Opinion ID: 167823
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Subject Matter Jurisdiction-Federal Appellees

Text: 9 It is well settled that the Plaintiffs can only sue the BLM to the extent it waived its sovereign immunity. E.g. United States v. Sherwood, 312 U.S. 584, 586, 61 S.Ct. 767, 85 L.Ed. 1058 (1941). While 28 U.S.C. § 1331 grants the court jurisdiction over all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws or treaties of the United States, it does not independently waive the Government's sovereign immunity; § 1331 will only confer subject matter jurisdiction where some other statute provides such a waiver. City of Albuquerque v. United States Dep't. of the Interior, 379 F.3d 901, 906-07 (10th Cir.2004). Waiver of sovereign immunity must be explicit and cannot be implied. Villescas v. Abraham, 311 F.3d 1253, 1256-57 (10th Cir.2002). 10 The APA serves as a limited waiver of sovereign immunity, not a grant of subject matter jurisdiction. Califano v. Sanders, 430 U.S. 99, 105-07, 97 S.Ct. 980, 51 L.Ed.2d 192 (1977); City of Albuquerque, 379 F.3d at 907; New Mexico v. Regan, 745 F.2d 1318, 1321 (10th Cir.1984). It provides: A person suffering a legal wrong because of agency action, or adversely affected or aggrieved by agency action within the meaning of the relevant statute, is entitled to judicial review thereof. 5 U.S.C. § 702. The APA withdraws that waiver of sovereign immunity, however, when the relevant statute, in this case the 1872 Mining Law, precludes judicial review. 5 U.S.C. § 701(a)(1). 3 In other words, before the waiver of sovereign immunity under § 702 of the APA applies, a party must first clear the hurdle of § 701(a). Heckler v. Chaney, 470 U.S. 821, 828, 105 S.Ct. 1649, 84 L.Ed.2d 714 (1985); Beamon v. Brown, 125 F.3d 965, 966 (6th Cir.1997) (Under 5 U.S.C. § 701(a)(1), the APA does not waive sovereign immunity when statutes preclude judicial review.). 4 11 A presumption of reviewability accompanies agency actions under the APA, but it may be overcome. 5 Block v. Cmty Nutrition Inst., 467 U.S. 340, 349, 104 S.Ct. 2450, 81 L.Ed.2d 270 (1984). In Block, the Supreme Court clarified its earlier clear and convincing standard to overcome the presumption of reviewability established in Abbott Labs. v. Gardner, 387 U.S. 136, 141, 87 S.Ct. 1507, 18 L.Ed.2d 681 (1967). Specifically, the Court found that the clear and convincing standard is not a rigid evidentiary test but a useful reminder to courts that, where substantial doubt about the congressional intent exists, the general presumption favoring judicial review of administrative action is controlling. Block, 467 U.S. at 351, 104 S.Ct. 2450. Two years later, the Supreme Court, relying on Block, reiterated that Congress ordinarily intends that there be judicial review, and emphasized the clarity with which a contrary intent must be expressed. Bowen v. Mich. Acad. of Family Physicians, 476 U.S. 667, 671, 106 S.Ct. 2133, 90 L.Ed.2d 623 (1986) (superceded and abrogated on other grounds). The Tenth Circuit, though characterizing the burden to overcome the presumption as heavy, Thomas Brooks Chartered v. Burnett, 920 F.2d 634, 641 (10th Cir.1990), has consistently followed the Block standard. See Rocky Mountain Radar, Inc. v. F.C.C., 158 F.3d 1118, 1121 (10th Cir.1998). 12 To overcome the presumption of reviewability, an intent to preclude judicial review must be fairly discernible from the statutory scheme. Ass'n of Data Processing Serv. Orgs., Inc. v. Camp, 397 U.S. 150, 157, 90 S.Ct. 827, 25 L.Ed.2d 184 (1970). The fact that a statute does not explicitly provide for judicial review is not outcome determinative. Id. at 157, 90 S.Ct. 827. Rather, the Supreme Court set forth specific factors for courts to consider in analyzing whether, absent explicit language or explicit legislative history, the presumption of reviewability has been overcome: The congressional intent necessary to overcome the presumption [of reviewability] may [ ] be inferred from contemporaneous judicial construction barring review and the congressional acquiescence in it . . . or from the collective import of legislative and judicial history behind a particular statute . . . [or] by inferences of intent drawn from the statutory scheme as a whole. Block, 467 U.S. at 349, 104 S.Ct. 2450 (internal citations omitted). 13 The Plaintiffs maintain the district court ignored the presumption of reviewability. Aplt. Br. at 12. 