[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1452 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1452

To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to provide for the leasing of Federal 
           lands for uranium mining, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 8, 2011

Mr. Heinrich (for himself and Mr. Lujan) introduced the following bill; 
        which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to provide for the leasing of Federal 
           lands for uranium mining, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Uranium Resources Stewardship Act'' 
or ``URSA''.

SEC. 2. FEDERAL LANDS URANIUM LEASING.

    The Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) is amended by 
redesignating section 44 as section 45, and by inserting after section 
43 the following new section:

``SEC. 44. LEASING OF LANDS FOR URANIUM MINING.

    ``(a) In General.--
            ``(1) Withdrawal from entry; leasing requirement.--
        Effective upon the date of enactment of the Uranium Resources 
        Stewardship Act, all Federal lands are hereby permanently 
        withdrawn from location and entry under section 2319 of the 
        Revised Statutes (30 U.S.C. 22 et seq.) for uranium. After the 
        end of the 2-year period beginning on such date of enactment, 
        no uranium may be produced from Federal lands except pursuant 
        to a lease issued under this Act.
            ``(2) Leasing.--The Secretary--
                    ``(A) may divide any lands subject to this Act that 
                are not withdrawn from mineral leasing and that are 
                otherwise available for uranium leasing under 
                applicable law, including lands available under the 
                terms of land use plans prepared by the Federal agency 
                managing the land, into leasing tracts of such size as 
                the Secretary finds appropriate and in the public 
                interest; and
                    ``(B) thereafter shall, in the Secretary's 
                discretion, upon the request of any qualified applicant 
                or on the Secretary's own motion, from time to time, 
                offer such lands for uranium leasing and award uranium 
                leases thereon by competitive bidding.
    ``(b) Fair Market Value Required.--
            ``(1) In general.--No bid for a uranium lease shall be 
        accepted that is less than the fair market value, as determined 
        by the Secretary, of the uranium subject to the lease.
            ``(2) Public comment.--Prior to the Secretary's 
        determination of the fair market value of the uranium subject 
        to the lease, the Secretary shall give opportunity for and 
        consideration to public comments on the fair market value.
            ``(3) Disclosure not required.--Nothing in this section 
        shall be construed to require the Secretary to make public the 
        Secretary's judgment as to the fair market value of the uranium 
        to be leased, or the comments the Secretary receives thereon 
        prior to the issuance of the lease.
    ``(c) Lands Under the Jurisdiction of Other Agencies.--Leases 
covering lands the surface of which is under the jurisdiction of any 
Federal agency other than the Department of the Interior may be issued 
only--
            ``(1) upon consent of the head of the other Federal agency; 
        and
            ``(2) upon such conditions the head of such other Federal 
        agency may prescribe with respect to the use and protection of 
        the nonmineral interests in those lands.
    ``(d) Consideration of Effects of Mining.--Before issuing any 
uranium lease, the Secretary shall consider effects that mining under 
the proposed lease might have on an impacted community or area, 
including impacts on the environment, on agricultural, on cultural 
resources, and other economic activities, and on public services.
    ``(e) Notice of Proposed Lease.--No lease sale shall be held for 
lands until after a notice of the proposed offering for lease has been 
given once a week for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general 
circulation in the county in which the lands are situated, or in 
electronic format, in accordance with regulations prescribed by the 
Secretary.
    ``(f) Auction Requirements.--All lands to be leased under this 
section shall be leased to the highest responsible qualified bidder--
            ``(1) under general regulations;
            ``(2) in units of not more than 2,560 acres that are as 
        nearly compact as possible; and
            ``(3) by oral bidding.
    ``(g) Required Payments.--
            ``(1) In general.--A lease under this section shall be 
        conditioned upon the payment by the lessee of--
                    ``(A) a royalty at a rate of not less than 12.5 
                percent in amount or value of the production removed or 
                sold under the lease; and
                    ``(B) a rental of--
                            ``(i) not less than $2.50 per acre per year 
                        for the first through fifth years of the lease; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) not less than $3 per acre per year 
                        for each year thereafter.
            ``(2) Use of revenues.--Amounts received as revenues under 
        this subsection with respect to a lease may be used by the 
        Secretary of the Interior, subject to the availability of 
        appropriations, for cleaning up uranium mill tailings and 
        reclaiming abandoned uranium mines on Federal lands in 
        accordance with the priorities and eligibility restrictions, 
        respectively, under subsections (c) and (d) of section 411 of 
