An appeal by Oklahoma City-based Continental Resources Inc. to a 2013 ruling by the U.S. Department of Interior forcing the energy giant to pay nearly $2 million more in natural gas royalties is being heard by the D.C. Circuit in Washington.
This week, the Interior Department argued the company waited too long to lodge a court challenge against the agency order, according to a report by Law360, a website that tracks legal cases. Continental argues the federal judge was wrong in his July 2013 ruling which focused on the Interior Department’s 33-month statutory time frame for the department to rule in an administrative proceeding. The company had challenged being ordered to pay another $1.7 million in royalties.
A previous federal judge had ruled in 2010 the government failed to meet the 33-month time frame to handle Continental’s appeal.