6 We disagree. The district court cited and applied the Block factors which are pertinent in overcoming such a presumption. Aplt. Appx. 43-51. Block discusses the presumption and we are unwilling to assume that the district court missed the predicate and applied the Block factors for no apparent purpose. 14 The 1872 Mining Law provides that valuable mineral deposits in lands belonging to the United States . . . shall be free and open to exploration and purchase, and the lands in which they are found to occupation and purchase. 30 U.S.C. § 22. Citizens can locate mining claims by discovering valuable mineral deposits on lands open to location. 30 U.S.C. §§ 22, 28. The 1872 Mining Law permits a claim holder to obtain a patent (fee title) to the lands encompassed by the mining claim he or she holds. 30 U.S.C. § 29. The BLM must determine whether a patent application complies with all the statutory requirements. Id. After finding that it has, the BLM's issuance of a patent is ministerial. Marathon Oil Co. v. Lujan, 937 F.2d 498, 501 (10th Cir.1991). 15 The 1872 Mining Law provides a mechanism for resolving disputes over claim ownership or satisfaction of the patent requirements. The applicant must give notice to potentially competing claimants and provide the opportunity for competing claimants to file their adverse claims. 30 U.S.C. §§ 29-30. The law expressly creates a right of action for adverse claimants. 30 U.S.C. § 30. It also provides a process for third parties who claim no ownership in the land to file protests with the BLM, and provide evidence as to why the applicant has not satisfied the requirements for a patent. 30 U.S.C. § 29. The Plaintiffs agree they are not adverse claimants. 16 There is no express grant of judicial review in the 1872 Mining Law to those who protest unsuccessfully. As such, we look to the Block factors to determine whether there is sufficient evidence of congressional intent to preclude review. Import of Legislative and Judicial History 17 Although the Plaintiffs are correct that [c]ongressional intent in enacting the 1872 Mining Law was not for the unfettered development of public land, Aplt. Br. at 23 (emphasis omitted), the legislative history reveals that security of title was integral to and paramount in the passage of the mining laws. After a thorough review of the legislative history, we conclude that judicial review of a grant of a patent by a third party (with no colorable property interest) conflicts with what Congress sought to achieve. 18 Because the 1872 Mining Law essentially served to combine and fine tune two earlier acts, the Lode Law of 1866 and the Placer Act of 1870, it is necessary to review the history of that legislation as well. 7 In 1864 during the Civil War, Congress began the debate over regulation of mining lands. Allowing a mechanism by which the government could sell the land and generate revenue to ease the war debt was the initial concern and much debate focused on how much, if any, to tax the mines. Cong. Globe, 38th Cong., 1st Session, 2557-2559 (1864). Congress sought not just an immediate solution to the war debt, but an end to the problem of vagrancy and lack of development plaguing the mining states. The solution of fixed interests became clear: 19 I suppose two thirds of the area of California is what is called mining land. Not an acre of it has been surveyed. It has not been laid off into sections; it has not been laid off into small parcels, so that individuals can acquire rights to it. They go upon it temporarily and perhaps put up cabins; they stay there as long as they can work with some special advantage; but it is only a place for a day, or a month, or a season, and then they wander off to other places; whereas if they could acquire permanent rights they would make their homes there . . . . They have had no opportunity to acquire a right to the lands. The State of California would be twice as strong and twice as populous today if at an early period provision had been made whereby persons seeking rights there could secure permanent and fixed interests. 20 Id. at 2557. The development of mining was a critical concern. See id. at 2559 (I say it is the first interest of the public . . . to have this wealth developed . . . I do not vote for any enactment that shall discourage the development of this wealth.). 