Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act: Reclamation Fee Constitutional Law: Export-Import Clause

摘要

Section 1232(a) of Surface Mining Coal Reclamation Act (SMCRA) imposes areclamation fee per ton for "coal produced" by surface or underground mining to fund the reclamation of abandoned coal mined lands. Coal produced" in theAct includes the entire process of extracting and selling the coal. Because the fees are applied to sales that occur in the export process, the reclamation fee scheme violates the Export Clause of the Constriction, which expressly precludes levying taxes or duties on goods exported from any state. The Federal Court of Claims grants summary judgment to the coal producers on the issue of liability. Consolidation Coal Co. v. United States, 64 Fed. Cl. 718 (2005). Held: reversed and remanded. Applying the canon of statutory construction that interprets statutes to avoid their unconstitutionality, the term "coal produced" is construed to refer only to the extraction of coal, as opposed to the entire process of extraction and sale, to avoid the violation of the Export Clause.