Graham v. Commonwealth, Department of Environmental Resources

469 A.2d 709, 79 Pa. Commw. 403, 1984 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1117
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 9, 1984
DocketNo. 137 C.D. 1983
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 469 A.2d 709 (Graham v. Commonwealth, Department of Environmental Resources) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Graham v. Commonwealth, Department of Environmental Resources, 469 A.2d 709, 79 Pa. Commw. 403, 1984 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1117 (Pa. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge Rogers,

In an amended petition for review in the nature of a complaint in equity addressed to our original jurisdiction as provided by Section 761(a)(1) of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa. C. S. §761(a)(l), Maynard and Marian Graham have requested that we order the respondent, the Department of Environmental Resources (DER), to provide information and conduct [404]*404studies of the petitioners’ property -which they allege are necessary for them to apply to DER for a permit to mine coal and to provide them with information concerning a variety of other subjects. DER filed preliminary objections in the nature of a petition raising a question of jurisdiction, a demurrer, and a motion to strike impertinent matter.

The amended petition for review, stated in ninety-three paragraphs on thirty pages, to which are appended seventy-one pages of exhibits, essentially pleads that after the petitioners in July or August of 1979 had strip mined all of the coal from a bonded mining area under a DER mining permit, they continued to mine about ten acres off the bonded area with the consent of the property owner but without the. necessary mining permit. The petitioners additionally allege that in October, 1979, DER “shut down” the mining on the unbonded area but in January,. 1980, an arrangement was worked out between DER and the petitioners under which the petitioners were given a permit to mine the ten acres on condition that they pay the first $10,000 of receipts to DER as security for compliance with the statutes and regulations. The petitioners further allege that they continued to mine not only the ten acres covered by the agreement but also an additional off permit area. DER served the petitioners with a notice to cease mining operations which the latter ignored until they were enjoined from continuing operations by the Clearfield County Common Pleas Court on suit by DER. A court hearing on the matter was held and a court order dated March 21, 1980 was entered directing DER to accept a $60,000 second mortgage on the petitioners’ property as a bond to cover a thirty acre amendment to the petitioners’ permit, if it should be submitted to DER within ten days, and dissolving the [405]*405injunction unless the petitioners failed to submit the mortgage. The petitioners allege that they submitted a mortgage to DEE prior to March 31, 1980, but no mining permit was issued. On April 22, 1980, the court continued its March 21, 1980 order in effect for ninety days from March 21,1980.

The petitioners also allege that they continued to mine the unbonded area without a permit and on June 10, 1980 the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) of the United States Department of the Interior served the petitioners with a. notice of violation of federal regulations prohibiting mining without a permit.- On July 8, 1980, an Information Cessation Order Eeview was held and the reviewing officer concluded that OSM had acted properly in giving the petitioners the notice of violation and that the petitioners must cease mining without a permit or pay a fine of $750 for each day they violate the notice. The petitioners continued to mine and OSM imposed a fine in the amount of $22,500.

The petitioners also allege that on September 19, 1980, Maynard Grraham was convicted in Clearfield County of making threats against Eobert P. Gring,- Jr., who was the DEE attorney who had handled DEE’s litigation against the petitioners. The petitioners allege that Mr. Gring’s actions on behalf of DEE were “abusive, unprofessional, 'based upon misstatements of fact and law, and [were] contrary to any sense of balanced and guided discretion uniformly applied. ’ ’

Following another hearing in the equity case, the Court of Common Pleas of Clearfield County on January 15, 1981 vacated its order of March 21, 1980 requiring DEE to accept a $60,000 mortgage as a bond and ordered that the petitioners “cease mining on any and all areas where no bonds have been posted with and approved by the Commonwealth of Pennsyl[406]*406vania.” On February 20, 1981, tbe court found that the petitioners “do not dispute that they knowingly and willfully violated the Order of this Court entered January 15, 1981.” In June of 1981 the petitioners’ mining operations ceased when Maynard Graham was imprisoned for contempt of court and forfeited $5,750 in bonds posted on his mining operations.

The petitioners further allege that they then instituted an action in equity in ,the Court of Common Pleas of Clearfield County against DER and individuals employed by DER challenging certain appropriations of money by the state and federal governments and the validity of the enforcement activities of DER against the petitioners. 'The relief requested included money damages, a restoration of mining permits, and a reinstatement of previously forfeited bonds. The petitioners’ complaint was dismissed on October 13, 1982 on the basis of sovereign and official immunity; because the court’s earlier determination that the petitioners had failed to comply with the requirements for obtaining a mining permit collaterally estopped the petitioners from asking for an order compelling DER to issue a new permit; because the Environmental Hearing Board had exclusive original jurisdiction to hear the petitioners ’ claim concerning the forfeiture of their bonds; and for other reasons not necessary to describe.

On January 17, 1983, the petitioners filed a notice of appeal with the Environmental Hearing Board seeking review of DER’s 1981 actions ordering the closing of the petitioners’ mining activities, the forfeiture of their bonds and the return of their mining permits. The appeal was dismissed because the petitioners had failed to file their appeal within thirty days from the receipt of notice of these actions by DER.

[407]*407The orders of the common pleas court and of the Environmental Hearing Board are final; they were not appealed.

The petitioners allege that they presently seek to mine the Lower Kittanning seam of coal on their property in order “to he able to economically reclaim the mess which was made by thirty years of previous mining . . . [and] to turn this barren wasteland into valuable pasture land.” To accomplish this goal, the petitioners have written to DEB asking “if DEB officials would inspect the site” and requesting information on how they can obtain bonding. In response, DEB wrote to the petitioners that

As a regulatory agency, the Department takes no position with regard to whether or not Mr. Graham’s farm should be mined to remove the Lower Kittanning seam of coal. . . . When an individual or company licensed to mine coal within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania submits to DEB an application for mining and mine drainage permits for this land, DEB will review them and act in accordance with the appropriate legislation and regulations in deciding both whether or not to issue permits for such mining activity and what conditions are appropriate to put into such permits in the event the decision is to issue permits.

The relief sought by the petitioners principally requests us to compel DEB to assist them in the preparation of their application for a permit to mine the Lower Kittanning seam of coal. They also want us in various ways to chastise DEB for taking the actions against them in the litigation described in the amended petition for review, which actions they characterize as unwarranted and excessive. Specifically, the petitioners request us to promulgate orders directing DEB to:

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Related

Farmer v. Supermarkets General Corp.
10 Pa. D. & C.4th 500 (Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, 1991)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
469 A.2d 709, 79 Pa. Commw. 403, 1984 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1117, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/graham-v-commonwealth-department-of-environmental-resources-pacommwct-1984.