Western Energy Company v. United States Department of the Interior

In this appeal from a judgment of the district court upholding the Secretary of the Interior’s amendments to Western Energy Company’s coal lease, we hold that the 1976 amendments to the Mineral Lands Leasing Act of 1920 apply to leases issued prior to 1976. In doing so, we join with the courts of appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the Tenth Circuit.

I. BACKGROUND

The Tenth and D.C. Circuits have decided four cases on the issues related to the effect of the 1976 amendment to the Mineral Lands Leasing Act (MLLA). Since we basically agree with the conclusions of the courts in those cases, it is not necessary to unduly burden the libraries of the country with extensive independent discussion of the issues.

The background of the legislation involved in these cases has been explained by the D.C. Circuit in Western Fuels-Utah:

895 F.2d at 782 (emphasis in original).

Appellant Western Energy Company (Western) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Montana Power Company and the holder of the 1966 lease at issue. The lease contains the following language:

Approximately two years before the end of the initial twenty-year period, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of the…