Tribe, Company Revise Lopsided Montana Coal Swap

Backers of a coal swap involving a Montana Indian tribe say they have lowered the amount of fuel the government would have to turn over to a Texas company as part of the exchange.

Federal officials had criticized the deal as lopsided. Houston-based Great Northern Properties stood to get about 150 million tons of recoverable coal, versus 110 million tons for the tribe.

The company and tribe now say both sides would receive 110 million tons.

The exchange is meant to address a longstanding grievance over an expansion of the reservation in 1900 that left the underlying coal reserves in private hands.

The deal is supported by Montana's congressional delegation and Signal Peak Energy, which hopes to extract coal that Great Northern would receive near Signal Peak's Roundup mine.