Environmental groups lost a challenge to federal regulations that cover mining claims Monday when a federal judge in Washington, D.C., granted summary judgment to the Department of the Interior. Earthworks, High Country Citizens’ Alliance, and three other groups sued the government alleging that a 2003 final rule, “Locating, Recording, and Maintaining Mining Claims or Sites,” improperly authorized location of mill sites in violation of several laws, including the General Mining Law of 1872. The groups also alleged an interim final rule issued in 2008 by the department’s Bureau of Land Management misinterpreted the mining law. The government filed a cross-motion for summary judgment in May 2017, saying the challenges fail because the rules are “fully in accord with the Mining Law” and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. It also asserted that the rules were promulgated in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.
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