The U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee voted Wednesday to advance a bill authorizing a coal land exchange between federal and private interests on the Crow Reservation in Montana.

The committee approved the measure 6-5 along party lines. The bill would permit the Bureau of Land Management to trade 4,530 subsurface acres of coal within the Bull Mountains Mine footprint to the Joe and Barbara Hope Mineral Trust in exchange for 4,660 subsurface coal acres beneath Hope Ranch, private property located within the reservation boundaries.

Under the proposed arrangement, the Hopes would share coal revenue with the Crow Tribe. The swap would allow mining of the transferred federal coal without subjecting the operation to standard federal land management review processes.

The Bull Mountains coal mine expansion received federal approval in June 2025, with the administration citing a “national energy emergency” to justify the decision. That approval cleared the path for the land exchange bill now moving through Congress.

The narrow committee vote reflects broader divisions in Congress over coal development on tribal lands and the balance between energy production and federal environmental standards. The measure will require full Senate approval before advancing further.