21 Debate between the western senators and the eastern senators grew, as the eastern senators sought to maximize revenue, while the western senators sought to maximize development. See Cong. Globe, 38th Cong., 2d Session, at 684-687 (1865); Cong. Globe, 39th Cong., 1st Session, at 301 (1866). The one common thread was a desire to establish secure and permanent title to the land in the miners. See Cong. Globe, 38th Cong., 2d Session, at 684-687 (1865). Although Indiana Senator Julian's bill was eventually killed by the western senators concerned about his proposed taxation, permanent fee title in the land was a priority, even for the eastern senators. The practice of leasing the land drew into the mining regions a population of vagrants, gamblers, and ruffians, excluding sober and intelligent citizens, and making the establishment of civil communities impossible. Id. at 685. Senator Julian compared the English system to that of the United States: the English miner, having the freehold of the soil, husbands and improves his property, and follows the vein downward even to the distance of two thousand feet. The American lessee can only take what he finds near the surface of the ground. Id. He continued: Where there is no security for land titles, no permanent communities can be established. . . . By denying permanent ownership in the soil, and thus preventing its improvement, it necessarily keeps down its value. . . . Men will not lend their capital to mining projects where the title to the soil is in the Government, and cannot be pledged as security. Id. at 686. Thus among the disagreements between east and west, the importance of permanent title was one area where the senators found common ground. 22 In 1866, Nevada Senator Stewart introduced a bill that would eventually become the Lode Law of 1866. 8 Its provisions were similar to those of the 1872 Mining Law. Cong. Globe., 39th Cong., 1st Session, at 3225 (1866). Senator Stewart proposed this bill as a mechanism for the Government to give title, so important for permanent prosperity whose urgency increased by the introduction of bills looking to what the miners regard as a general system of confiscation destroying all confidence in mining titles and by the absolute necessity of some system guarantying to capitalists security for their investment. Id. at 3227 (emphasis supplied). Senator Stewart believed that the Lode Law of 1866 would give stability to mining titles, invite capital, and greatly increase the production of the precious metals. Id. Security of title was a primary purpose of the 1866 Lode Law: We want a law of the character of the bill under consideration to establish and secure mining titles. While these are in doubt a feeling of insecurity will paralyze all our efforts . . . . Let a just, liberal, and definite policy be adopted toward the miners. Add to their possession the absolute right of property, and you will have lain a solid foundation for large and increasing yields. . . . The feeling of security and independence produced by the right of property in the soil is the real foundation of our stability . . . . Id. at 3228. 23 The Placer Act of 1870 applied the provisions of the Lode Law to the patenting of lands with placer deposits. Once again, the senators stressed the importance of acquiring secure title as a prerequisite to making improvements on the land. Cong. Globe, 41st Cong., 2d Session, at 4403-04 (1870). 24 The Mining Law of 1872 essentially united the previous mining legislation and remedied problems that had developed with the implementation of those laws. Cong. Globe, 42nd Cong., 2d Session, at 532-34 (1872). Senator Sargent explained: 25 We are inducing miners to purchase their claims, so that large amounts of money are thereby brought into the Treasury of the United States, causing the miners to settle themselves permanently, to improve and establish homes, to go down deeper in the earth, to dig further into the hills, and in every way improve their own condition . . . . This bill simply oils the machinery a little. 26 Id. at 534. 9 Congress, in passing the 1872 Mining Law, was in search of a more definite rule because, in part, the whole region was in litigation. Id. at 2459. Essential to this definitiveness was certainty in one's title by the finality inherent in the issuance of a patent: 27 The object of the patent is to give title; it cuts off all uncertain title; if the person wants to improve a claim he can go and buy it, and it becomes private property, and it is certainly the best policy to have any kind of property improved that it shall become private property. Men think more of a patented claim than they do of one that is not patented. They will spend millions in prospecting a patented claim where they will not spend hundreds of dollars to prospect a claim where the title is uncertain and liable to be disturbed by somebody outside. 