Hardesty

In this suit under the Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1975 (SMARA) (Pub. Resources Code § 2710 et. seq. ), 1 plaintiffs Joe and Yvette Hardesty (collectively, Hardesty), attack findings by the State Mining and Geology Board (Board). The Board's disputed findings conclude there are no vested rights to surface mine at the Big Cut Mine in El Dorado County (County, not a party herein). The findings in effect deny Hardesty a "grandfather" exemption from the need to obtain a County mining permit. (See § 2776, subd. (a).) The trial court denied Hardesty's mandamus petition, and Hardesty timely appealed from the ensuing judgment.

On appeal, Hardesty raises both substantive and procedural claims.

Substantively, in three somewhat interconnected claims, Hardesty contends the Board and the trial court misunderstood the legal force of his 19th century federal mining patents. He asserts they establish a vested right to surface mine after the passage of SMARA without the need to prove he was surface mining on SMARA's operative date of January 1, 1976. He argues that the Board and trial court misapplied the law of nonconforming uses in finding Hardesty had no vested right and separately…