Sponsors (2)
The bill strengthens tribal control of mineral and surface rights and protects tribal members’ access to federal benefits—boosting tribal economic sovereignty and enabling local planning and conservation—while shifting tax revenues and development opportunities away from state/local governments and private developers, and creating administrative and legal risks from expedited transfers and tax-jurisdiction changes.
Indigenous tribal communities gain clear legal title and control over mineral interests (including ability to hold minerals in trust and exemptions from State taxation), increasing tribal revenue potential and economic self-determination.
Tribal members retain eligibility for federal services and benefits and the Tribe’s recognized status is protected, preserving access to healthcare, housing, income supports and the government-to-government relationship.
Requiring a revenue-sharing agreement before conveyance clarifies and protects the Tribe’s financial arrangements with developers and utilities, reducing ambiguity about who benefits from future development.
State and local governments lose tax revenue when conveyed mineral interests held in trust are exempt from State taxation, potentially reducing funding for public services.
The 60-day transfer deadlines and expedited timelines place significant administrative burdens on the Department of the Interior/BLM and other agencies, increasing the risk of rushed reviews, errors, and legal challenges.
Conveyances and temporary withdrawals can limit access for non-tribal companies, delaying mineral development and associated jobs and investment in affected communities.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Directs a single-transaction exchange and conveyance of specified mineral and surface tracts among the U.S., Crow Tribe, Hope Family Trust, and Musselshell Resources LLC, withdraws the lands from certain public-land and mineral laws, and exempts conveyed tribal mineral interests from State taxation.
Introduced January 24, 2025 by Troy Downing · Last progress January 24, 2025
Conveys specific mineral and surface interests among the United States, the Crow Tribe of Montana, the Joe and Barbara Hope Mineral Trust, and Musselshell Resources LLC, and requires a parallel land-swap of surface tracts. The Act directs the Secretary of the Interior to accept a relinquished federal lease, moves roughly 4,530 acres of federal subsurface interests and ~940 acres of federal surface interests, transfers ~4,660 acres of private subsurface interests into Tribal ownership (with an option for those interests to be held in trust by the United States), and swaps roughly 959 acres of private surface interests for federal surface tracts — all as a single transaction within 60 days of enactment. It also withdraws the specified tracts from public entry, mining location, and certain mineral and geothermal leasing laws while preserving valid existing rights, exempts the tribal mineral interests conveyed from State taxation, and bars using benefits under the Act to reduce or deny federal services to the Tribe or its members.