28 Id. 29 This legislative history reflects a clear concern with the finality of the patent as a prerequisite to miners being willing to invest the necessary time and capital to develop the industry. 30 The Plaintiffs argue that the 1872 Mining Law is not a one-way street towards patenting, but rather an effort to balance the needs of the mining industry with those of non-mining users such as homesteaders, railroads and other interests, presumably the need of the national treasury. Aplt. Br. at 24-25. First, the interests Plaintiffs identified are not necessarily competing interests to the mining industry. A prosperous west as a result of the mining expansion would simultaneously stimulate the national treasury, the interests of homesteaders and the railroads. Second, the Plaintiffs' interests are primarily recreational and environmental, two interests that were not paramount at the time Congress sought to develop the economy through mining. 31 It is beyond doubt that in 1872 Congress was concerned with finality of title. Permitting a challenge by third parties with no interest in the land would allow the kind of lengthy litigation over rights that a patent was designed to avoid. This would no doubt frustrate the purpose of the 1872 Mining Law, as Congress envisioned it then. We recognize that over the last 133 years, interests, concerns and priorities have shifted. Many have called for the revision and repeal of this seemingly antiquated law. See e.g. Robert J. Uram, Prospects for Mining Law Reform, 12 Nat. Resources & Env't 191 (1998). But that responsibility for change lies with Congress, not the courts. At its core, the 1872 Mining Law was about ensuring the settled expectations of the emerging mining corporations. See e.g., Meyer & Riley, Public Domain, Private Dominion, Sierra Club Books, 46, 52, 56, 78 (1985) (noting that [p]roviding the[] powerful interests [of the mining corporations] with security of ownership, protection against popular hostility, and the opportunity to advance their control at the state level were the compelling motivations behind the legislation, and the 1872 Mining Law creates a presumption in favor of mining that is difficult—if not impossible—to overcome. . . [it] is the Magna Carta of mining on public land; its provisions have a status higher than that of ordinary law); Carl J. Mayer, The 1872 Mining Law: Historical Origins of the Discovery Rule, 53 U. Chi. L.Rev. 624, 648 (1986) (the impetus for the 1872 Mining Law had everything to do with the mining corporations). 32 Next we consider judicial construction of the 1872 Mining Law. It is essentially undisputed that the cases, both contemporaneous with the 1872 Mining Law and subsequent to the enactment of the APA, uniformly preclude persons situated similarly to Plaintiffs, that is, not claiming a property interest in the land, from judicially contesting the validity of the patent. Although the APA changed the landscape of reviewing agency decisions, these cases, while not dispositive, are nonetheless instructive. As early as 1881, the Supreme Court held that an issued patent: 33 not merely operates to pass the title, but is in the nature of an official declaration by that branch of government to which the alienation of the public lands, under the law, is intrusted (sic), that all the requirements preliminary to its issue have been complied with. The presumptions thus attending it are not open to rebuttal in an action at law. It is this unassailable character which gives to it its chief, indeed its only, value, as a means of quieting its possessor in the enjoyment of the lands it embraces. If intruders upon them could compel him, in every suit for possession, to establish the validity of the action of the Land Department and the correctness of its ruling upon matters submitted to it, the patent, instead of being a means of peace and security, would subject his rights to constant and ruinous litigation. 34 Smelting Co. v. Kemp, 104 U.S. 636, 640-41, 26 L.Ed. 875 (1881). Absent a challenge to the BLM's jurisdiction, a patent is unassailable for mere errors of judgment. Id. at 646, 104 U.S. 636. See also Steel v. St. Louis Smelting and Refining Co., 106 U.S. 447, 451, 1 S.Ct. 389, 27 L.Ed. 226 (1882) (the BLM must consider and pass upon the qualifications of the applicant, the acts he performed to secure the title, the nature of the land, and whether it is of the class which is open to sale. Its judgment upon these matters is that of a special tribunal and is unassailable except by direct proceedings for its annulment or limitation based on lack of jurisdiction). 