Our natural resources practice is national and international in scope and highly experienced in working with governmental agencies

Overview

Parsons Behle & Latimer’s mining attorneys routinely represent clients in mining and public land litigation in several Western states. This representation includes administrative and judicial appeals and litigation involving public land and federal lease disputes; NEPA appeals and litigation; private, federal and state royalty disputes; long-term coal contract litigation; title disputes involving mining claims, water rights, and access rights; and land use authorizations affecting mining on public and private lands in the West.

Our firm regularly represents mining clients to prosecute or defend administrative appeals of federal and state agency decisions impacting mining operations. Our attorneys have prosecuted or defended administrative appeals and tried or litigated cases on behalf of mining clients before numerous agencies and courts, including the Interior Board of Land Appeals, MMS and U.S. Forest Service Regional Offices; the Utah Boards of Oil, Gas & Mining, Air Quality, Solid and Hazardous Waste, and School and Institutional Trust Lands; state courts or agencies in Utah, Nevada, Montana, Washington, Missouri, South Dakota and California; federal district courts in Utah, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona and North Dakota; federal Courts of Appeal for the Tenth, Ninth, Eighth and D.C. Circuits; and the United States Supreme Court. Where appropriate, our mining attorneys achieve cost-effective settlements with regulatory authorities through command of the facts, skillful use of expert consultants, and careful scrutiny of the applicable regulations and guidance documents.

Team

Key Contacts

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Experience

First Ever in the US CERCLA Off-Site Rule Reconsideration Hearing

In a first-ever reconsideration appeal of a CERCLA Off-Site Rule Determination to a Regional Administrator, Mike successfully convinced the EPA Region 8 Administrator to modify an adverse Off-Site Rule Unacceptability Determination. The result allowed the client to begin accepting off-site wastes after having been precluded from doing so for several months.

Defended Mining Project Approval From Appeal

Intervened on behalf of mining business to assist in the defense of the Bureau of Land Management's approval of a mining project after an appeal and subsequent environmental analysis.

Administrative Appeal to Pollution Control Hearings Board

Brought an administrative appeal for a client to the Washington State Pollution Control Hearings Board and successfully obtained a stay of the interim temperature limit in the permit.

Insights