Atlantic Richfield Co. v. Hickel

HILL, Circuit Judge.

This case is on appeal from an order granting the Secretary’s motion for summary judgment. That order sustained an earlier administrative determination by the Department of the Interior that Atlantic Richfield Company1 was not entitled to the flat 12% percent royalty rate granted by 30 U.S.C. § 226c. The judgment, by denying Atlantic the benefit of the section 226c reduced rate, required payment of $3,209,763.30 for underpaid royalties from 1948 until 1961.

The facts giving rise to the controversy are undisputed and appear as follows: The subject oil and gas leases,…