10 The courts were also clear that it does not lie in the mouth of a stranger to the title to complain of the act of the government with respect to it. Smelting Co., 104 U.S. at 647; see also Iron Silver Mining Co. v. Campbell, 135 U.S. 286, 301, 10 S.Ct. 765, 34 L.Ed. 155 (1890) (When [a person] has once obtained the patent of the United States for his land, he should be only required to answer persons who have some established claim. ) (emphasis added); Sparks v. Pierce, 115 U.S. 408, 413, 6 S.Ct. 102, 29 L.Ed. 428 (1885) (To entitle a party to relief against a patent of the government, he must show a better right to the land than the patentee, such as in law should have been respected by the officers of the land department, and being respected would have given him the patent. It is not sufficient to show that the patentee ought not to have received the patent. It must affirmatively appear that the claimant was entitled to it, and that, in consequence of erroneous rulings of those officers on the facts existing, it was denied to him.); Wight v. Dubois, 21 F. 693, 694 (C.C.D.Col.1884) (in a patent issue, when grantor and grantee are satisfied, a stranger has nothing to say). 35 The Plaintiffs' arguments that these cases are irrelevant because they involved suits between private parties is not persuasive. At its core, the goal—to invalidate the patent—is the same, and the courts' resolutions of these questions is indicative of an emphasis on finality. Nor does the Plaintiffs' urging that pre-APA caselaw is inapplicable persuade us. Block explicitly directs courts to consider these contemporaneous constructions and the judicial history as a whole, regardless of shifting and evolving interests. In arguing that the general public's interest is paramount, Aplt. Br. 23-24, the Plaintiffs miss the point. While they are correct in their assertion that the Supreme Court has recognized the interest of the public in making sure the patents conform to law, Cameron v. United States, 252 U.S. 450, 460, 40 S.Ct. 410, 64 L.Ed. 659 (1920), the mechanism Congress established is an administrative one (through the BLM), not a judicial one. 36 In Wight, the court confronted almost the same situation as here. It rejected an attempt by a party claiming no property interest in the land to challenge the issuance of a mining patent in the courts and found that the sole remedy was to file an objection before the Land Department. Wight, 21 F. at 693-94, 696. The court determined that once the Land Department overrules the protest, there is no further right or remedy. Id. at 696. The Wight court, interpreting the 1872 Mining Law, compared a protestant's situation to that of an amicus curiae and held that where the Land Department has rejected the protest, the protestant has no further standing to be heard anywhere. The protest cannot be made the basis of any litigation in the court. Id.; see also Beals v. Cone, 188 U.S. 184, 187, 23 S.Ct. 275, 47 L.Ed.2d 435 (1903) (There is no suggestion in the pleadings that the protestants were in any way interested in the ground applied for, or that they were acting other than as good citizens, seeking to prevent a wrong upon the government. Their standing in the proceeding was in the nature of amici curioe [sic].); 11 2 Am. Law of Mining §§ 53.04, 53.06 (the protestant cannot, by filing a protest, acquire any right or equity in the land which can be made the basis of a suit . . . to cancel the patent . . . . A protestant who does not allege an interest in himself stands solely in the position of amicus curiae.). 37 Although we have been unable to find, and the parties have not provided, a case directly on point, analogous situations after the enactment of the APA provide some insight. On balance, when viewed as a whole and in light of the legislative history, the modern judicial history also supports our conclusion. 38 Several cases have indicated that those in the Plaintiffs' position, who assert no competing interest in the land, have no right of action to challenge the issuance of a patent. Discussing land patents, the Ninth Circuit has emphasized that a United States patent is protected from easy third-party attack. It is not sufficient for one challenging a patent to show that the patentee should not have received the patent; he must also show that he (the challenger) is entitled to it. Kale v. United States, 489 F.2d 449, 454 (1973) (internal citations omitted); see also Leisnoi, Inc. v. United States, 313 F.3d 1181, 1185 (9th Cir.2002). 