ELR Citation: ELR 20603
No(s). 99-5153 (Fed. Cir. May 2, 2001)

The court holds that the U.S. Department of the Interior's (DOI's) suspension of a mining company's permits did not constitute a taking in violation of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The company acquired permits to conduct coal mining on property in Tennessee. After the company mined for a period of time DOI concluded that a portion of the property contained high levels of potentially toxic materials and that acid mine drainage could pollute the surrounding area's groundwater. Therefore, DOI suspended the permits and prohibited the company from mining most of the coal covered by the mining leases. The court first holds that viewing the regulation of the company's mining program as it pertains to the entire permitted area and from the beginning of the regulation, DOI's restraints significantly limited the company's rights to mine, but even with those limits the company was able to mine a significant amount of coal that earned it a substantial profit on its investments in the leases. Therefore, it is not appropriate to characterize DOI's restraints as a prohibition of all economically viable use of the property in question. The court next holds that in light of the Surface Mining Coal Reclamation Act, which was enacted before the company had purchased the coal lease, the company could not reasonably have expected that it would be free from regulatory oversight with regard to the potential for acid mine drainage, and it could not reasonably have expected that it would not be required to adopt potentially expensive measures to avoid acid mine drainage if DOI determined that its mining activities could result in the release of those or other toxins. The court further holds that the company cannot challenge the lawfulness of DOI's suspension and permit denial in this present takings action.

A prior decision in this litigation is published at 29 ELR 21389.]

Counsel for Plaintiff
Raymond D. Battocchi
Gabeler, Battocchi & Griggs
1320 Old Chain Bridge Rd., Ste. 200, McLean VA 22101
(703) 790-5244

Counsel for Defendant
Katherine J. Barton
Environment and Natural Resources Division
U.S. Department of Justice, Washington DC 20530
(202) 514-2000

Bryson, J. Before Mayer and Lourie, JJ.