ELR Citation: ELR 20539
No(s). 84-5607 (3d Cir. Apr 18, 1985)

The court rules that the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) §402 reclamation fee may be levied only upon the weight of combustible coal mined, not on the weight of rock, clay, dirt, and other debris mined with the coal.The court preliminarily holds that the district court's grant of summary judgment for the government is a reviewable final order. Although the judgment did not specify the exact amount of fees owed by appellant companies, this amount can be readily calculated. Reaching the merits, the court analyzes the SMCRA legislative history to discern what Congress intended to include in the §402 phrase "coal produced by surface coal mining." Congress' concern that the reclamation fee not be burdensome on the coal industry nor fuel inflation counsels against an expansive interpretation of this phrase. Also, various calculations in congressional cost studies to determine the burden imposed evidently assume that the reclamation fee was to be imposed only upon combustible coal. The regulatory definition of coal likewise militates against an expansive construction.

Counsel for Appellants
Leon H. Kline, Sharon T. Walsh
Suite 104, 135 South 18th St., Philadelphia PA 19103
(215) 568-7171

Counsel for Appellee
David D. Queen, U.S. Attorney, James J. West, First Ass't U.S. Attorney
P.O. Box 11754, Harrisburg PA 17108
(717) 590-4482

Stuart A. Sanderson, Beverly Perry
Office of the Solicitor
Department of the Interior, Washington DC 20240
(202) 343-1100

Before Sloviter and Mansmann,^* JJ.