880
Ginsburg, J., dissenting
coal/CBM gas estate. If CBM gas were reserved with the coal estate, those developing the natural gas resources in the land would have to allocate the gas between the natural gas and coal estates based on some assessment of how much had migrated outside the coal itself. There is no reason to think Congress would have been more concerned about the creation of a split coal/CBM gas estate than the creation of a split gas estate.
Because we conclude that the most natural interpretation of "coal" as used in the 1909 and 1910 Acts does not encompass CBM gas, we need not consider the applicability of the canon that ambiguities in land grants are construed in favor of the sovereign or the competing canons relied on by petitioners.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed.
It is so ordered.
Justice Breyer took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.
Justice Ginsburg, dissenting.
I would affirm the judgment below substantially for the reasons stated by the Court of Appeals and the federal respondents. See 151 F. 3d 1251, 1256-1267 (CA10 1998) (en banc); Brief for Federal Respondents 14-16. As the Court recognizes, in 1909 and 1910 coalbed methane gas (CBM) was a liability. See ante, at 870-871, 875-876. Congress did not contemplate that the surface owner would be responsible for it. More likely, Congress would have assumed that the coal owner had dominion over, and attendant responsibility for, CBM. I do not find it clear that Congress understood dominion would shift if and when the liability became an asset. I would therefore apply the canon that ambiguities in land grants are construed in favor of the sovereign. See Watt v. Western Nuclear, Inc., 462 U. S. 36, 59 (1983) (noting "established rule that land grants are con-
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