Naartex Consulting Corporation, Russell Huff v. James G. Watt, Secretary of Interior

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge WALD.

WALD, Circuit Judge:

This action begins with a lottery, held in Wyoming in 1975 by the Department of Interior to select a lessee for a parcel of land in Wyoming that was, at the time, outside any known producing oil or gas field. Two years later, the land began producing oil; and two years later still, Naar-tex Consulting Corporation (Naartex), acting on behalf of. an unsuccessful applicant in the lottery, challenged the issuance of the lease. Naartex claimed that Resource Service Company (RSC), the filing service that had entered the winning…