I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 725
To take certain mineral interests into trust for the benefit of the Crow
Tribe of Montana, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY24, 2025
Mr. D
OWNING(for himself and Mr. ZINKE) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To take certain mineral interests into trust for the benefit
of the Crow Tribe of Montana, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Crow Revenue Act’’. 4
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 5
In this Act: 6
(1) B
ULL MOUNTAINS LEASE .—The term ‘‘Bull 7
Mountains Lease’’ means the Bureau of Land Man-8
agement Lease MTM–97988 dated June 1, 2012. 9
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(2) BULL MOUNTAINS TRACTS .—The term 1
‘‘Bull Mountains Tracts’’ means the mineral inter-2
ests that— 3
(A) are located in Musselshell County, 4
Montana; 5
(B) comprise approximately 4,530 acres of 6
subsurface interests owned by the United States 7
located in— 8
(i) T. 6 N., R. 26 E., sec. 2; 9
(ii) T. 6 N., R. 26 E., sec. 24; 10
(iii) T. 6 N., R. 27 E., sec. 4; 11
(iv) T. 6 N., R. 27 E., sec. 8; 12
(v) T. 6 N., R. 27 E., sec. 10; 13
(vi) T. 6 N., R. 27 E., sec. 14; 14
(vii) T. 6 N., R. 27 E., sec. 22; 15
(viii) T. 7 N., R. 26 E., sec. 24; 16
(ix) T. 7 N., R. 26 E., sec. 26; 17
(x) T. 7 N., R. 26 E., sec. 34; 18
(xi) T. 7 N., R. 27 E., sec. 20; and 19
(xii) T. 7 N., R. 27 E., sec. 22; 20
(C) comprise approximately 940 acres of 21
surface interests owned by the United States lo-22
cated in— 23
(i) T. 6 N., R. 26 E., sec. 2; 24
(ii) T. 6 N., R. 27 E., sec. 8; 25
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(iii) T. 6 N., R. 27 E., sec. 10; 1
(iv) T. 6 N., R. 28 E., sec. 8; and 2
(v) T. 7 N., R. 27 E., sec. 34; and 3
(D) are generally depicted on the map en-4
titled ‘‘Bull Mountains Tracts’’ and dated Jan-5
uary 30, 2024. 6
(3) H
OPE FAMILY TRACTS .—The term ‘‘Hope 7
Family Tracts’’ means the aggregate mineral inter-8
ests that— 9
(A) are located in Big Horn County, Mon-10
tana, within the boundaries of the Crow Res-11
ervation; 12
(B) comprise approximately 4,660 acres of 13
subsurface interests owned by the Hope Family 14
Trust located in— 15
(i) T. 4 S., R. 37 E., sec. 33; 16
(ii) T. 4 S., R. 37 E., sec. 34; 17
(iii) T. 5 S., R. 37 E., sec. 1; 18
(iv) T. 5 S., R. 37 E., sec. 2; 19
(v) T. 5 S., R. 37 E., sec. 3; 20
(vi) T. 5 S., R. 37 E., sec. 10; 21
(vii) T. 5 S., R. 37 E., sec. 11; 22
(viii) T. 5 S., R. 37 E., sec. 12; 23
(ix) T. 5 S., R. 37 E., sec. 13; 24
(x) T. 5 S., R. 37 E., sec. 14; 25
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(xi) T. 5 S., R. 37 E., sec. 15; 1
(xii) T. 5 S., R. 38 E., sec. 5; 2
(xiii) T. 5 S., R. 38 E., sec. 8; 3
(xiv) T. 5 S., R. 38 E., sec. 9; 4
(xv) T. 5 S., R. 38 E., sec. 16; and 5
(xvi) T. 5 S., R. 38 E., sec. 17; and 6
(C) are generally depicted on the map enti-7
tled ‘‘Hope Family Tracts’’ and dated January 8
30, 2024. 9
(4) H
OPE FAMILY TRUST .—The term ‘‘Hope 10
Family Trust’’ means the Joe and Barbara Hope 11
Mineral Trust. 12
(5) L
ESSEE.—The term ‘‘Lessee’’ means the 13
lessee for the Bull Mountains Lease. 14
(6) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 15
the Secretary of the Interior. 16
(7) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the State 17
of Montana. 18
(8) T
RIBE.—The term ‘‘Tribe’’ means the Crow 19
Tribe of Montana. 20
SEC. 3. MINERAL RIGHTS TO BE TAKEN INTO TRUST. 21
(a) C
OMPLETION OFMINERALCONVEYANCES.—Not 22
later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 23
in a single transaction— 24
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(1) notwithstanding any other provision of law, 1
including sections 3480.0–6(d)(8) and 3452.1 2
through 3452.1–3 of title 43, Code of Federal Regu-3
lations (or successor regulations), if the Lessee of-4
fers to relinquish the Bull Mountains Lease, the 5
Secretary shall accept the relinquishment; 6
(2) the Hope Family Trust shall convey to the 7
Tribe all right, title, and interest in and to the min-8
eral interests in the Hope Family Tracts; and 9
(3) subject to valid existing rights, and on relin-10
quishment of the Bull Mountains Lease, the Sec-11
retary shall convey to the Hope Family Trust all 12
right, title, and interest of the United States in and 13
to the mineral interests and surface land in the Bull 14
Mountains Tracts. 15
(b) T
RUSTSTATUS.—On the request of the Tribe, 16
the mineral interests conveyed to the Tribe under sub-17
section (a)(2) shall be held in trust by the United States 18
for the benefit of the Tribe. 19
(c) N
OSTATETAXATION.—The mineral interests 20
conveyed to the Tribe under subsection (a)(2) shall not 21
be subject to taxation by the State (including any political 22
subdivision of the State). 23
(d) R
EVENUESHARINGAGREEMENT.—Before the 24
conveyances under subsection (a), the Tribe shall notify 25
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the Secretary, in writing, that the Tribe and the Hope 1
Family Trust have agreed on a formula for sharing rev-2
enue from development of the mineral and surface inter-3
ests described in subsection (a)(3) if those mineral or sur-4
face interests are developed at a later date. 5
(e) W
ITHDRAWALPRIOR TOEXCHANGE.—Subject to 6
valid existing rights, pending the conveyances under para-7
graphs (2) and (3) of subsection (a), the tracts conveyed 8
under those paragraphs shall be withdrawn from— 9
(1) all forms of entry, appropriation, and dis-10
posal under the public land laws; 11
(2) location, entry, and patent under the mining 12
laws; and 13
(3) operation of the mineral leasing, mineral 14
materials, and geothermal leasing laws. 15
SEC. 4. ELIGIBILITY FOR OTHER FEDERAL BENEFITS. 16
No amounts or other benefits provided to the Tribe 17
under this Act shall result in the reduction or denial of 18
any Federal services, benefits, or programs to the Tribe 19
or any member of the Tribe to which the Tribe or member 20
of the Tribe is entitled or eligible because of— 21
(1) the status of the Tribe as a federally recog-22
nized Indian Tribe; or 23
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(2) the status of the member as a member of 1
the Tribe. 2
Æ
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