Opinion ID: 780329
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: BedRoc's Patent

Text: 10 On March 12, 1940, Newton and Mabel Butler received a patent under the Act for 560 acres of land in Lincoln County, Nevada. [I]n conformity with the ... Act, the patent reserved to the United States all the coal and other valuable minerals in the lands so granted, together with the right to prospect for, mine, and remove the same upon compliance with the conditions of and subject to the limitations of Section eight of said Act. 11 In the early 1990s, a lessee began taking sand and gravel from the property. Earl Williams purchased the property in 1993 and continued to extract sand and gravel. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued trespass notices to Williams on March 26 and April 1, 1993. Williams challenged the notices. In response, the BLM issued a decision stating that Williams' removal of the sand and gravel trespassed against the government's reserved interest in the valuable minerals on the property. The Interior Board of Land Appeals upheld that decision on appeal, relying on the legislative history of the Act and on the intent of Congress in enacting it. Earl Williams, 140 I.B.L.A. 295, 304-13 (1997). 12 BedRoc acquired the property from Williams in 1995 and continued to remove sand and gravel. Pursuant to an agreement with the Department of the Interior, BedRoc placed money in escrow from the sale of each cubic yard of sand and gravel removed, pending final resolution of the ownership dispute.