12 Moreover, as recently as 1999, the Ninth Circuit relied on Smelting Co. to define a patent as an official declaration of title which is, with limited exceptions, unassailable and not rebuttable. United States v. Shumway, 199 F.3d 1093, 1096 (9th Cir.1999). 13 39 In an action between two private parties challenging the validity of a patent, the Ninth Circuit, relying on St. Louis Smelting, again came down on the side of finality: 40 As a matter of federal law, it is well established that the validity of a deed or patent from the federal government may not be questioned in a suit brought by a third party against the grantee or patentee. . . . Simply stated, a plaintiff in such a case has no cause of action. These holdings are supported by sound reason. When public lands are conveyed to private individuals, a contractual relationship is created between the Government and the grantee; the integrity of such transactions could be upset if a grantee. . . became liable to an amorphous class of third persons. 41 Raypath, Inc. v. City of Anchorage, 544 F.2d 1019, 1021 (9th Cir.1976) (internal citations omitted). 42 Although Raypath is not factually identical to the instant action because it involved a suit between private parties, Aplt. Br. at 30, the effect is really the same— here, the Plaintiffs attempt to state a claim against the BLM, but the effect of their victory would be to divest MEMCO of its patent. It cannot be that what one cannot achieve directly, he is permitted to achieve indirectly, especially when that end, divestiture of title, was one of Congress' primary concerns when it passed the 1872 Mining Law. 43 The Plaintiffs also suggest that the district court overlooked several cases allowing judicial review of patenting decisions under the APA, despite no express provision in the 1872 Mining law allowing judicial review. Aplt. Br. at 35-41 (citing, e.g., Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Norton, 346 F.3d 1244, 1248 (10th Cir.2003); Cliffs Synfuel Corp. v. Norton, 291 F.3d 1250, 1257 (10th Cir.2002); Mt. Emmons Mining Co. v. Babbitt, 117 F.3d 1167, 1170 (10th Cir. 1997); see also Adams v. Witmer, 271 F.2d 29, 34 (9th Cir.1958)). As we discuss below, cases must be read against their facts, and these cases generally involve patent applicants seeking judicial review of the denial of a patent, not strangers to the title seeking judicial review of the grant of a patent to another. Although the Plaintiffs suggest that these situations should merge, the former involve mining claimants asserting property rights, not a potentially unlimited number of third-parties without such rights seeking to invalidate the property rights of others. Given an administrative review process for third-party issues, and the long judicial construction prior to the APA which did not permit judicial review of such claims, we would be hard pressed to conclude that the APA changed this. 14 44 In supplemental briefing, the Plaintiffs argue that this circuit's recent decision in Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance v. BLM, 425 F.3d 735 (10th Cir.2005) (SUWA), resolves the question before this court. There, several environmental organizations brought suit against the BLM to enjoin a county road construction project across BLM land. This court rejected a BLM argument that the BLM had authority to rule on the counties' rights of way. The argument was based on Cameron, 252 U.S. 450, 40 S.Ct. 410, 64 L.Ed. 659, which upheld the BLM's power to determine the validity of unpatented mining claims. In so ruling, this court made the following observation about protests to the issuance of a patent under the 1872 Mining Law: 45 Furthermore, when a private party protests the issuance or nonissuance of a patent, the BLM has the authority to hold a hearing and pass on the applicant's compliance with the statutory requirements. This determination is binding on courts, reviewable only in accordance with administrative law or in a direct action to cancel, modify, or issue the patent . . . . Once title passes, however, the BLM loses authority over the subject lands, and the title granted by the patent can be challenged only through the courts. 46 Id. at 754 (internal citations omitted). The Plaintiffs argue that this language establishes the jurisdiction of the courts to hear challenges such as the one in the instant action. We disagree. The cases relied on by the panel for this proposition, Smelting Co. and Cameron, do not support any right of review for those with no claimed interest in the patented land, and in fact, argue against such a construction. 