US v. Spring Ridge Coal Co.

• Decision Date: 23 June 1992
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 91-0019-E.
• Citation: 793 F. Supp. 124
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of West Virginia
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. SPRING RIDGE COAL COMPANY, Defendant.

793 F. Supp. 124

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. SPRING RIDGE COAL COMPANY, Defendant.

Civ. A. No. 91-0019-E.

United States District Court, N.D. West Virginia.

June 23, 1992.

Sandra E. Wartell, Jan U. Bellhy, Office of Sol., Pittsburgh, Pa., for plaintiff.

William W. Talbott, Webster Springs, W.Va., for defendant.

ORDER

MAXWELL, Chief Judge.

Plaintiff instituted the above-styled civil action seeking to collect mine reclamation fees allegedly owed by Defendant pursuant to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 ("SMCRA"), 30 U.S.C. §§ 1201 et seq. (1986 & West Supp.1992). Specifically, Plaintiff claims Defendant underreported the amount of coal upon which such fees are due during the period of January 1, 1983 through December 31, 1988. Plaintiff has filed a Motion for Summary Judgment to which Defendant responded on April 8, 1992. A reply was subsequently submitted. A review of the record in this matter demonstrates that this dispositive motion is ready for consideration by the Court.

Motions for summary judgment under Rule 56, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, impose a difficult standard on the movant, for it must be obvious that no rational trier of fact could find for the non-moving party. Miller v. FDIC, 906 F.2d 972, 974 (4th Cir.1990). However, the "mere existence of a scintilla of evidence" favoring the nonmoving party will not prevent entry of summary judgment. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2512, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). To withstand such a motion, the non-moving party must offer evidence from which "a fair-minded jury could return a verdict for the party." Id. Such evidence must consist of facts which are material, meaning that the facts might affect the outcome of the suit under applicable law, as well as genuine, meaning that they create fair doubt rather than encourage mere speculation. Id. at 248, 106 S.Ct. at 2510; Ross v. Communications Satellite Corp., 759 F.2d 355, 364 (4th Cir.1985).

In its response, Defendant primarily contends that the expansive interpretation of SMCRA expounded by Plaintiff is inconsistent with the language and purposes of the statute. Defendant argues that regulations promulgated pursuant to SMCRA are overly-broad and contrary to the plain meaning of terms used in relevant statutory passages. Finally, it is argued that imposition of the fees may, in some circumstances, result in a double-imposition of the relevant fees.

Plaintiff's suit is premised upon 30 U.S.C. § 1232, which establishes a land reclamation fund for parcels of land damaged by coal mining operations. Subsection (a) of § 1232 requires all coal mining operators subject to SMCRA to pay reclamation fees of $0.35/ton of coal produced by surface mining and $0.15/ton of coal produced by underground mining. 30 U.S.C. § 1232(a) (1986). Accordingly to Plaintiff, Defendant failed to report 204,908.24 tons of coal, resulting in nonpayment of $61,096.74, exclusive of interest and penalties. Pursuant to § 1232(e), Plaintiff has instituted this action to recover these fees.

To the extent that Defendant challenges the validity of the regulations promulgated by the Secretary of the Department of Interior pursuant to SMCRA, the Court absolutely agrees with Plaintiff that this Court is an inappropriate forum for such an argument. The statute provides, in pertinent part:

Any action by the Secretary promulgating national rules or regulations including standards pursuant to sections 1251, 1265, 1266, and 1273 of this title shall be subject to judicial review in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit. Any other action constituting rulemaking by the Secretary shall be subject to judicial review only by the United States District Court for the District in which the surface coal mining operation is located.

30 U.S.C. § 1276(a) (1986). While there is some dispute regarding the scope of the language set forth above, the clear trend is to interpret this section as requiring that a challenge to national regulations such as those involved in the present action be brought only in the District of Columbia Circuit. E.g. Amerikohl Min. Inc. v. United States, 899 F.2d 1210 (Fed.Cir.1990) (challenge to assessment of reclamation fees must be instituted in the District of Columbia Circuit); Drummond Coal Co. v. Watt, 735 F.2d 469 (11th Cir.1984) (challenge to validity of the reclamation fees regulations must be brought in the District of Columbia Circuit); contra Holmes Limestone Co. v. Andrus, 655 F.2d 732 (6th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 456 U.S. 995, 102 S.Ct. 2280, 72 L.Ed.2d 1292 (1982) (jurisdiction of District of Columbia Circuit is non-exclusive). Moreover, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has clearly adopted the view that national regulations promulgated under SMCRA are reviewable only in the District of Columbia Circuit. Commonwealth of Va. ex rel. Va. Dept. of Conserv. v. Watt, 741 F.2d 37 (4th Cir.1984) (attacks on administrative actions taken pursuant to regulations promulgated under SMCRA which constitute challenges to regulations themselves may be prosecuted only in the District of Columbia Circuit); Tug Valley Recovery Center v. Watt, 703 F.2d 796 (4th Cir.1983) (challenge to regulation which was alleged to be contrary to SMCRA provision should be pursued in the District of Columbia Circuit). Accordingly, this Court is without jurisdiction to consider Defendant's arguments concerning the validity of the applicable regulations and will limit its review to the applicability of these regulations to Defendant and its mining operations.

