Cite as: 537 U. S. 488 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
the legitimacy of tribal taxation of coal production, but stipulated that the tax rate would be capped at eight percent. Id., at 295, 299.7 In addition, Peabody agreed to pay the
erals Revenue Management, General Federal and American Indian Mineral Lease Terms (Jan. 2, 2003), http://www.mrm.mms.gov/Stats/pdfdocs/ lse_term.pdf (available in Clerk of Court's case file). The Tribe identifies a single federal coal lease with a royalty rate of 17.08 percent, see Brief for Respondent 11, but, as the Government points out, that lease was "part of an experimental leasing policy tried by the Department for a short time," Reply Brief 12, n. 7 (quoting Peabody Coal Co., 93 I. B. L. A. 317, 320 (1986)). Between 1984 and 1988, the Department of the Interior's practice was not to approve IMLA leases with royalties less than the minimum rate for federal coal, i. e., 121/2 percent. See App. in No. 00-5086 (CA Fed.), p. A1872. As late as 1996 the customary royalty rate for coal leases on Indian lands issued or readjusted after 1976 did not exceed 121/2 percent. See Department of Interior, Minerals Management Serv., Mineral Revenues 1996, Report on Receipts from Federal and Indian Leases 128 (Table 47) (Jan. 2, 2003), http://www.mrm.mms.gov/stats/ pdfdocs/mrr96fin.pdf (available in Clerk of Court's case file).
The Tribe argues, in its presentation to this Court, that the 121/2 percent provided in amended Lease 8580 is only a "facial royalty rate," Brief for Respondent 11, and that the actual rate is lower, see Tr. of Oral Arg. 33. That assertion is based in part on the Tribe's agreement under the amended Lease to relinquish its claim for $33 million in back taxes and $56 million in back royalties, see 46 Fed. Cl., at 224, and in part on proposed findings of fact the Tribe submitted to the Court of Federal Claims, which the Government did not specifically dispute. See App. in No. 00-5086 (CA Fed.), pp. A2703-A2727. The proposed findings stated that a provision in the amended Lease "signifying a non-standard method of calculating the royalty," App. 180 (Proposed Findings ¶ 314), "resulted in royalty payments lower than the minimum allowable for federal coal," id., at 181 (Proposed Findings ¶ 315). To the extent the Tribe here assails the Secretary's approval of Lease 8580 as inconsistent with the then-prevailing federal policy not to approve rates below 121/2 percent, we do not pursue the point, for the Tribe failed to rely on it below. See 46 Fed. Cl., at 233 ("[T]here is no claim by the [Tribe] that the [Secretary's] 1987 approval of Lease 8580 . . . ran afoul of th[e] [federal] policy" of not approving IMLA leases with royalty rates of less than 121/2 percent.).
7 Before this Court's decision in Kerr-McGee Corp. v. Navajo Tribe, 471 U. S. 195 (1985), it was unsettled whether the Tribe could levy taxes without the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. The imposition of a severance tax, of course, augmented the amount payable by the lessee
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