[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 189 (Tuesday, December 11, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S15140]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ENZI (for himself, Mr. Baucus, Mr. Tester, and Mr. 
        Barrasso):
  S. 2448. A bill to amend the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation 
Act of 1977 to make certain technical corrections; to the Committee on 
Energy and Natural Resources.
  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I rise to introduce legislation that is of 
great importance to my State. Last year a bipartisan coalition of 
Senators came together to pass the Surface Mining Control and 
Reclamation Act Amendments of 2007. Since that time, some lawyers and 
bureaucrats in Washington have taken it upon themselves to misinterpret 
the law. We need to fix this. The legislation I am introducing will yet 
again reiterate congressional intent as to how the program should be 
run. The bill that passed as part of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act 
2006, which was a part originally of the pension reform bill, fixed the 
abandoned mine land trust fund so it would run as Congress originally 
intended, which was some 30 years earlier. For the first time in years, 
States were scheduled to receive funding they were promised that would 
be used to clean up abandoned coal mines where that was needed.
  For States that had been certified by the Office of Surface Mining as 
having completed their coal cleanup work, funding was expected to go to 
these States to do whatever the State legislators chose to be a 
priority for that State.
  The language is simple and straightforward. It reads:

       Payments shall be made in 7 equal annual installments, 
     beginning in fiscal year 2008.

  As we passed the legislation, everyone involved knew what that meant. 
For years, our State's money has been held hostage to pay for other 
programs. With the passage of the abandoned mine land bill, the money 
would flow with no strings attached and no diversions to other 
programs. Congressional intent was very clear. Unfortunately, last week 
I was told by lawyers and bureaucrats at the Department of Interior 
that they have decided to ignore the congressional intent and have 
chosen to send the money to States such as Wyoming in the form of 
grants. It seems they don't have enough Federal employees because their 
plan will create an onerous program that will undoubtedly require more 
hires.
  As one of the lead Senators in passing the original legislation, I 
know what Congress meant when we wrote:

       Payments shall be made in 7 equal and annual installments, 
     beginning in fiscal year 2008.

  To ensure that no confusion existed, I met with the Office of Surface 
Mining and with the Office of Management and Budget on numerous 
occasions to discuss that particular issue. Congress intended for 
payments to be made. Congress did not expect the agency to create a new 
grant program. When I realized this egregious misinterpretation of the 
law was a possibility, I took immediate action. I asked those same 
lawyers and bureaucrats who did not read the law to provide me with the 
legislative language that makes it explicitly clear that they should 
interpret the law the way Congress intended.
  That is the bill I am introducing today with my colleague from 
Montana and the other Senator from Wyoming. Only in the absurd world 
that is Washington could an agency believe the word ``payment'' means 
grant. I look forward to working with my colleagues to swiftly move 
this forward so the executive branch can finally follow what Congress 
intended.
  I have to tell my colleagues it was quite a shock to find out a whole 
program was going to be set up so Wyoming could ask for its money 
piecemeal. We have been begging for 30 years to get this money. The 
money has been paid in by the coal companies to cover reclamation and 
then anything that had to do with coal impact. We did the reclamation. 
We are now handling the coal impact. But the money has been held 
hostage; $550 million worth of money has been held over that period.
  Last year Congress said: Wyoming and Montana--Montana has $58 
million--deserve their money. So do several other States. We will give 
it to them.
  Now there was a little question about what that did with debt, but we 
were able to show them that paying off debt with debt wound up with the 
same amount of debt but wasn't stealing from the States. So we were 
able to get that confirmed by this body and put into law. It said we 
would be paid in seven equal annual payments, beginning in the year 
2008. Now we find out it could be millions of payments over a number of 
years under a grant program. They do realize they can't deny any grant 
request the State has, but each and every transaction would have to go 
through somebody. We are not about to hire that many people to do what 
is explicit in the language.
  I will ask the rest of my colleagues to help us on this amendment. We 
will find a place to put it, and we will get it done this year so the 
intent of the law we passed last year will get done.
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