Mt. St. Helens Mining & Recovery Ltd. Partnership v. United States

Appellant, Mount St. Helens Mining and Recovery Limited Partnership (the “Partnership”), filed the underlying suit against Appellees, the United States of America (the “Government”), Dan Glickman, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture (the “Department”), Mike Dombeck, Chief of the Forest Service, Nancy Graybeal, Acting Regional Forester and Claire Laven-del, Supervisor, Gifford-Pinchot National Forest (the “Forest Service”), alleging that the Department violated the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument Act and the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument Completion Act by failing to timely acquire the Partnership’s patented mineral interests located within the Mount St. Helens Monument.

After the Partnership filed suit to compel the Department of Agriculture to acquire the Partnership’s mineral interests, the Department and the Forest Service offered to exchange land outside the Monument’s boundaries valued at $242,000 for the mineral interest owned by the Partnership. The Partnership rejected this offer and Appellees filed a motion for summary *724 judgment. The district court granted the motion, concluding that the Department’s offer was not arbitrary,…