Tenth Circuit Declares OSM’s Action “Final” Despite Pending Administrative Review: Authorizes Federal Court Review
August 1, 2017
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has trimmed the discretion that the Office of Surface Mining can assert when it brings an enforcement action against a mining operator. Its decision applies a principle of law announced by the Supreme Court almost 25 years ago in Darby v. Cisneros which most agencies prefer to ignore.
As explained by the Tenth Circuit, Darby makes “intra-agency…