30 U.S.C. § 1298 — Alaskan surface coal mine study

(a) Study. The Secretary must study regulation of surface mining on Indian lands that achieves this chapter's purpose while recognizing those lands' special jurisdictional status. The Secretary must consult Indian tribes. The report must include proposed legislation allowing tribes to choose full regulatory authority over surface coal-mining regulation on Indian lands.

(b) Report. The report, proposed legislation drafts, and each affected tribe's views must be submitted to Congress as soon as possible but no later than January 1, 1978.

(c) Interim standards. Beginning 135 days after August 3, 1977, surface coal-mining operations on Indian lands must meet requirements at least as strict as section 1265(b)(2), (3), (5), (10), (13), (19), and (d). The Secretary must put those requirements in existing and new coal leases on Indian lands.

(d) Permanent standards. Beginning 30 months after August 3, 1977, operations must meet requirements at least as strict as sections 1257 through 1260, 1265 through 1267, and 1269. The Secretary must put those requirements in existing and new leases.

(e) Additional lease terms. For leases issued after August 3, 1977, the Secretary must include and enforce additional terms requested by the tribe.

(f) Lease changes. Changes required by (c) or (d) to a coal lease existing on August 3, 1977, require the Secretary's approval.

(g) Tribal participation. The Secretary must provide adequate participation by affected tribes in the study. No more than $700,000 of funds authorized under section 1302(a) may be reserved for this purpose.

(h) Jurisdiction. The Secretary must analyze and recommend treatment of Indian lands outside reservation boundaries. Nothing in this chapter changes the existing jurisdiction of those lands.

(i) Grants. The Secretary must give grants to the Navajo, Hopi, Northern Cheyenne, and Crow tribes to develop regulations and programs for surface coal mining and reclamation on Indian lands. Grants must establish a surface-mining regulatory office for each tribe. Each office must (1) develop tribal rules and program policies; (2) help the Federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement inspect and enforce activities, including permitting, mine-plan review, and bond release; and (3) sponsor mining and mineral-resource job training and education.

(j) Tribal authority. (1) A tribe may apply for and obtain approval of a program under section 1253 to regulate all or part of surface coal mining and reclamation on reservation land under its jurisdiction, using section 1254(e) procedures. For this subsection and the tribal program, references to a “State” mean a “tribe.” (2) Tribal membership alone is not a conflict under section 1211(f). A tribal-regulatory employee may not receive a per-capita distribution of proceeds from coal mining on reservation lands under this chapter. (3) To receive primary authority under section 1254(e), the tribe must waive sovereign immunity for section 1270 and paragraph (4). (4) After exhausting tribal remedies, an interested party may seek review of a civil action under the tribal program in the United States circuit court for the circuit where the mine is located. The court reviews legal questions anew and factual findings under a clearly erroneous standard. A criminal action under section 1268 concerning reservation-land operations must be brought in the District Court for the District of Columbia or the district court where the alleged crime occurred. (5) Except for (B), grants for developing, administering, and enforcing an approved tribal program follow section 1295. The Federal share is 100 percent. (6) Within 18 months after approval under section 1254(e), the Secretary must send the appropriate congressional committees a report, developed with the tribe, recommending whether primary authority should expand to other Indian lands.