[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 123 (Thursday, October 5, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S9980]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  COAL MARKET COMPETITION ACT OF 2000

  The Senate proceeded to consider the bill (S. 2300) to amend the 
Mineral Leasing Act to increase the maximum acreage of Federal leases 
for coal that may be held by an entity in any 1 State.
  The bill (S. 2300) was read the third time and passed, as follows:

                                S. 2300

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

     SECTION 1. TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Coal Market Competition Act 
     of 2000''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds that--
       (1) Federal land contains commercial deposits of coal, the 
     Nation's largest deposits of coal being located on Federal 
     land in Utah, Colorado, Montana, and the Powder River Basin 
     of Wyoming;
       (2) coal is mined on Federal land through Federal coal 
     leases under the Act of February 25, 1920 (commonly known as 
     the ``Mineral Leasing Act'') (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.);
       (3) the sub-bituminous coal from these mines is low in 
     sulfur, making it the cleanest burning coal for energy 
     production;
       (4) the Mineral Leasing Act sets for each leasable mineral 
     a limitation on the amount of acreage of Federal leases any 1 
     producer may hold in any 1 State or nationally;
       (5)(A) the present acreage limitation for Federal coal 
     leases has been in place since 1976;
       (B) currently the coal lease acreage limit of 46,080 acres 
     per State is less than the per-State Federal lease acreage 
     limit for potash (96,000 acres) and oil and gas (246,080 
     acres);
       (6) coal producers in Wyoming and Utah are operating mines 
     on Federal leaseholds that contain total acreage close to the 
     coal lease acreage ceiling;
       (7) the same reasons that Congress cited in enacting 
     increases for State lease acreage caps applicable in the case 
     of other minerals--the advent of modern mine technology, 
     changes in industry economics, greater global competition, 
     and the need to conserve Federal resources--apply to coal;
       (8) existing coal mines require additional lease acreage to 
     avoid premature closure, but those mines cannot relinquish 
     mined-out areas to lease new acreage because those areas are 
     subject to 10-year reclamation plans, and the reclaimed 
     acreage is counted against the State and national acreage 
     limits;
       (9) to enable them to make long-term business decisions 
     affecting the type and amount of additional infrastructure 
     investments, coal producers need certainty that sufficient 
     acreage of leasable coal will be available for mining in the 
     future; and
       (10) to maintain the vitality of the domestic coal industry 
     and ensure the continued flow of valuable revenues to the 
     Federal and State governments and of energy to the American 
     public from coal production on Federal land, the Mineral 
     Leasing Act should be amended to increase the acreage 
     limitation for Federal coal leases.

     SEC. 3. COAL MINING ON FEDERAL LAND.

       Section 27(a) of the Act of February 25, 1920 (30 U.S.C. 
     184(a)), is amended--
       (1) by striking ``(a)'' and all that follows through ``No 
     person'' and inserting ``(a) Coal Leases.--No person'';
       (2) by striking ``forty-six thousand and eighty acres'' and 
     inserting ``75,000 acres''; and
       (3) by striking ``one hundred thousand acres'' each place 
     it appears and inserting ``150,000 acres''.

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