Meridian Land and Mineral Company, and Burlington Northern Railroad Company v. Donald Paul Hodel, James R. Harris, and U.S. Department of the Interior, Theodore Fletcher v. United States

843 F.2d 340 MERIDIAN LAND AND MINERAL COMPANY, and Burlington Northern Railroad Company, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Donald Paul HODEL, James R. Harris, and U.S. Department of the Interior, Defendants-Appellants. Theodore FLETCHER, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellant. Nos. 85-4385, 85-4405. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted Dec. 3, 1986. Decided March 25, 1988. Jacques B. Gelin, Land and Natural Resources Div., Washington, D.C., for defendants-appellants. William A. Gould, Perkins Coie, Seattle, Wash., for plaintiff-appellee Meridian. Michael G. Moses, Billings, Mont., for plaintiff-appellee Fletcher. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Montana. Before BROWNING, Chief Judge, and WRIGHT and BOOCHEVER, Circuit Judges. JAMES R. BROWNING, Chief Judge: 1 Meridian Land and Mineral Company and Burlington Northern Railroad Company ("Meridian") and Theodore Fletcher own coal underlying surface lands in Custer National Forest (Custer) which they allege can only be recovered by use of surface mining methods. They sought a declaratory judgment that the "Custer Proviso" in section…