United States Federal Circuit

In an action seeking a refund of a portion of the reclamation fees plaintiff had paid for coal that it produced from 1980 to 2006, pursuant to the fee structure set forth in the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA), the Court of Federal Claims' decision denying plaintiff relief is reversed and remanded, where: 1) plaintiff alleges that approximately 12 percent of the coal in plaintiff's mine contains lignite; 2) SMCRA makes the reclamation fee turn on the source or rank of coal that is extracted from the ground, and the fee for lignite coal is less than other types of coal; 3) the Office of Surface Mining's application of SMCRA to the coal produced at plaintiff's mine is legally incorrect; and 2) on remand, plaintiff must produce satisfactory evidence, pursuant to reliable methods of testing and ranking, showing that the coal extracted from its mine contains an appreciable quantity of lignite.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/13/2013
• Published 12/13/2013

Judges

• BRYSON

Court

• United States Federal Circuit

Counsel