Crow Tribe Mineral Transfer Act

Summary#

The Crow Revenue Act is a bill to transfer specific mineral interests between the United States, the Crow Tribe of Montana, and the Joe and Barbara Hope Mineral Trust. It would create a new law, not amend an existing Act; its stated goal is to take certain mineral interests into trust for the Tribe’s benefit. The bill is not yet law.

  • Within 60 days of enactment, the Hope Family Trust must convey its mineral interests in about 4,660 acres within the Crow Reservation to the Tribe.
  • If the lessee offers to give up the Bull Mountains lease, the Interior Secretary must accept. Once the lease is given up, the Secretary must convey specified federal mineral interests and surface land—about 4,530 subsurface acres and 940 surface acres—to the Hope Family Trust, subject to valid existing rights.
  • Before those conveyances, the Tribe must tell the Secretary in writing that it and the Hope Family Trust have agreed on a formula for sharing revenue if the interests conveyed to the Trust are developed later.
  • At the Tribe’s request, the United States would hold the minerals conveyed to the Tribe in trust. Those minerals would not be subject to Montana state or local taxes.
  • Until the conveyances, the specified tracts would be withdrawn from certain forms of entry, mining, and leasing under federal public-land laws.

What it means for you#

  • Crow Tribe: The Tribe would receive the Hope Family Trust’s specified mineral interests. It could ask the United States to hold them in trust, and those interests would be exempt from Montana state and local taxes. Federal services and benefits for the Tribe or its members could not be reduced or denied because of amounts or other benefits provided under this Act.
  • Hope Family Trust: The Trust must convey its specified minerals to the Tribe. If the Bull Mountains lease is relinquished, it would receive specified federal minerals and surface land, subject to existing rights. It must agree with the Tribe on a revenue-sharing formula before the conveyances.
  • Bull Mountains lessee: The bill does not require the lessee to relinquish its lease. But if it offers to relinquish, the Interior Secretary must accept.
  • Montana and local governments: They could not tax the mineral interests conveyed to the Tribe. The bill does not exempt the federal land conveyed to the Hope Family Trust from state or local taxes.
  • Other members of the public: The bill does not create a general application process, new front-line service, or right to develop the tracts.

Money#

No cost information is in the available material.

  • The bill provides no spending amount or estimate for federal administration or the land conveyance.
  • Montana and local governments would lose the ability to tax the mineral interests conveyed to the Tribe.
  • The bill requires a revenue-sharing formula before the transfer, but does not set the formula or estimate future revenue.

What is unclear#

  • The bill does not say what happens if the lessee does not offer to relinquish the Bull Mountains lease. In that case, the federal conveyance to the Hope Family Trust is not triggered.
  • It does not set the terms of the revenue-sharing formula or say how revenue would be measured or distributed.
  • No valuation of the land and mineral interests, or analysis of tax effects, is supplied.
  • The bill does not explain how existing rights affect the transfers or give a process for resolving disputes about them.
  • The supplied material does not include current law or the referenced regulations, so how the bill would interact with them could not be verified.

Case for#

  • The bill appears intended to transfer mineral interests to the Crow Tribe while arranging an exchange of specified federal interests for the Hope Family Trust.
  • A possible argument for the bill is that requiring a revenue-sharing agreement before transfer gives the Tribe and the Trust a chance to settle how any later development revenue would be shared.
  • The tax exemption and protection of other federal benefits could help ensure the transfer does not reduce the Tribe’s existing eligibility for federal services.

Case against#

  • One concern is that the bill requires the federal transfer once the lease is relinquished but provides no valuation or explanation of how the interests compare in value.
  • The transaction depends on the lessee offering to relinquish the lease; the bill does not require that offer or explain what happens if it is not made.
  • The revenue-sharing formula is central to the transaction but is left for the Tribe and the Trust to negotiate, with no terms or dispute process in the bill.
  • The bill does not explain the effects on state and local tax revenue or the cost of carrying out the transfers.