Law Commons^™

The Benchmark Of Expectations: Regulatory Takings And Surface Coal Mining, Darren Botello-Samson

Darren Botello-Samson

In 2006, the United States Court of Federal Claims issued a decision in BENCHMARK RESOURCES CORPORATION v. UNITED STATES, a case involving a regulatory takings challenge to enforcement of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA), a federal law regulating the environmental effects of surface coal mining. Such cases are not rare, as the Claims Court has visited this question on a number of occasions. The ruling in BENCHMARK did not depart from the federal judiciary's doctrine on SMCRA takings cases. The ruling is worth noting, however, for the ways in which it highlights the key aspects of a …