[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 794 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 794

  To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to provide for the development of 
                        Federal coal resources.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 13, 2003

  Mrs. Cubin introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to provide for the development of 
                        Federal coal resources.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Coal Leasing Amendments Act of 
2003''.

SEC. 2. REPEAL OF THE 160-ACRE LIMITATION FOR COAL LEASES.

    Section 3 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 203) is amended in 
the first sentence by striking ``such lease,'' and all that follows 
through the end of the sentence and inserting ``such lease.''.

SEC. 3. MINING PLANS.

    Section 2(d)(2) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 202a(2)) is 
amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(A)'' after ``(2)''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(B) The Secretary may establish a period of more than 40 years if 
the Secretary determines that the longer period--
            ``(i) will ensure the maximum economic recovery of a coal 
        deposit; or
            ``(ii) the longer period is in the interest of the orderly, 
        efficient, or economic development of a coal resource.''.

SEC. 4. PAYMENT OF ADVANCE ROYALTIES UNDER COAL LEASES.

    (a) In General.--Section 7(b) of the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 
(30 U.S.C. 207(b)) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(b)(1) Each lease shall be subjected to the condition of diligent 
development and continued operation of the mine or mines, except where 
operations under the lease are interrupted by strikes, the elements, or 
casualties not attributable to the lessee.
    ``(2)(A) The Secretary of the Interior, upon determining that the 
public interest will be served thereby, may suspend the condition of 
continued operation upon the payment of advance royalties.
    ``(B) Such advance royalties shall be computed based on the average 
price for coal sold in the spot market from the same region during the 
last month of each applicable continued operation year.
    ``(C) The aggregate number of years during the initial and any 
extended term of any lease for which advance royalties may be accepted 
in lieu of the condition of continued operation shall not exceed 20.
    ``(3) The amount of any production royalty paid for any year shall 
be reduced (but not below zero) by the amount of any advance royalties 
paid under such lease to the extent that such advance royalties have 
not been used to reduce production royalties for a prior year.
    ``(4) This subsection shall be applicable to any lease or logical 
mining unit in existence on the date of the enactment of this paragraph 
or issued or approved after such date.
    ``(5) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to affect the 
requirement contained in the second sentence of subsection (a) relating 
to commencement of production at the end of 10 years.''.
    (b) Authority To Waive, Suspend, or Reduce Advance Royalties.--
Section 39 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 209) is amended by 
striking the last sentence.

SEC. 5. ELIMINATION OF DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF COAL LEASE OPERATION 
              AND RECLAMATION PLAN.

    Section 7(c) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 207(c)) is 
amended by striking ``and not later than three years after a lease is 
issued,''.

SEC. 6. AMENDMENTS RELATING TO FINANCIAL ASSURANCES WITH RESPECT TO 
              BONUS BIDS.

    (a) Prohibition on Requiring Surety Bonds.--Section 2(a) of the 
Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 201(a)) is amended by adding at the end 
the following:
    ``(4) The Secretary shall not require a surety bond or any other 
financial assurance to guarantee payment of deferred bonus bid 
installments with respect to any coal lease issued based upon a cash 
bonus bid.
    ``(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if the lessee 
under a coal lease fails to pay any installment of a deferred cash 
bonus bid within 10 days after the Secretary provides written notice 
that payment of such installment is past due--
            ``(A) such lease shall automatically terminate;
            ``(B) any deferred bonus payments that have not been paid 
        to the United States with respect to such lease shall no longer 
        be owed to the United States; and
            ``(C) any bonus payments already made to the United States 
        with respect to such lease shall not be returned to the lessee 
        or credited in any future lease sale.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 2(a)(1) of the Mineral Leasing 
Act (30 U.S.C. 201(a)(1)) is amended by striking ``Upon default or 
cancellation of any coal lease for which bonus payments are due, any 
unpaid remainder of the bid shall be immediately payable to the United 
States.''.

SEC. 7. INVENTORY REQUIREMENT.

    (a) Review of Assessments.--
            (1) In general.--The Secretary of the Interior, in 
        consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture and the 
        Secretary of Energy, shall review coal assessments and other 
        available data to identify--
                    (A) public lands with coal resources;
                    (B) the extent and nature of any restrictions or 
                impediments to the development of coal resources on 
                public lands identified under paragraph (1); and
                    (C) with respect to areas of such lands for which 
                sufficient data exists, resources of compliant coal and 
                supercompliant coal.
            (2) Definitions.--For purposes of this subsection--
                    (A) the term ``compliant coal'' means coal that 
                contains not less than 1.0 and not more than 1.2 pounds 
                of sulfur dioxide per million Btu; and
                    (B) the term ``supercompliant coal'' means coal 
                that contains less than 1.0 pounds of sulfur dioxide 
                per million Btu.
    (b) Completion and Updating of the Inventory.--The Secretary--
            (1) shall complete the inventory under subsection (a) by 
        not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this 
        Act; and
            (2) shall update the inventory as the availability of data 
        and developments in technology warrant.
    (c) Report.--The Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 
Resources of the House of Representatives and to the Committee on 
Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and make publicly 
available--
            (1) a report containing the inventory under this section, 
        by not later than 2 years after the effective date of this 
        section; and
            (2) each update of such inventory.

SEC. 8. APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS.

    The amendments made by this Act apply with respect to any coal 
lease issued before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this 
Act.
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