Uop, a General Partnership v. United States of America Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior

The United States and Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior, appeal from the district court’s judgment which reversed a decision of the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA). The Board had upheld a decision of the Bureau of Land Management, which had declared the mining claims of UOP, Inc. null and void ab initio because the public records showed that title to the mineral rights in the subject lands are in the State of Arizona. We affirm in part, vacate in part, and remand.

BACKGROUND

Pursuant to the Enabling Act that authorized Arizona statehood in 1910, the parcels of land in question here were conveyed to the State of Arizona in the mid-1910s. Arizona later transferred those parcels of land to the United States in an equal acre exchange pursuant to the Taylor Grazing Act. It did so in two reconveyances identified as Phoenix 080687 (in 1947) and Phoenix 080893 (in 1948). Under the Taylor Grazing Act, mineral rights in lands which are “mineral in character” could be retained by the State, and in this instance, Arizona purported to do just that. At the time of the transfers, both sets of parcels were identified as having little value “except for grazing.” However, in a letter…