Plaintiff seeks to recover reclamation fees which are due, in part, on coal which was recovered from refuse heaps, or "gob piles." Defendant argues that this removal is not covered by SMCRA. Also, Defendant claims "that reclamation fees most likely were already paid on the product."

The $0.35/ton assessment under § 1232(a) is imposed upon "coal produced by surface coal mining...." The phrase "surface coal mining" is not defined in the statute, although § 1291(28) provides a definition of "surface coal mining operations" which includes:

(A) activities conducted on the surface of lands in connection with a surface coal mine or ... and surface impacts incident to an underground coal mine.... Such activities include excavation for the purpose of obtaining coal including such common methods as contour, strip, auger, mountaintop removal, box cut, open pit, and area mining ... and the cleaning, concentrating, or other processing or preparation, loading of coal for interstate commerce at or near the mine site ... and

(B) the areas upon which such activities occur or where such activities disturb the natural land surface. Such areas shall also include any adjacent land the use of which is incidental to any such activities ... and excavations, workings, impoundments, dams, ventilation shafts, entryways, refuse banks, dumps, stockpiles, overburden piles, spoil banks, culm banks, tailings, holes or depressions, repair areas, storage areas, processing areas, shipping areas and other areas upon which are sited structures, facilities, or other property or materials on the surface, resulting from or incident to such activities....

30 U.S.C. § 1291(28) (1986). Additional guidance is provided by 30 C.F.R. § 700.5, the general definitional section of the regulations implementing SMCRA. While basically adopting the definition contained in § 1291(28), the regulation expressly states "that excavation for the purpose of obtaining coal includes extraction of coal from coal refuse piles...." One court has previously decided, correctly in the opinion of this Court, that the phrases "surface coal mining" and "surface coal mining operations" are interchangeable for the purposes of SMCRA. United States v. Devil's Hole, Inc., 747 F.2d 895, 898 (3d Cir.1984).

The regulations implementing the mine reclamation fund further guide this Court's analysis. "Reclaimed coal" is defined as "coal recovered from a deposit that is not in its original geological location, such as refuse piles.... Reclaimed coal operations are considered to be surface coal mining operations for fee liability and calculation purposes." 30 C.F.R. § 870.5.

As the statutory and regulatory passages set forth above clearly demonstrate, removal and processing of coal from gob piles is considered to the surface coal mining subject to the $0.35/ton fee imposed by § 1232(a). The courts that have considered this issue agree. "The mere removal of coal from refuse piles, when no below-surface activity occurs, constitutes a `surface coal mining operation' under the SMCRA." United States v. Kennedy, 806 F.2d 111, 112-14 (7th Cir.1985). See also United States v. Devil's Hole, Inc., supra; United States v. H.G.D. & J. Min. Co. Inc., 561 F.Supp. 315 (S.D.W.Va.1983) (dredging coal from a river constituted a "surface coal mining operation" subjecting defendant to reclamation fees under § 1232(a)). Accordingly, to the extent that removal of coal refuse from gob piles is attributable to Defendant, reclamation fees of $0.35/ton are owed on that coal.

As a brief aside before examining whether the coal in question is fairly attributed to Defendant, the Court notes the Defendant raises legitimate concerns about the possibility of having the reclamation fee twice imposed upon the coal recovered from the gob piles. However, Plaintiff properly characterizes Defendant's arguments as speculation at this time. Additionally, the applicable regulation, 30 C.F.R. § 870.12(b), mandates that the fee be calculated upon the initial sale or transfer of the coal. Therefore, coal from the gob piles would not be assessed a reclamation fee until it had been cleaned, processed, and sold. Defendant's claims accordingly must be disregarded pending a showing that the mandated method of computation was not followed in the present case.

The final issue presented is whether Defen...