IB 
Union Calendar No. 199 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1158 
[Report No. 112–299] 
To authorize the conveyance of mineral rights by the Secretary of the Interior 
in the State of Montana, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 17, 2011 
Mr. REHBERG introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources 
DECEMBER 1, 2011 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 17, 2011] 
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A BILL 
To authorize the conveyance of mineral rights by the Sec-
retary of the Interior in the State of Montana, and 
for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Montana Mineral Con-
veyance Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) under section 503(a)(2) of the Department of 
the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 
1998 (Public Law 105–83; 111 Stat. 1617), the Sec-
retary of the Interior has conveyed mineral rights in 
certain very large tracts of coal to the State of Mon-
tana, the tracts of which lie as near as 3 or 4 miles 
east of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation; 
(2) development of the coal tracts and other ex-
isting and proposed major developments of Federal, 
State, and private energy resources in areas sur-
rounding the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation 
yield substantial public revenues to the State (includ-
ing political subdivisions of the State), thereby assist-
ing the State (including political subdivisions of the 
State) in addressing the impacts of the development; 
(3) although the Northern Cheyenne tribal com-
munity chronically suffers harsh economic conditions 
and severe deficits in public services and facilities, the 
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community does not share in any significant portion 
of the public revenues generated by surrounding en-
ergy development; 
(4) the Northern Cheyenne Tribe has few, if any, 
sources of revenue available to address development 
impacts; 
(5) in 2002, the Tribe brought suit against the 
Secretary, asserting that the proposed conveyances of 
the extensive Federal coal tracts to the State under 
the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies 
Appropriations Act, 1998 (Public Law 105–83; 111 
Stat. 1543) would violate— 
(A) several Federal laws (including regula-
tions); and 
(B) the Federal trust responsibility to the 
Tribe; 
(6) subsequently, the Tribe withdrew the suit de-
scribed in paragraph (5) with prejudice, based in sub-
stantial part on commitments that legislation sub-
stantially in the form of this Act (and further legisla-
tion providing funding to the Tribe to address the im-
pacts of coal development in areas adjoining the Res-
ervation) would be introduced and pursued with sup-
port from the State, Great Northern Properties, and 
others; 
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