Cite as: 537 U. S. 488 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
See supra, at 495-496.14 At the time the Secretary approved the amended Lease, it bears repetition, 121/2 percent was the rate the United States itself customarily received from leases to mine coal on federal lands. Similarly, the customary rate for coal leases on Indian lands issued or readjusted after 1976 did not exceed 121/2 percent. See supra, at 498-499, n. 6.15
In sum, neither the IMLA nor any of its regulations establishes anything more than a bare minimum royalty. Hence, there is no textual basis for concluding that the Secretary's approval function includes a duty, enforceable in an action for money damages, to ensure a higher rate of return for the Tribe concerned. Similarly, no pertinent statutory or regulatory provision requires the Secretary, on pain of damages, to conduct an independent "economic analysis" of the reasonableness of the royalty to which a Tribe and third party have agreed. 263 F. 3d, at 1340 (concurring opinion below, finding such a duty).16
14 Because the Tribe does not contend that the amended Lease failed to meet the minimum royalty under the regulations then in effect, we need not decide whether the Secretary's approval of such a lease would trigger money damages. See Reply Brief 15 ("The Court may . . . assume for present purposes that a failure by the Secretary to ensure, prior to approving a proposed lease, that its terms (or amendments) comply with the regulation specifying the minimum royalty rate to which the parties may agree would support a claim under the Tucker Act.").
15 Under 30 U. S. C. § 207(a), that customary rate was also a statutorily defined minimum for federal coal leases. See supra, at 498-499, n. 6. Section 207(a), which applies to federal lands in general, did not apply to leases of Indian lands until 1996, when 25 CFR § 211.43(a)(2) was promulgated. See Reply Brief 13-14. At the pre-1996 times relevant here, the sole specific provision governing Tribe-private lessee coal leases was the ten cents per ton minimum prescribed in 25 CFR § 211.15(c) (1985).
16 Citing language from the legislative history, the dissent stresses that the IMLA aimed in part to "give the Indians the greatest return from their property," post, at 516 (quoting S. Rep. No. 985, 75th Cong., 1st Sess., 2 (1937)), and suggests that the Secretary's approval role encompasses an enforceable duty to further that objective, see post, at 517. We have cautioned against according "talismanic effect" to the Senate Report's "reference to 'the greatest return from [Indian] property,' " and have observed
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