        the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 
        U.S.C. 1240a).
    ``(h) Lease Term.--A lease under this section--
            ``(1) shall be effective for a primary term of 10 years; 
        and
            ``(2) shall continue in effect after such primary term for 
        so long is as uranium is produced under the lease in paying 
        quantities.
    ``(i) Exploration Licenses.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary may, under such 
        regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, issue to any person 
        an exploration license. No person may conduct uranium 
        exploration for commercial purposes on lands subject to this 
        Act without such an exploration license. Each exploration 
        license shall be for a term of not more than two years and 
        shall be subject to a reasonable fee. An exploration license 
        shall confer no right to a lease under this Act. The issuance 
        of exploration licenses shall not preclude the Secretary from 
        issuing uranium leases at such times and locations and to such 
        persons as the Secretary deems appropriate. No exploration 
        license may be issued for any land on which a uranium lease has 
        been issued. A separate exploration license shall be required 
        for exploration in each State. An application for an 
        exploration license shall identify general areas and probable 
        methods of exploration. Each exploration license shall be 
        limited to specific geographic areas in each State as 
        determined by the Secretary, and shall contain such reasonable 
        conditions as the Secretary may require, including conditions 
        to ensure the protection of the environment, and shall be 
        subject to all applicable Federal, State, and local laws and 
        regulations. Upon violation of any such conditions or laws the 
        Secretary may revoke the exploration license.
            ``(2) Limitations.--A licensee may not cause substantial 
        disturbance to the natural land surface. A licensee may not 
        remove any uranium for sale but may remove a reasonable amount 
        of uranium from the lands subject to this Act included under 
        the Secretary's license for analysis and study. A licensee must 
        comply with all applicable rules and regulations of the Federal 
        agency having jurisdiction over the surface of the lands 
        subject to this Act. Exploration licenses covering lands the 
        surface of which is under the jurisdiction of any Federal 
        agency other than the Department of the Interior may be issued 
        only upon such conditions as it may prescribe with respect to 
        the use and protection of the nonmineral interests in those 
        lands.
            ``(3) Sharing of data.--The licensee shall furnish to the 
        Secretary copies of all data (including geological, 
        geophysical, and core drilling analyses) obtained during such 
        exploration. The Secretary shall maintain the confidentiality 
        of all data so obtained until after the areas involved have 
        been leased or until such time as the Secretary determines that 
        making the data available to the public would not damage the 
        competitive position of the licensee, whichever comes first.
            ``(4) Exploration without a license.--Any person who 
        willfully conducts uranium exploration for commercial purposes 
        on lands subject to this Act without an exploration license 
        issued under this subsection shall be subject to a fine of not 
        more than $1,000 for each day of violation. All data collected 
        by such person on any Federal lands as a result of such 
        violation shall be made immediately available to the Secretary, 
        who shall make the data available to the public as soon as it 
        is practicable. No penalty under this subsection shall be 
        assessed unless such person is given notice and opportunity for 
        a hearing with respect to such violation.
    ``(j) Conversion of Mining Claims to Mineral Leases.--
            ``(1) In general.--The owner of any mining claim (in this 
        subsection referred to as a `claimant') located prior to the 
        date of enactment of the Uranium Resources Stewardship Act may, 
        within two years after such date, apply to the Secretary of the 
        Interior to convert the claim to a lease under this section. 
        The Secretary shall issue a uranium lease under this section to 
        the claimant upon a demonstration by the claimant, to the 
        satisfaction of the Secretary, within one year after the date 
        of the application to the Secretary, that the claim was, as of 
        such date of enactment, supported by the discovery of a 
        valuable deposit of uranium on the claimed land. The holder of 
        a lease issued upon conversion from a mining claim under this 
        subsection shall be subject to all the requirements of this 
        section governing uranium leases, except that the holder shall 
        pay a royalty of 6.25 percent on the value of the uranium 
        produced under the lease, until beginning ten years after the 
        date the claim is converted to a lease.
            ``(2) Other claims extinguished.--All mining claims located 
        for uranium on Federal lands whose claimant does not apply to 
        the Secretary for conversion to a lease, or whose claimant 
        cannot make such a demonstration of discovery, shall become 
        null and void by operation of law three years after such date 
        of enactment.''.
                                 <all>