II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2256 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to take certain land and mineral 

rights on the reservation of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana 

and other culturally important land into trust for the benefit of the 

Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 11, 2014 

Mr. WALSH (for himself and Mr. TESTER) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to take certain land 

and mineral rights on the reservation of the Northern 

Cheyenne Tribe of Montana and other culturally important land into trust for the benefit of the Northern 

Cheyenne Tribe, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Northern Cheyenne 

5 Lands Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) the Northern Cheyenne Tribe has depended 

2 on the land of the Tribe and the land-based re3 sources of the Tribe to support its way of life since 

4 time immemorial; 

5 (2) the Tribe has made supreme and historic 

6 sacrifices to repossess and maintain the homeland of 

7 the Tribe, including the Reservation of the Tribe in 

8 the State of Montana; 

9 (3) the Tribe suffers from tremendous social 

10 and economic challenges, including a lack of employ11 ment opportunities on the Reservation, which can be 

12 improved by strengthening the control of the Tribe 

13 over the land base, natural resources, and trust 

14 funds of the Tribe; 

15 (4) the Tribe and the members of the Tribe are 

16 the beneficial owners of more than 95 percent of the 

17 surface land of the Reservation and all but approxi18 mately 5,000 subsurface acres of the Reservation; 

19 (5) the Tribe seeks to obtain ownership of ap20 proximately 5,000 subsurface acres on the Reserva21 tion that the Tribe does not own as a result of an 

22 error made by the United States when the Reserva23 tion was expanded in 1900; 

24 (6) in 2002, the Tribe agreed by settlement to 

25 dismiss a lawsuit against the United States which 


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1 alleged that the United States failed to protect the 

2 Reservation from the impacts of coal development in 

3 return for assistance in securing tribal ownership of 

4 the subsurface rights described in paragraph (5) 

5 substantially in the form of this Act, and to secure 

6 mitigation funding to address the impacts of coal de7 velopment in areas adjacent to the Reservation, 

8 among other conditions; 

9 (7) to increase tribal ownership of the surface 

10 land, the Tribe has purchased approximately 932 

11 acres of land within the Reservation that were, for 

12 various reasons, taken out of trust ownership status; 

13 (8) the Tribe has purchased approximately 635 

14 acres of land near Bear Butte, South Dakota, which 

15 the Tribe considers sacred ground for the members 

16 of the Tribe, as well as for members of other Indian 

17 tribes; 

18 (9) the Tribe seeks to have the land and sub19 surface within the Reservation and the Bear Butte 

20 land described in this section taken into trust by the 

21 United States for the benefit of the Tribe; 

22 (10) the Tribe seeks clarification, consistent 

23 with the 1999 settlement with the United States, 

24 that the principal of the funds arising from the 

25 Northern Cheyenne Indian Reserved Water Rights 


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1 Settlement Act of 1992 (Public Law 102–374; 106 

2 Stat. 1186; 108 Stat. 707), the earnings from which 

3 are paid to the Tribe and managed as the ‘‘Northern 

4 Cheyenne Trust Fund’’ by the Office of Special 

5 Trustee, may be transferred to the Northern Chey6 enne Tribe Permanent Fund, which has historically 

7 provided strong returns to the Tribe in direct sup8 port of tribal self-determination and to offset limited 

9 Federal funding of important tribal governmental 

10 services; and 

11 (11) if the conveyances of land and funds au12 thorized under this Act are carried out, the Tribe 

13 has agreed to waive all legal claims against the 

14 United States arising out of the longstanding loss of 

15 the subsurface rights and the management of the 

16 Northern Cheyenne Trust Fund by the United 

17 States. 

18 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

19 In this Act: 

20 (1) FUND.—The term ‘‘Fund’’ means the 

21 Northern Cheyenne Trust Fund identified in the 

22 June 7, 1999 Agreement Settling Certain Issues Re23 lating to the Tongue River Dam Project, which was 

24 entered into by the Tribe, the State, and delegates 


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1 of the Secretary, and managed by the Office of Spe2 cial Trustee in the Department of the Interior. 

3 (2) GREAT NORTHERN PROPERTIES.—The term 

4 ‘‘Great Northern Properties’’ means the Great 

5 Northern Properties Limited Partnership, which is a 

6 Delaware limited partnership. 

7 (3) PERMANENT FUND.—The term ‘‘Permanent 

8 Fund’’ means the Northern Cheyenne Tribe Perma9 nent Fund managed by the Tribe pursuant to the 

10 Plan for Investment, Management and Use of the 

11 Fund, as amended by vote of the tribal membership 

12 on November 2, 2010. 

13 (4) RESERVATION.—The term ‘‘Reservation’’ 

14 means the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. 

15 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

16 the Secretary of the Interior. 

17 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the State 

18 of Montana. 

