I 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bond Improvement 

5 and Reclamation Assurance Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SURFACE MINING CONTROL AND RECLAMATION 

2 ACT OF 1977 REFORM. 

3 (a) PERMIT PERFORMANCE BONDS.—Section 509 of 

4 the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 

5 (30 U.S.C. 1259) is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (a), to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘(a)(1) After a surface coal mining and reclamation 

8 permit application has been approved but before such a 

9 permit is issued, the applicant shall file with the regu10 latory authority, on a form prescribed and furnished by 

11 the regulatory authority, a bond for performance payable, 

12 as appropriate, to the United States or to the State, and 

13 conditional upon faithful performance of all the require14 ments of this Act and the permit. 

15 ‘‘(2) The bond shall cover that area of land within 

16 the permit area upon which the operator will initiate and 

17 conduct surface coal mining and reclamation operations 

18 within the initial term of the permit. 

19 ‘‘(3) As succeeding increments of surface coal mining 

20 and reclamation operations are to be initiated and con21 ducted within the permit area, the permittee shall file with 

22 the regulatory authority an additional bond to cover such 

23 increments in accordance with this section. 

24 ‘‘(4) The amount of the bond required for each bond25 ed area shall— 

26 ‘‘(A) be determined by the regulatory authority; 


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1 ‘‘(B) depend upon the reclamation requirements 

2 of the approved permit; 

3 ‘‘(C) reflect the probable difficulty of reclama4 tion giving consideration to factors including topog5 raphy, geology of the site, hydrology, and revegeta6 tion potential; 

7 ‘‘(D) be sufficient to ensure the completion of 

8 the reclamation plan if the work had to be per9 formed by the regulatory authority in the event of 

10 bond forfeiture; and 

11 ‘‘(E) be set at a level consistent with the rebut12 table presumption that the mine will close 5 years 

13 after the permit is issued. 

14 ‘‘(5) In setting the amount of the bond under para15 graph (4), the regulatory authority shall consider— 

16 ‘‘(A) the impact of a reasonably expected level 

17 of inflation over the time period that the reclamation 

18 is likely to occur; 

19 ‘‘(B) the impact of an unplanned or early mine 

20 closure on the cost of reclamation, including whether 

21 there will be sufficient spoil available to reclaim the 

22 mine; and 

23 ‘‘(C) any additional costs likely to be incurred 

24 as a result of the regulatory authority undertaking 

25 reclamation operations upon bond forfeiture. 


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1 ‘‘(6) The amount of a bond for the entire area under 

2 1 permit may not be less than $52,593, annually adjusted 

3 for inflation in accordance with the Consumer Price Index 

4 for all Urban Consumers, as published by the Bureau of 

5 Labor Statistics.’’; and 

6 (2) in subsection (e), to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘(e) The amount of the bond or deposit required and 

8 the terms of each acceptance of the bond of the applicant 

9 shall be adjusted by the regulatory authority— 

10 ‘‘(1) from time to time— 

11 ‘‘(A) as affected land acreages are in12 creased or decreased; or 

13 ‘‘(B) where the cost of future reclamation 

14 changes due to changing circumstances, includ15 ing— 

16 ‘‘(i) long-term water pollution dis17 charge; 

18 ‘‘(ii) coal market conditions; 

19 ‘‘(iii) unanticipated mine closures; and 

20 ‘‘(iv) changes in the reclamation plan; 

21 ‘‘(2) whenever a permit is renewed; and 

22 ‘‘(3) whenever a permit is transferred to a new 

23 operator.’’. 


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1 (b) REVISION OF PERMITS.—Section 511 of the Sur2 face Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 

3 U.S.C. 1261) is amended— 

4 (1) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub5 section (d); and 

6 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol7 lowing: 

8 ‘‘(c)(1) Before approving a transfer, assignment, or 

9 sale of the rights granted under a permit issued pursuant 

10 to this Act or an application for a revision of a permit 

11 submitted under subsection (a), the regulatory authority 

12 shall recalculate the amount of the bond required under 

13 section 509 for such permit and require the transferee, 

14 assignee, or purchaser of the rights granted under the per15 mit or the permittee, respectively, to post such amount. 

16 ‘‘(2) A permittee and each covered person— 

17 ‘‘(A) may not be released from liability under 

18 the permit; and 

19 ‘‘(B) shall be jointly and severally liable for all 

20 reclamation costs incurred by the regulatory author21 ity to complete reclamation under the permit, includ22 ing treatment of all postmining water pollution. 

23 ‘‘(3) In this subsection, the term ‘covered person’ 

24 means, with respect to a permittee— 


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1 ‘‘(A) a person that owns or otherwise controls 

2 30 percent or more of the capital interests of the 

3 permittee; and 

4 ‘‘(B) a person that owns or otherwise controls 

5 30 percent or more of the capital interests of a per6 son described in subparagraph (A).’’. 

7 (c) INSPECTIONS AND MONITORING.—Section 517 of 

8 the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 

9 (30 U.S.C. 1267) is amended— 

10 (1) in subsection (e)— 

11 (A) by striking ‘‘Each inspector’’ and in12 serting ‘‘(1) Each inspector’’; and 

13 (B) by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘(2) Each inspector, upon completion of an inspec15 tion of any surface coal mining and reclamation oper16 ations, shall forthwith inform the regulatory authority of 

17 any changes to conditions at such surface coal mining and 

18 reclamation operations that may— 

19 ‘‘(A) result in an unanticipated increase in the 

20 cost of reclamation of such surface coal mining and 

21 reclamation operations; and 

22 ‘‘(B) necessitate a change to the amount of the 

23 bond established for the permit associated with such 

24 surface coal mining and reclamation operations 

25 under section 509.’’; and 


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1 (2) in subsection (f), by inserting ‘‘electronically 

2 and also’’ after ‘‘available to the public’’. 

3 (d) RULEMAKING.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

5 the date of the enactment of this section, taking into 

6 account the standards in subsections (a) and (e) of 

7 section 509 of the Surface Mining Control and Rec8 lamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1259) regarding 

9 bond adequacy, as amended by this section, the Sec10 retary shall issue regulations to establish guidelines 

11 and benchmarks for each Federal and State regu12 latory authority to determine minimum bond 

13 amounts under section 509 of that Act (30 U.S.C. 

14 1259). 

15 (2) DATA.—In issuing the regulations described 

16 in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall use data from 

17 a representative sample of recent reclamation 

18 projects completed by Federal and State regulatory 

19 authorities as a result of bond forfeiture by a per20 mittee. 

21 (3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

22 (A) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—The term 

23 ‘‘regulatory authority’’ has the meaning given 

24 the term in section 701 of the Surface Mining 


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1 Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 

2 U.S.C. 1291). 

3 (B) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 

4 means the Secretary of the Interior, acting 

5 through the Director of the Office of Surface 

6 Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. 

Æ 


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