Granite Rock Co. v. California Coastal Commission

MEMORANDUM OF OPINION AND ORDER

This action presents important questions of statutory interpretation and federal preemption arising from the interrelationship among two federal statutes, the Coastal Zone Management Act, 16 U.S.C. §§ 1451 et seq. (“CZMA”) and the Mining Act of 1872, 30 U.S.C. §§ 21 et seq. (“Mining Act”), federal regulations issued by the National Forest Service, 36 C.F.R. §§ 228.1 et seq. (1983), and a state statute, the California Coastal Act, Cal.Pub.Res.Code §§ 30000 et seq. (“CCA”). At issue is whether plaintiff Granite Rock Company must secure a permit from the California Coastal Commission (“CCC”) to implement its Plan of Operations, already approved by the Forest Service, for open-pit limestone mining on federally-owned property in Los Padres National Forest.

Plaintiff seeks (1) to enjoin defendant officials of the CCC from compelling it to comply with the permit requirement of the CCA and (2) to obtain corresponding declaratory relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2201 . It claims that the CZMA, under the auspices of which the CCA was enacted, expressly excludes federally-owned lands from the coastal zone and that application of the CCA to its mining operations is…