlain, Edward W. Clyde and Jeffrey W. Appel appeared on behalf of the plaintiffs, The Nequoia Association, Inc. ("Nequoia") and G & R Oil Sands Corporation ("G & R"). Kathleen Barrett appeared on behalf of the government defendants, the Department of the Interior, the Secretary of the Interior and the Utah State Director of the Bureau of Land Management. The court took the matter under advisement and has fully reviewed the memoranda submitted by the parties and all relevant authority. Being fully advised, the court now renders the following decision and order.

I.

In an attempt to preserve the natural beauty of our National Park System, Congress in 1976 enacted the Mining in the Parks Act, 16 U.S.C. §§ 1901-1912 ("The Act"). The Act prohibits, subject to valid existing rights, the exploration, mining and purchase of all mineral deposits within the National Park System. As a means of identifying valid existing claims, Congress included a requirement that all mining claims within the boundaries of units of the National Park System be recorded with the Secretary of the Interior within one year from enactment of the Act.¹ See 16 U.S.C. § 1907. See also, 1976 U.S.Code Cong. and Adm.News, pp. 2487-2495. Regulations outlining the specific requirements for recording mining claims were promulgated by the Secretary of the Interior in 41 Fed. Reg. 46357 and in 43 CFR 3831.1 et. seq. It was Nequoia's alleged failure to comply with these requirements that created the dispute underlying this lawsuit.

Prior to December 18, 1980, plaintiff Nequoia was the owner and plaintiff G & R was the lessee of 117 unpatented placer mining claims located in Wayne County, Utah. On that date, the Utah State Office, Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") issued a decision ("the December 18 decision") declaring their claims to be "abandoned and void" because of failure to record them in accordance with the requirements of section 8 of the Mining in the Parks Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1907. Nequoia did not appeal the December 18 decision but, over eight months later, moved to vacate it. The BLM denied Nequoia's motion and the Interior Board of Land Appeals ("IBLA") dismissed Nequoia's appeal from the BLM's denial. Plaintiffs then filed this action seeking review of the administrative decisions or, in the alternative, seeking compensation for the taking of their property.

II.

The procedural circumstances from which this case arises are matters of record in the Department of the Interior and are not disputed by the parties.

On September 28, 1977, the last possible day for recording claims under the Mining in the Parks Act, Howard Silliman ("Silliman"), Secretary of Nequoia, filed with the Utah Minerals Office of the National Park Service ("NPS") a copy of a press release² with a handwritten notation on the bottom reading "Sirs: Please Record," followed by Silliman's signature, and accompanied by a list of 117 unpatented mining claims. With respect to each claim, the list specified the name of the claim, the dates, the book and the page in which such claim was recorded in county records, and the legal subdivision the claim "would probably embrace" if the land therein were surveyed. Silliman also submitted maps which purportedly depicted the claims.

By a letter dated November 10, 1977, Harold A. Ellingson of the NPS advised Silliman that Nequoia's submission was deficient. Specifically, Ellingson pointed out that the filing did not contain "copies of location notices" or "maps with the individual claims clearly identified" as required by the regulations promulgated pursuant to the Mining in the Parks Act.³

NPS received no response to Mr. Ellingson's letter. Consequently, by a decision dated December 18, 1980, the Utah State Office of the BLM declared Nequoia's claims to be "abandoned and void" for failure to record the claims on or before September 28, 1977 as required by 16 U.S.C. § 1907 and the accompanying regulations.

The December 18 decision notified Nequoia of its right to appeal the decision to the IBLA within thirty days pursuant to the regulations found in 43 C.F.R. Part 4, Subpart E. Thirty days passed and Nequoia did not appeal. Therefore, on February 27, 1981, the BLM notified Nequoia that the case was closed.

Almost nine months after the December 18 decision declaring the claims "abandoned and void," Nequoia filed a motion to vacate the decision with the Utah State Office of the BLM. The basis for the motion to vacate was that the decision had been issued "without warrant and authority of law" and that Nequoia had been "denied the full hearing" to which it was entitled.

On October 16, 1981, the Chief of the Branch of Lands and Mineral Operations of the BLM notified Nequoia by letter that its motion to vacate the December 18 decision would not be recognized. The letter reasoned that:

Records to the file show that Nequoia Association received the December 18 decision on December 20, 1980. Accordingly, the right of appeal to IBLA expired after January 30, 1981. Nequoia Association filed a "Notice to Vacate" said decision in the Utah State Office on September 16, 1981, over eight and one half (8½) months after the expiration of the appeal period.

Therefore, the said "Notice to Vacate" shall not be recognized and heretofore claims remain abandoned and void. Case closed.

One month later on November 16, 1981, Ken Chamberlain ("Chamberlain"), counsel for Nequoia and G & R, filed with the IBLA a notice of appeal from the October 16 ruling. Attached to the notice was a memorandum outlining the reasons that the BLM decision should be reversed. The reasons identified at that time were that the BLM had issued the December 18 decision without holding a hearing as required by the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 554(c)(1), that the decision contained a false declaration, that the duty of conducting hearings had been unlawfully delegated and that the Mining in the Parks Act did not give the NPS jurisdiction over the area in which Nequoia's claims were located.

The IBLA dismissed Nequoia's appeal by a decision dated December 23, 1981, Nequoia Association, 60 IBLA 386. Like the BLM, the IBLA refused to recognize an appeal made under the guise of a motion to vacate when the time period for filing an appeal had expired. The Appeals Board stated:

The regulations require that a notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days after the person taking the appeal is served with the decision from which the appeal is taken. 43 CFR 4.411(a). This Board has held that the timely filing of a notice of appeal is required to establish the jurisdiction of the Board to review the decision below and that the failure to file the appeal within the time allowed mandates dismissal of the appeal. citations omitted. Although this Board is generally reluctant to take any action which would preclude review of appeals on the merits, the purpose of the rule is to establish a definite time when administrative proceedings regarding a claim are at an end, in order to protect other parties to the proceedings and the public interest, and strict adherence to rule is required. citation omitted.

Since Nequoia did not file a notice of appeal of the December 18, 1980, BLM decision within the 30-day period for appeal, the BLM decision became final, the mining claims are considered abandoned and void, and this proceeding must be dismissed.

After holding that the appeal must be dismissed, the IBLA nevertheless briefly addressed the substantive arguments raised by Nequoia regarding the December 18 decision and found them all to be without merit.

The IBLA's dismissal of Nequoia's appeal constituted final agency action in this matter. See 43 C.F.R. 4.21(c). Nequoia and G & R then filed this suit in district court. Their complaint contains two causes of action. Under the first, plaintiffs assert that the BLM and IBLA decisions were arbitrary, capricious and contrary to law and that the December 18 decision was made in contravention of the procedures required by the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 554(c)(1). Under the second cause, plaintiffs argue that they are entitled to compensation for the taking of their property pursuant to 16 U.S.C. § 1910. The prayer for relief asks this court for a judgment declaring the BLM and IBLA decisions void and of no force and also declaring the validity of plaintiffs' mining claims. In the alternative, plaintiffs ask that this court render a judgment awarding them compensation for the taking of their property.

The Department of the Interior and the other government defendants (hereinafter collectively referred to as "Interior") moved for summary judgment arguing that Nequoia's appeal to the IBLA was properly dismissed as a matter of law and that this court cannot reach the merits of Nequoia's contentions regarding the December 18 decision because Nequoia failed to file a timely notice of appeal from that decision. In the alternative, defendants argue that if this court reaches the merits of that decision, it should hold that Nequoia's mining claims were properly declared abandoned and...