19 (7) TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Tribe’’ means the 

20 Northern Cheyenne Tribe. 

21 SEC. 4. TRIBAL FEE LAND TO BE TAKEN INTO TRUST. 

22 Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment 

23 of this Act, the Secretary shall take the approximately 

24 1,567 acres of land depicted on the map entitled ‘‘North25 ern Cheyenne Lands Act – Fee-to-Trust Lands’’ and 


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1 dated March 26, 2014, into trust for the benefit of the 

2 Tribe. 

3 SEC. 5. MINERAL RIGHTS TO BE TAKEN INTO TRUST. 

4 (a) COMPLETION OF MINERAL CONVEYANCES.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 

6 the date on which the Secretary receives the notifica7 tion described in subsection (c), in a single trans8 action— 

9 (A) Great Northern Properties shall convey 

10 to the Tribe all right, title, and interest of 

11 Great Northern Properties, consisting of coal 

12 and iron ore mineral interests, underlying the 

13 land on the Reservation generally depicted as 

14 ‘‘Great Northern Properties’’ on the map enti15 tled ‘‘Northern Cheyenne Land Act – Coal 

16 Tracts’’ and dated February 27, 2014; and 

17 (B) subject to paragraph (2), the Secretary 

18 shall convey to Great Northern Properties all 

19 right, title, and interest of the United States in 

20 and to the coal mineral interests underlying the 

21 land generally depicted as ‘‘Bull Mountains’’ 

22 and ‘‘East Fork’’ on the map entitled ‘‘North23 ern Cheyenne Federal Tracts’’ and dated Feb24 ruary 27, 2014. 


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1 (2) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary shall en2 sure that the deed for the conveyance authorized by 

3 paragraph (1)(B) shall include a covenant running 

4 with the land that— 

5 (A) precludes the coal conveyed from being 

6 mined by any method other than underground 

7 mining techniques— 

8 (i) until any surface owner (as defined 

9 in section 714(e) of Public Law 95–87 (30 

10 U.S.C. 1304(e))) for a specific tract has 

11 provided to Great Northern Properties 

12 written consent to enter the specific tract 

13 and commence surface mining; and 

14 (ii) except as determined to be accept15 able for further consideration for leasing in 

16 the document of the Bureau of Land Man17 agement entitled ‘‘Billings Resource Area 

18 Final EIS and Resource Management 

19 Plan’’ and dated September 1984; and 

20 (B) shall not create any property interest 

21 in the United States or any surface owner (as 

22 defined in section 714(e) of Public Law 95–87 

23 (30 U.S.C. 1304(e))). 

24 (b) TREATMENT OF LAND TRANSFERRED TO

25 TRIBE.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—At the request of the Tribe, 

2 the Secretary shall take into trust for the benefit of 

3 the Tribe the mineral interests conveyed to the Tribe 

4 under subsection (a)(1)(A). 

5 (2) NO STATE TAXATION.—The mineral inter6 ests conveyed to the Tribe under subsection 

7 (a)(1)(A) shall not be subject to taxation by the 

8 State (including any political subdivision of the 

9 State). 

10 (c) REVENUE SHARING AGREEMENT.—The Tribe 

11 shall notify the Secretary, in writing, that— 

12 (1) consistent with a settlement agreement en13 tered into between the Tribe and the State in 2002, 

14 the Tribe and Great Northern Properties have 

15 agreed on a formula for sharing revenue from devel16 opment of the mineral interests described in sub17 section (a)(1)(B) if those mineral interests are devel18 oped; 

19 (2) the revenue sharing agreement remains in 

20 effect as of the date of enactment of this Act; and 

21 (3) Great Northern Properties has offered to 

22 convey the mineral interests described in subsection 

23 (a)(1)(A) to the Tribe. 


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1 (d) WAIVER OF LEGAL CLAIMS.—As a condition of 

2 the conveyances of mineral interests under subsection 

3 (a)(1)— 

4 (1) the Tribe shall waive any and all claims re5 lating to the failure of the United States to acquire 

6 and take into trust on behalf of the Tribe the min7 eral interests described in subsection (a)(1)(A), as 

8 directed by Congress in 1900; and 

9 (2) Great Northern Properties shall waive any 

10 and all claims against the United States relating to 

11 the value of the coal mineral interests described in 

12 subsection (a)(1)(B). 

13 (e) RESCISSION OF MINERAL CONVEYANCES.—If any 

14 portion of the mineral interests conveyed under subsection 

15 (a)(1) is invalidated by final judgment of a court of the 

16 United States— 

17 (1) not later than 1 year after the date on 

18 which the final judgment is rendered, the Secretary 

19 or Great Northern Properties may agree to rescind 

20 the conveyances under subsection (a)(1); and 

21 (2) if the conveyances are rescinded under 

22 paragraph (1), the waivers under subsection (d) 

23 shall no longer apply. 


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1 SEC. 6. TRANSFER OF NORTHERN CHEYENNE TRUST FUND 

2 TO TRIBE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 

4 date of enactment of this Act, all amounts in the Fund 

5 shall be deposited in the Permanent Fund. 

6 (b) USE OF AMOUNTS.—Of the amounts transferred 

7 to the Permanent Fund under subsection (a)— 

8 (1) the portion that is attributable to the prin9 cipal of the Fund shall be maintained in perpetuity; 

10 and 

11 (2) any interest earned on the amounts de12 scribed in paragraph (1) shall be used in the same 

13 manner as interest earned on amounts in the Per14 manent Fund may be used. 

15 (c) WAIVER OF LEGAL CLAIMS.—As a condition of 

16 the transfer under subsection (a), the Tribe shall waive 

17 any and all claims arising from the management of the 

18 Fund by the United States. 

19 SEC. 7. ELIGIBILITY FOR OTHER FEDERAL BENEFITS. 

20 The transfer under section 6 shall not result in the 

21 reduction or denial of any Federal service, benefit, or pro22 gram to the Tribe or to any member of the Tribe to which 

23 the Tribe or member is entitled or eligible because of— 

24 (1) the status of the Tribe as a federally recog25 nized Indian tribe; or 


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1 (2) the status of the member as a member of 

2 the Tribe. 

3 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

4 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

5 this Act such sums as are necessary. 

Æ 


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