Appellate Case: 20-8065 Document: 010110829207 Date Filed: 03/20/2023 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals PUBLISH Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS March 20, 2023 Christopher M. Wolpert FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT Clerk of Court _________________________________ WYO-BEN INC., a Montana corporation, Petitioner - Appellant, v. No. 20-8065 DEBRA HAALAND, an individual, in her capacity as Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior; TRACY STONE-MANNING, * an individual, in her capacity as Acting Director of the United States Bureau of Land Management, Respondents - Appellees. _________________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming (D.C. No. 2:19-CV-00215-ABJ) _________________________________ Robert R. Marsh, S&D Law, Denver, Colorado (William R. Marsh, Sedalia, Colorado, with him on the briefs), for Petitioner-Appellant. John Emad Arbab, Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. (Jean E. Williams, Acting Assistant Attorney General and Erika B. Kranz, Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.; L. Robert Murray, United States Attorney and Nicholas Vassallo, Assistant United States Attorney, Cheyenne, Wyoming; Kendra Nitta, of Counsel, Office of the Solicitor, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.; with him on the brief), for Respondents-Appellees. * Pursuant to Fed. R. App. P. 43(c)(2), Tracy Stone-Manning, the current director of the United States Bureau of Land Management, is substituted for William Perry Pendley. Appellate Case: 20-8065 Document: 010110829207 Date Filed: 03/20/2023 Page: 2 _________________________________ Before HOLMES, Chief Judge, McHUGH, and CARSON, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ HOLMES, Chief Judge. _________________________________ Plaintiff-Appellant Wyo-Ben, Inc., (“Wyo-Ben”) appeals from the district court’s dismissal of its complaint against the Secretary of the Department of the Interior (the “Secretary”) and the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM,” and collectively with the Secretary, the “Respondents”) asserting a single claim under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. § 706(1). 1 In 1993, Wyo-Ben filed a mineral patent application with BLM. While that application was pending, on September 30, 1994, Congress enacted a moratorium on processing mineral patent applications. See Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1995, Pub. L. No. 103-332, tit. I, § 112, 108 Stat. 1 Section 706(1) provides: To the extent necessary to decision and when presented, the reviewing court shall decide all relevant questions of law, interpret constitutional and statutory provisions, and determine the meaning or applicability of the terms of an agency action. The reviewing court shall-- (1) compel agency action unlawfully withheld or unreasonably delayed . . . . 5 U.S.C. § 706(1). 2 Appellate Case: 20-8065 Document: 010110829207 Date Filed: 03/20/2023 Page: 3 2499, 2519 (Sept. 30, 1994) (“1995 Act”). 2 In the same legislation, Congress also enacted an exemption to the moratorium. See id. § 113. Under the exemption, if a patent application was still pending by September 30, 1994, and it otherwise complied with certain conditions, the patent application was not subject to the moratorium and the Secretary was required to process the application. On October 3, 1994, BLM—but not the Secretary—determined that Wyo-Ben’s mineral patent application …
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