866
Syllabus
time would not have encompassed CBM gas. Most dictionaries of the day defined coal as the solid fuel resource and CBM gas as a distinct substance that escaped from coal during mining, rather than as a part of the coal itself. As a practical matter, moreover, it is clear that Congress intended to reserve only the solid rock fuel that was mined, shipped throughout the country, and then burned to power the Nation's railroads, ships, and factories. Public land statutes should be interpreted in light of the country's condition when they were passed, Leo Sheep Co. v. United States, 440 U. S. 668, 682, and coal, not gas, was the primary energy for the Industrial Revolution. Congress passed the Acts to address concerns over the short supply, mismanagement, and fraudulent acquisition of this solid rock fuel and chose a narrow reservation to address these concerns. That Congress viewed CBM gas as a dangerous waste product is evident from earlier mine-safety legislation that prescribed specific ventilation standards to dilute such gas. Congress' view was confirmed by the fact that coal companies venting the gas while mining coal made no attempt to capture or preserve the gas. To the extent that Congress was aware of limited and sporadic drilling for CBM gas as fuel, there is every reason to think it viewed this as drilling for natural gas. Such a distinction is significant, since the question is not whether Congress would have thought that CBM gas had fuel value, but whether Congress thought it was coal fuel. In the 1909 and 1910 Acts, Congress chose to reserve only coal, not oil, natural gas, or other energy resources. This reservation's limited nature is confirmed by subsequent enactments, in which Congress used explicit terms to reserve gas rights. Pp. 874-878.
(b) Respondents contend that Congress did not reserve the solid coal but convey the CBM gas because the resulting split estate would be impractical and mining would be difficult if miners had to capture and preserve escaping CBM gas. It is unlikely that Congress considered this issue, since it did not think that CBM gas would be a profitable energy source. Nor would the prospect of a split estate have deterred Congress from reserving only coal, since including CBM gas in the coal reservation would create a split estate between CBM gas and natural gas, which would be at least as difficult to administer as a split coal/CBM gas estate. Pp. 878-880.
151 F. 3d 1251, reversed.
Kennedy, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Rehnquist, C. J., and Stevens, OTMConnor, Scalia, Souter, and Thomas, JJ., joined. Ginsburg, J., filed a dissenting opinion, post, p. 880. Breyer, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
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