Opinion ID: 761771
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Title to Range Improvements

Text: 154 I also disagree with the majority's conclusion that section four of the TGA is ambiguous with respect to ownership of rangeland improvements constructed by a permittee on the public lands. The majority concludes that the TGA is ambiguous as to whether permittees who construct improvements should hold title to those improvements, and therefore the Secretary was within his authority promulgating new 43 C.F.R. § 4120.3-2(b) (1995). That new regulation states that title to all permanent range improvements authorized under cooperative agreements after August 21, 1995 shall be in the United States. A cooperative agreement is an agreement between a permittee and the Secretary whereby both parties jointly pay for the construction of a rangeland improvement. 155 I agree with the PLC that the TGA grants permittees ownership rights in improvements constructed either in whole or in part by the permittee. The following language from section four of the TGA is relevant: 156 Fences, wells, reservoirs, and other improvements; construction; permits; partition fences. 157 Fences, wells, reservoirs, and other improvements necessary to the care and management of the permitted livestock may be constructed on the public lands within such grazing districts under permit issued by the Secretary or under such cooperative arrangement as the Secretary may approve. .... No permit shall be issued which shall entitle the permittee to the use of such improvements constructed and owned by a prior occupant until the applicant has paid to such prior occupant the reasonable value of such improvements to be determined under rules and regulations of the Secretary of the Interior. 158 43 U.S.C. § 315c (emphasis added). Under this provision, a permittee who construct[s] and own[s] an improvement on the public lands is entitled to compensation for its value from a subsequent permittee before the subsequent permittee may use the improvement. Id.; cf. 43 U.S.C. § 1752(g) (stating that a permittee is entitled to reasonable compensation from the government for his interest in authorized permanent improvements he has constructed if the government cancels his grazing permit). Thus, new 43 C.F.R. 4120.3-2(b), which gives the federal government title to improvements built by a permittee, has significant consequences for permittees: since title to improvements is not in the hands of the permittees who construct them, permittees are not statutorily entitled to any compensation from later users. 159 The district court determined that section four of the Taylor Act strongly suggests that the individual who constructed the improvement should own it and, therefore, struck down the Secretary's range improvements rule as exceed[ing] statutory authority. Public Lands Council v. Babbitt, 929 F.Supp. 1436, 1442-43 (D.Wyo.1996). The majority disagrees with the district court, concluding that this statutory section gives the government unlimited discretion to determine what improvements, if any, may be both constructed and owned by a permittee. 160 I cannot agree with the assertion that Congress wanted the Secretary to decide whether a permittee should hold title to improvements paid for and constructed by the permittee. In my judgment, the statute is not ambiguous on this point. It is a well-accepted principle that the first step in interpreting a statute is to determine whether the relevant language has a plain meaning with respect to the particular dispute in the case. See Robinson v. Shell Oil Co., 519 U.S. 337, 117 S.Ct. 843, 846, 136 L.Ed.2d 808 (1997). The plainness or ambiguity of statutory language is determined by reference to the language itself, the specific context in which that language is used, and the broader context of the statute as a whole. See id. The phrase such improvements constructed and owned by a prior occupant plainly indicates to me that when a permittee constructs an authorized improvement, he or she holds title to that improvement. In my judgment, the previous version of section 4120.3-2, which shared title between the United States and permittee in proportion to the actual amount of the respective contribution to the initial construction, was an accurate and appropriate articulation of an unambiguous statutory mandate. 43 C.F.R. § 4120.3-2 (1994). Permittees acquired title for that portion of any improvement that they were responsible for constructing. 161 The provision for compensation in section four of the statute supports my reading. The majority's reading of the statute, together with the Secretary's new regulation, renders that compensation provision meaningless; without title, a permittee is not be entitled to the compensation for which the statute provides. It is true, as the majority points out, that other regulations still guarantee permittees full compensation for their investments in improvements, even when they do not own those improvements. See 43 C.F.R. §§ 4120.3-5, 4120.3-6(c) (1995). The existence of such regulations does not change the analysis, however. It cannot be doubted that section four of the TGA only guarantees compensation if the permittee owns the improvement. Under the Secretary's approach--where the permittee does not own improvements--compensation to the permittee is a discretionary decision by the Secretary; so long as he wishes, by regulation, to compensate permittees, he may do so. Under this approach, however, there would also be no violation of law if the Secretary were later to end the regulatory entitlement to compensation. The majority's equating a statutory entitlement to a discretionary entitlement embodied in a regulation reveals a misunderstanding of administrative law. 162 My conclusion that the statutory language is unambiguous on who holds title to improvements constructed on the public lands also reveals a great divide between the majority and me on the role that courts have in interpreting statutory language. We ought not examine statutory language so as to needlessly create ambiguities where no such ambiguity exists. Rather, in interpreting a statute, we should begin with a strong presumption that Congress expressed its will on the issue at hand. I disagree with the majority that one must add the word therefore to the phrase constructed and owned to reach the conclusion that I do. Clearly, one may deconstruct the statutory language as the majority does and insert an ambiguity into it. My common understanding of the statutory language, however, leads me to conclude that Congress thought about the question before us, and unambiguously spoke to it. 163 Nor do I agree with the majority that nothing in the statutory language directs where such title must lie. Maj. Op. at 1302. That Congress specifically discusses ownership of improvements demonstrates to me that it thoroughly considered that question. The TGA is a statute replete with discretionary language and congressional grants of rulemaking authority. Such discretionary language or rulemaking authority is conspicuously absent on the question of who should hold title to range improvements. That is for good reason. Congress considered the question and spoke precisely to the issue. As I understand the role of the courts, I do not think Chevron gives us license to ignore the plain meaning Congress employed.