Articles

Over the past 20 years, attorneys at PLF’s Pacific Northwest Center have written hundreds of amicus briefs in important, precedent-setting cases.  One of those cases was Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009. After almost 70 years of dormancy, the Kensington Gold Mine near June ...

Since 2009, California has forbidden the use of suction dredge mining equipment until the agency in charge of regulating this mining — the Department of Fish and Wildlife — develops regulations to mitigate any adverse environmental effects. However, the Department doesn’t think this is possible and this temporary moratorium has be ...

Property Rights – California Coastal Commission We reported last week that the California Court of Appeal issued an adverse decision in SDS Family Trust v. CCC, based on its misunderstanding of the facts related to when the family challenged the mile-long easement imposed on its property.  This week, PLF filed a petition for rehearing that ...

The California Court of Appeal has issued a decision that seriously undermines California’s ban on suction dredge mining. Adopting the argument of our amicus brief, the Court held that a state ban forbidding all commercially beneficial use of a federal mining claim is preempted by federal mining law. Brandon Rinehart has a federal mining clai ...

The California Supreme Court is considering an important case concerning whether a state can frustrate federal law and deprive people of their livelihoods for no good reason. PLF filed this amicus brief in the case, joined by the Western Mining Alliance and Siskiyou County. If you’re a regular reader, you can probably guess which side … ...

PLF and Western Mining Alliance have filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit case Bohmker v. Oregon. In the brief, we argue that federal mining policy preempts Oregon’s ban on a federally-approved and encouraged mining practice. Part of having a federalist system of government is deciding which level of government gets final say when R ...

The California Supreme Court has issued its long-awaited decision in People v. Rinehart, concerning the legality of the state’s ban on suction dredge mining. The case concerns an apparent conflict between federal law, which encourages mining on federal lands, and the state’s ban against the only practicable method of mining stream bed c ...

Nearly two centuries ago, the Supreme Court recognized that the “unavoidable consequence” of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause is that States have “no power … to retard, impede, burden, or in any manner control” federal policies that are otherwise consistent with the Constitution. California, unfortunately, has ...

This morning, the Supreme Court asked the United States’ Solicitor General to weigh in on Rinehart v. California, PLF’s challenge to California’s suction dredge mining ban. The case raises significant questions about federalism, preemption, and state regulation of federal lands. … ...