15 47 As previously noted, most of the cases on which Plaintiffs rely recognize reviewability of claims by those who assert an interest in the land —either litigants whose patent application was denied 16 or those asserting a competing claim (whose right to review the 1872 Mining Act explicitly recognizes in § 30). Aplt. Br. at 35-41; Aplt. Reply at 12-13 & n. 3 (citing, e.g., Babbitt, 117 F.3d 1167; Brennan v. Udall, 379 F.2d 803 (10th Cir.1967); Adams, 271 F.2d 29). The question is not, as the Plaintiffs frame it, whether the court can review BLM decision making under the APA. See Aplt. Br. at 36. The question, rather, is whether third parties claiming no interest in the land can challenge the issuance of a patent. Allowing review of claims by adverse claimants or those whose patent the BLM denied, addresses a fundamentally different concern than allowing any and all unrelated third parties to embroil a mineral patent holder in litigation. Plaintiffs acknowledge this distinction, Aplt. Br. at 37, but argue that these cases indicate we are to look to the APA for a cause of action, not to the 1872 Mining Law. That is precisely what we do here; the APA inquiry, however, must turn on whether congressional intent to preclude review is fairly discernable, bringing the action outside the APA's scope; and as such, the inquiries go hand in hand. 48 Contemporaneous judicial construction and congressional acquiescence. 49 Congress has never revised the 1872 Mining Law to evidence disagreement with the holdings of cases such as Smelting Co., Steel, and Wight, which held that judicial challenges to patents by third parties were barred. To find that Congress has acquiesced in a court or agency interpretation, the BLM and MEMCO must show by abundant evidence that Congress both contemplated and authorized the interpretation at issue. Catron County Bd. of Comm'rs, NM v. United States Fish and Wildlife, 75 F.3d 1429, 1438 (10th Cir.1996) (quoting Commodity Futures Trading Comm'n v. Schor, 478 U.S. 833, 847, 106 S.Ct. 3245, 92 L.Ed.2d 675 (1986)). 50 Congress has enacted multiple changes to the Mining Law. See e.g., The Multiple Use Mining Act of 1955, 30 U.S.C. §§ 601-603, 611-615 (withdrawing materials like sand, gravel, stone and clay from the purview of the Mining Law); Multiple Mineral Development Act of 1954, 30 U.S.C. §§ 521 et seq. (allowing mining claims and mineral leases to exist on the same land and resolve conflicts when development occurred under both the 1872 Mining Law and the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920); The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, 30 U.S.C. §§ 181 et. seq. (establishing leasing program for oil, gas, sodium, phosphate, oil shale and potash); Act of February 12, 1903, 32 Stat. 825 (providing for assessments on oil mining claims); Act of January 31, 1901, 31 Stat. 745 (extending mining laws to saline lands); Act of June 6, 1900, 31 Stat. 321 (extending mining laws to Alaska); Act of February 11, 1897, 29 Stat. 526 (extending placer mining laws to lands containing petroleum). 51 Despite these many revisions, Congress has not chosen to amend the 1872 Mining Law to provide Plaintiffs with a right of action. Whether Congress has acquiesced in the judicial interpretations of Steel v. Smelting Co., and their progeny is a difficult and close question. See Catron, 75 F.3d at 1438; Cent. Bank of Denver v. First Interstate Bank of Denver, 511 U.S. 164, 114 S.Ct. 1439, 128 L.Ed.2d 119 (1994). Congressional silence alone is not enough to prove acquiescence. See e.g., Brown v. Gardner, 513 U.S. 115, 121, 115 S.Ct. 552, 130 L.Ed.2d 462 (1994); Schor, 478 U.S. at 846, 106 S.Ct. 3245; Girouard v. United States, 328 U.S. 61, 69, 66 S.Ct. 826, 90 L.Ed. 1084 (1946); Catron, 75 F.3d at 1438. Silence as to one area, however, coupled with a myriad of revisions within the same statutory scheme begins to look like acquiescence. See Johnson v. Transp. Agency, Santa Clara County, Cal., 480 U.S. 616, 629 n. 7, 107 S.Ct. 1442, 94 L.Ed.2d 615 (1987) (Congress has not amended the statute to reject our construction, nor have any such amendments even been proposed, and we therefore may assume that our interpretation was correct.); see also Burlington Indus., Inc. v. Ellerth, 524 U.S. 742, 763-64, 118 S.Ct. 2257, 141 L.Ed.2d 633 (1998); Ankenbrandt, 504 U.S. 689, 700-01, 112 S.Ct. 2206, 119 L.Ed.2d 468 (1992). Regardless, we find consideration of the other Block factors sufficient to evidence an intent to preclude review. Statutory Scheme as a Whole 52 The statutory scheme of the 