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Show $7.5 Million "Lost" Coal The U. S. Court of Claims has decided that if the federal government govern-ment bows to . environmental groups pressure and declares area off-limits to coal mining, the government gov-ernment must be ready to pay for the "taking of property." The court recently awarded BHP-Utah BHP-Utah Minerals International $7.5 million in a consent judgment against the U.S. in connection with a decision by the Interior Department Depart-ment to prohibit mining of a company com-pany coal reserve in Utah. The judgment was part of a settlement set-tlement of the company's long- standing claim that certain of its federal and state coal leases in the Alton coalfield in Southern Utah were rendered valueless by an Interior Inte-rior decision designating certain lands in the vicinity of Bryce Canyon National Park unsuitable for surface coal mining. |