[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7941 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7941

  To amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to 
  establish additional considerations with regard to the adequacy of 
           permit performance bonds, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 11, 2024

 Mr. Cartwright (for himself, Mr. Deluzio, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Huffman, 
Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, and Ms. Tlaib) introduced the following bill; 
        which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to 
  establish additional considerations with regard to the adequacy of 
           permit performance bonds, 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 ``Bond Improvement and Reclamation 
Assurance Act''.

SEC. 2. SURFACE MINING CONTROL AND RECLAMATION ACT OF 1977 REFORM.

    (a) Permit Performance Bonds.--Section 509 of the Surface Mining 
Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1259) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a), to read as follows:
    ``(a)(1) After a surface coal mining and reclamation permit 
application has been approved but before such a permit is issued, the 
applicant shall file with the regulatory authority, on a form 
prescribed and furnished by the regulatory authority, a bond for 
performance payable, as appropriate, to the United States or to the 
State, and conditional upon faithful performance of all the 
requirements of this Act and the permit.
    ``(2) The bond shall cover that area of land within the permit area 
upon which the operator will initiate and conduct surface coal mining 
and reclamation operations within the initial term of the permit.
    ``(3) As succeeding increments of surface coal mining and 
reclamation operations are to be initiated and conducted within the 
permit area, the permittee shall file with the regulatory authority an 
additional bond to cover such increments in accordance with this 
section.
    ``(4) The amount of the bond required for each bonded area shall--
            ``(A) be determined by the regulatory authority;
            ``(B) depend upon the reclamation requirements of the 
        approved permit;
            ``(C) reflect the probable difficulty of reclamation giving 
        consideration to factors including topography, geology of the 
        site, hydrology, and revegetation potential;
            ``(D) be sufficient to ensure the completion of the 
        reclamation plan if the work had to be performed by the 
        regulatory authority in the event of bond forfeiture; and
            ``(E) be set at a level consistent with the rebuttable 
        presumption that the mine will close 5 years after the permit 
        is issued.
    ``(5) In setting the amount of the bond under paragraph (4), the 
regulatory authority shall consider--
            ``(A) the impact of a reasonably expected level of 
        inflation over the time period that the reclamation is likely 
        to occur;
            ``(B) the impact of an unplanned or early mine closure on 
        the cost of reclamation, including whether there will be 
        sufficient spoil available to reclaim the mine; and
            ``(C) any additional costs likely to be incurred as a 
        result of the regulatory authority undertaking reclamation 
        operations upon bond forfeiture.
    ``(6) The amount of a bond for the entire area under 1 permit may 
not be less than $52,593, annually adjusted for inflation in accordance 
with the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers, as published by 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics.''; and
            (2) in subsection (e), to read as follows:
    ``(e) The amount of the bond or deposit required and the terms of 
each acceptance of the bond of the applicant shall be adjusted by the 
regulatory authority--
            ``(1) from time to time--
                    ``(A) as affected land acreages are increased or 
                decreased; or
                    ``(B) where the cost of future reclamation changes 
                due to changing circumstances, including--
                            ``(i) long-term water pollution discharge;
                            ``(ii) coal market conditions;
                            ``(iii) unanticipated mine closures; and
                            ``(iv) changes in the reclamation plan;
            ``(2) whenever a permit is renewed; and
            ``(3) whenever a permit is transferred to a new 
        operator.''.
    (b) Revision of Permits.--Section 511 of the Surface Mining Control 
and Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1261) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and
            (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
    ``(c)(1) Before approving a transfer, assignment, or sale of the 
rights granted under a permit issued pursuant to this Act or an 
application for a revision of a permit submitted under subsection (a), 
the regulatory authority shall recalculate the amount of the bond 
required under section 509 for such permit and require the transferee, 
assignee, or purchaser of the rights granted under the permit or the 
permittee, respectively, to post such amount.
    ``(2) A permittee and each covered person--
            ``(A) may not be released from liability under the permit; 
        and
            ``(B) shall be jointly and severally liable for all 
        reclamation costs incurred by the regulatory authority to 
        complete reclamation under the permit, including treatment of 
        all postmining water pollution.
    ``(3) In this subsection, the term `covered person' means, with 
respect to a permittee--
            ``(A) a person that owns or otherwise controls 30 percent 
        or more of the capital interests of the permittee; and
            ``(B) a person that owns or otherwise controls 30 percent 
        or more of the capital interests of a person described in 
        subparagraph (A).''.
    (c) Inspections and Monitoring.--Section 517 of the Surface Mining 
Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1267) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (e)--
                    (A) by striking ``Each inspector'' and inserting 
                ``(1) Each inspector''; and
                    (B) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2) Each inspector, upon completion of an inspection of any 
surface coal mining and reclamation operations, shall forthwith inform 
the regulatory authority of any changes to conditions at such surface 
coal mining and reclamation operations that may--
            ``(A) result in an unanticipated increase in the cost of 
        reclamation of such surface coal mining and reclamation 
        operations; and
            ``(B) necessitate a change to the amount of the bond 
        established for the permit associated with such surface coal 
        mining and reclamation operations under section 509.''; and
            (2) in subsection (f), by inserting ``electronically and 
        also'' after ``available to the public''.
    (d) Rulemaking.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
        the enactment of this section, taking into account the 
        standards in subsections (a) and (e) of section 509 of the 
        Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 
        1259) regarding bond adequacy, as amended by this section, the 
        Secretary shall issue regulations to establish guidelines and 
        benchmarks for each Federal and State regulatory authority to 
        determine minimum bond amounts under section 509 of that Act 
        (30 U.S.C. 1259).
            (2) Data.--In issuing the regulations described in 
        paragraph (1), the Secretary shall use data from a 
        representative sample of recent reclamation projects completed 
        by Federal and State regulatory authorities as a result of bond 
        forfeiture by a permittee.
            (3) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    (A) Regulatory authority.--The term ``regulatory 
                authority'' has the meaning given the term in section 
                701 of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act 
                of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1291).
                    (B) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the 
                Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Director 
                of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and 
                Enforcement.
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