43 U.S.C. § 315E
Section 315e · Rights of way; development of mineral resources
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case Sierra Club v. Hodel (1988)
Most recently applied in Public Lands Council v. United States Department of the Interior Secretary (June 1996)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Nothing contained in this subchapter shall restrict the acquisition, granting or use of permits or rights of way within grazing districts under existing law; or ingress or egress over the public lands in such districts for all proper and lawful purposes; and nothing contained in this subchapter shall restrict prospecting, locating, developing, mining, entering, leasing, or patenting the mineral resources of such districts under law applicable thereto.