Minard Run Oil Co. v. U.S. Forest Service

The U.S. Forest Service (defendant) managed surface land with mostly privately held mineral rights in Pennsylvania's Allegheny National Forest, using a cooperative process under which the USFS issued a Notice to Proceed (NTP) acknowledging owners' drilling plans without treating the NTP as a major federal action requiring NEPA review, since its surface-owner rights were limited; under section 9 of the Weeks Act, retained mineral rights were subject only to regulations expressed in the original land-conveyance agreement, which did not require a federal drilling permit, and Pennsylvania law separately did not require mineral owners to obtain surface-owner consent to extract minerals. After a settlement in another case suspended NTP issuance pending a multi-year forest-wide environmental impact statement, Minard Run Oil and other mineral owners (plaintiffs) sued to enjoin the moratorium, and the district court granted a preliminary injunction, finding the moratorium infringed property rights and threatened businesses; the USFS appealed.