Cite as: 526 U. S. 865 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
mineral and because it was understood as a distinct substance that escaped from coal as the coal was mined, rather than as a part of the coal itself.
B
As a practical matter, moreover, it is clear that, by reserving coal in the 1909 and 1910 Act patents, 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. Cf. Leo Sheep Co. v. United States, 440 U. S. 668, 682 (1979) (public land statutes should be interpreted in light of "the condition of the country when the acts were passed" (internal quotation marks omitted)). In contrast to natural gas, which was not yet an important source of fuel at the turn of the century, coal was the primary energy for the Industrial Revolution. See, e. g., D. Yergin, The Prize 543 (1991). See also Brief for Federal Respondents 30 (recognizing that the three primary sources of energy in the United States at the turn of the century were coal, oil, and wood, and that natural gas—even from conventional reservoirs—was not yet an important energy resource).
As the history recounted in Part I, supra, establishes, Congress passed the 1909 and 1910 Acts to address concerns over the short supply, mismanagement, and fraudulent acquisition of this solid rock fuel resource. Rejecting broader proposals, Congress chose a narrow reservation of the resource that would address the exigencies of the crisis at hand without unduly burdening the rights of homesteaders or impeding the settlement of the West.
It is evident that Congress viewed CBM gas not as part of the solid fuel resource it was attempting to conserve and manage but as a dangerous waste product, which escaped from coal as the coal was mined. Congress was well aware by 1909 that the natural gas found in coal formations was released during coal mining and posed a serious threat to
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