United States DC Circuit

Pursuant to plaintiff's lease to extract coalbed methane from federal land in Wyoming, final order issued by US Department of the Interior (DOI) requiring plaintiff to retroactively recalculate royalties owed to the government is affirmed where: 1) the DOI's interpretation of the marketable condition rule reflected a reasonable construction of the rule; 2) the agency's order was not at odds with the plain language of the rule, nor did it effectively "amend," rather than reasonably construe the rule; and 3) plaintiff's claim that DOI's order conflicted with a prior interpretation of the marketable condition rule is rejected.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/23/2008
• Published 12/23/2008

Judges

Court

• United States DC Circuit

Counsel