1872 Mining Law is indicative of Congress' intent to preclude review to those with no adverse claim in the patented land. We disagree with the Plaintiffs' apparent argument that the substantive requirements for a patent somehow support a right of action for third parties with no interest in the land. Aplt. Br. 21-23. The substantive requirements have no bearing on what class of people Congress envisioned being able to challenge an issued patent. Moreover, the BLM's determination of the satisfaction of these requirements gives rise to a conclusive presumption of satisfaction, see e.g. Creede & Cripple Creek Mining and Milling Co. v. Uinta Tunnel Mining and Transp. Co., 196 U.S. 337, 353, 25 S.Ct. 266, 49 L.Ed. 501 (1905), a further demonstration of Congress' concern with finality. 53 Rather, we examine the provisions Congress included to resolve disputes. In 30 U.S.C. § 29, Congress made a limited provision for the role of third parties: 54 If no adverse claim shall have been filed with the register of the proper land office at the expiration of the sixty days of publication, it shall be assumed that the applicant is entitled to a patent, upon the payment to the proper officer of $5 per acre, and that no adverse claim exists; and thereafter no objection from third parties to the issuance of a patent shall be heard, except it be shown that the applicant has failed to comply with the terms of sections 21, 22 to 24, 26 to 28, 29, 30, 33 to 48, 50 to 52, 71 to 76 of this title and section 661 of Title 43. 55 This objection has been defined as a protest. 43 C.F.R. § 3872.1; see also Wight, 21 F. at 696. Neither the statute, nor the BLM regulations provide the protestant with rights of appeal. See 30 U.S.C. §§ 29-30; 43 C.F.R. § 3872.1. The 1872 Mining Law also sets forth a detailed procedure that adverse claimants must follow and provided that the adverse claimant timely files his claim, the Mining Law grants the adverse claimant an opportunity to have the claim adjudicated in a court, prior to the BLM's final decision on the patent application. Plaintiffs could not avail themselves of this procedure. Compare 30 U.S.C. § 30 with 2 Am. Law of Mining, § 53.08 (A protestant who claims no interest in himself which would be affected by the issuance of a patent cannot question the judgment of the manager of the land office . . . in passing upon the application and his protest and is not entitled to appeal such decision.). 56 Together, Sections 29 and 30 provide a mechanism to settle disputes between the patent applicant and adverse claimants and allow others to bring to the BLM's attention any other reason why the patent should not issue. See Enterprise Mining Co. v. Rico-Aspen Consol. Mining Co., 66 F. 200, 208 (8th Cir.1895) (There is no doubt that the object of these provisions of the act of congress is to require the conflicting claims of all parties to be adjusted before the patent issues.). 57 The Plaintiffs argue that inclusion of third parties in the statutory scheme is inconsistent with the conclusion that Congress intended to preclude review. Aplt. Reply Br. at 17-18. Congress provided for third party participation in the administrative process, and thus, the Plaintiffs reason, they must be able to avail themselves of judicial review. We disagree. Congress, by providing a right of action for adverse claimants, 28 U.S.C. §§ 29,30, certainly knew how to provide one for unsuccessful protesters. Rather, the ability of protesters to appear and bring information before the BLM reflects a Congressional desire to have all information before the BLM so that, when the BLM renders a decision, and issues a patent, the patent will be final. The limited role that the protesters play in the statutory scheme, coupled with congressional interest in finality and security of title, persuade us that the statutory scheme as a whole suggests an intent to preclude review. We acknowledge that APA jurisdiction is not dependent on an express or implied private right of action in the 1872 Mining Law, but we cannot ignore how that act functions with the perfectly predictable range of disputes that might occur under it, 58 Despite the presumption of reviewability, it is fairly discernable here, after consideration of all the Block factors, 17 that Congress, when it enacted the 1872 Mining Law, intended to preclude judicial review to third parties claiming no property interest in the patented land and to date has not chosen to change this approach. As such, we find that the Plaintiffs have no federal right of action against the BLM.