According to reports in local newspaper the Johnstown Tribune Democrat and the Legal Intelligencer, federal judge Donetta Ambrose ruled late last week that Svonavec, which owned the land until the government took more than 276 acres from it by eminent domain to create the national monument in 2009, did not demonstrate its rights.

Specifically, the judge said, the company cited unrecorded, undocumented and missing documents in its argument.

The two had been at legal odds over the mining rights since the time the US government claimed eminent domain, though they did agree to an eight-acre parcel at the time that was not affected by Ambrose’s decision.

According to the Intelligencer, Svonavec had owned the entire 276-acre property since 1961 and had valued the coal mining rights at $US1.7 million.

According to Ambrose’s documentation from the hearing, Svonavec owned the surface area of the land but not the coal underneath at the time when the government enforced eminent domain.

An organization called the Conservation Fund, the judge added, bought the coal from PBS Coals in 2003, and that company in 2010 conveyed the coal rights to the United States via special warranty deed.

Family owned Svonavec did not release any statement on the decision.