Opinion ID: 439343
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: The Idaho Statutes

Text: 72 The Idaho Dredge and Placer Mining Protection Act, Idaho Code Title 47, ch. 13, which was enacted in 1955, requires operators of dredge or placer mining on lands and beds of streams in the state of Idaho to obtain a permit from the state agency. This requirement, as applied to operations on the federal public domain, was upheld by the Idaho Supreme Court. State ex rel. Andrus v. Click, 97 Idaho 791, 554 P.2d 969 (1976). 73 The conclusion of the Claims Court that there was no inverse condemnation of plaintiffs' mining claims was based in part upon its finding that the plaintiffs had no permit from the state of Idaho that was interfered with or barred by the enactment of section 708. However, we think the court's reliance on the lack of a state permit ignores the distinction between the property rights held by plaintiffs in their unpatented claims as stated in Union Oil Co. of California v. Smith, supra, and a permit to exercise those rights. If after a trial it is determined that section 708 deprived plaintiffs of any economically viable use of their property, as they claim, the lack of a state permit would not bar their right to recover. We agree with plaintiffs that to say that they are not entitled to compensation-- 74 because of the lack of permits is the same as saying an owner of land permanently flooded by a federal dam cannot receive compensation because he had not received a building permit, which could not be refused prior to the flooding. The owner of the flooded land had the right to build at any time he chose and receive the permit any time he chose to start building. [Appellants' Reply Brief, pp. 11-12]. 75 The state of Idaho could not lawfully deny plaintiffs the right to mine. By complying with the state statute, plaintiffs could have obtained a permit to mine their claims until 1977, when the Idaho permit statute was amended by an act of the Idaho Legislature (Idaho Code section 47-1323), prohibiting dredge mining in any form on the St. Joe River or its tributaries. We assume that if plaintiffs had applied for a permit to conduct dredge mining (which plaintiffs say is the only feasible method of mining their claims) in 1977 or thereafter, the state would have denied the permit. Since the Claims Court rested its decision in part on the 1977 Act, we hold that plaintiffs' right to recover is not affected by that act, because, in so far as plaintiffs' claims are concerned, it was in conflict with and was preempted by previously enacted federal mining law. Act of May 1, 1872, codified as 30 U.S.C. Secs. 21, et seq. Kleppe v. New Mexico, 426 U.S. 529, 543, 96 S.Ct. 2285, 2293, 49 L.Ed.2d 34 (1976); Ventura County v. Gulf Oil Corporation, 601 F.2d 1080 (9th Cir.1979) aff'd 445 U.S. 947, 100 S.Ct. 1593, 63 L.Ed.2d 782 (1980). Under the Act of May 1, 1872, plaintiffs had the property right to possess and mine to exhaustion the minerals located on their unpatented claims without payment of royalty. Belk v. Meagher, 104 U.S. 279, 26 L.Ed. 735 (1881); Union Oil Co. of California v. Smith, supra. Since it prohibited dredge mining on federal land, compliance with the 1977 Act would have made it impossible for plaintiffs to exercise rights theretofore granted by the mining laws. The Idaho Supreme Court has recognized that federal legislation necessarily overrides such a conflicting state law. State ex rel. Andrus v. Click, 97 Idaho 791, 554 P.2d 969, 974 (1976) (dictum). 3 V. The Forest Service Regulations 76 The government asserts that plaintiffs are not entitled to recover because they had not satisfied a pre-condition of their right to mine their claims by obtaining Forest Service approval of their plan of operation as required by the regulations, 36 C.F.R. Sec. 252. We are astonished at this contention because the record shows that plaintiffs' failure to obtain an approved plan of operation was due to the delaying actions of the Forest Service. 77 In accordance with the regulations, plaintiffs submitted a plan of operations to the Forest Service on April 26, 1976 (App. pp. 193-204). The Forest Service withheld action on the plan for 2 years while it considered whether an environmental impact statement was required. In May 1977, plaintiffs were informed that an environmental impact statement would be needed, but that the time required for filing and preparing such a statement, would rule out any work in 1977. (App. pp. 221-222). The record does not reflect any other action by the Forest Service on plaintiffs' plan until June 9, 1978, when the agency advised plaintiffs that it would recommend that a mineral contest proceeding be initiated by the Department of the Interior and that consideration of the operating plan would be deferred pending the outcome of that contest. (App. p. 223). A few days later, on June 28, 1978, plaintiffs were informed that in view of the pendency of the wild and scenic river proposal and the proposed mineral contest, the plan would not be approved at that time. (App. p. 224). On November 10, 1978, section 708 became effective and removed the authority of the Forest Service to approve an operating plan which would involve dredge or placer mining within the banks or beds of the river. The mineral contest was not filed until January 15, 1981, and as previously stated, it was dismissed on November 19, 1981, without prejudice to either party. 78 The government admits that the Forest Service has never made a decision, either approving or disapproving plaintiffs' plan of operation. 79 As the Ninth Circuit aptly declared in a case involving the same regulations, there is nothing in the regulations which authorizes the Forest Service to prohibit plaintiffs' right to the possession and enjoyment of their claims, or to encroach impermissibly upon those rights by circumscribing their use in a manner that amounts to a prohibition. United States v. Weiss, 642 F.2d 296, 299 (1981). 80 For the reasons stated, the government's defense based on plaintiffs' lack of an approved plan of operations is flatly rejected. 81 VACATED AND REMANDED.