43 U.S.C. § 870 — Grants of land in aid of common or public schools; extension to those mineral in character; effect of leases

Subject to subsections (a)–(c), grants to States of numbered sections for common or public schools also cover numbered school sections that are mineral in character, unless the land has already been granted, selected, certified, or approved to a State as replacement or indemnity land. (a) A mineral numbered-section grant has the same effect as earlier grants of nonmineral numbered sections. Title vests in the State at the same time and in the same way, subject to existing-law rights of adverse parties. (b) Every later sale, grant, deed, or patent for granted land must reserve to the State all coal and other minerals and the right to explore for, mine, and remove them. Minerals not previously disposed of by the State may be leased as the State legislature directs, with proceeds, rents, and royalties used for common or public schools. Land or minerals disposed of contrary to this section are forfeited to the United States through an Attorney General action in the federal district court where the property, or part of it, is located. (c) Except as subsection (d) provides, the section does not cover land in existing United States reservations, land reserved for water power, land included in any pending suit or proceeding in the courts of the United States, land subject to a valid application, claim, or right under existing federal law until it ends or is canceled, or land in Alaska. (d)(1) A mineral lease made by the United States, or an application for one, outstanding when a numbered school section is surveyed does not prevent the grant. (2) A section surveyed before July 11, 1956, that was not granted solely for that reason is granted as if unleased, and the State succeeds to the United States’ position as lessor. (3) A section surveyed on or after that date with an outstanding federal mineral lease must be granted immediately after the survey unless excluded for another subsection (c) reason, and the State succeeds as lessor. (4) On a State’s application, the Secretary must issue patents for lands granted under this section and § 871 under § 871a. If the lease remains outstanding, the patent must say the State became lessor when title vested. (5) If a single lease covers land owned partly by the State and partly by the United States, rents, royalties, and bonuses are divided according to each owner’s acreage when they accrue. (6) Here, “lease” includes “permit” and “lessor” includes “grantor.” This section does not define those terms.