II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1570 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the percentage 

depletion allowance for certain hardrock mines, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 4, 2009 

Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself, Ms. CANTWELL, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, and Mr. SANDERS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal 

the percentage depletion allowance for certain hardrock 

mines, 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 ‘‘Elimination of Double 

5 Subsidies for the Hardrock Mining Industry Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REPEAL OF PERCENTAGE DEPLETION ALLOWANCE 

7 FOR CERTAIN HARDROCK MINES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 613(a) of the Internal 

9 Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to percentage depletion) 


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1 is amended by inserting ‘‘(other than hardrock mines lo2 cated on lands subject to the general mining laws or on 

3 land patented under the general mining laws)’’ after ‘‘In 

4 the case of the mines’’. 

5 (b) GENERAL MINING LAWS DEFINED.—Section 613 

6 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by add7 ing at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(f) GENERAL MINING LAWS.—For purposes of sub9 section (a), the term ‘general mining laws’ means those 

10 Acts which generally comprise chapters 2, 12A, and 16, 

11 and sections 161 and 162 of title 30 of the United States 

12 Code.’’. 

13 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

14 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

15 December 31, 2009. 

16 SEC. 3. ABANDONED MINE RECLAMATION FUND. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter A of chapter 98 of the 

18 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to establishment 

19 of trust funds) is amended by adding at the end the fol20 lowing: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 9511. ABANDONED MINE RECLAMATION FUND. 

22 ‘‘(a) CREATION OF TRUST FUND.—There is estab23 lished in the Treasury of the United States a trust fund 

24 to be known as the ‘Abandoned Mine Reclamation Trust 

25 Fund’ (in this section referred to as ‘Trust Fund’), conVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:08 Aug 05, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1570.IS S1570

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1 sisting of such amounts as may be appropriated or cred2 ited to the Trust Fund as provided in this section or sec3 tion 9602(b). 

4 ‘‘(b) TRANSFERS TO TRUST FUND.—There are here5 by appropriated to the Trust Fund amounts equivalent to 

6 50 percent of the additional revenues received in the 

7 Treasury by reason of the amendments made by section 

8 2 of the Elimination of Double Subsidies for the Hardrock 

9 Mining Industry Act of 2009. 

10 ‘‘(c) EXPENDITURES FROM TRUST FUND.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Amounts in the Trust 

12 Fund shall be available, as provided in appropriation 

13 Acts, to the Secretary of the Interior for— 

14 ‘‘(A) the reclamation and restoration of 

15 lands and water resources described in para16 graph (2) adversely affected by mineral (other 

17 than coal and fluid minerals) and mineral mate18 rial mining, including— 

19 ‘‘(i) reclamation and restoration of 

20 abandoned surface mine areas and aban21 doned milling and processing areas, 

22 ‘‘(ii) sealing, filling, and grading 

23 abandoned deep mine entries, 


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1 ‘‘(iii) planting on lands adversely af2 fected by mining to prevent erosion and 

3 sedimentation, 

4 ‘‘(iv) prevention, abatement, treat5 ment, and control of water pollution cre6 ated by abandoned mine drainage, 

7 ‘‘(v) control of surface subsidence due 

8 to abandoned deep mines, and 

9 ‘‘(vi) restoring fish and wildlife habi10 tat adversely affected by mining, and 

11 ‘‘(B) the expenses necessary to accomplish 

12 the purposes of this section. 

13 ‘‘(2) LANDS AND WATER RESOURCES.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The lands and water 

15 resources described in this paragraph are lands 

16 within States that have land and water re17 sources subject to the general mining laws or 

18 lands patented under the general mining laws— 

19 ‘‘(i) which were mined or processed 

20 for minerals and mineral materials or 

21 which were affected by such mining or 

22 processing, and abandoned or left in an in23 adequate reclamation status before the 

24 date of the enactment of this section, 


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1 ‘‘(ii) for which the Secretary of the 

2 Interior makes a determination that there 

3 is no continuing reclamation responsibility 

4 under State or Federal law, and 

5 ‘‘(iii) for which it can be established 

6 to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the 

7 Interior that such lands or resources do 

8 not contain minerals which could economi9 cally be extracted through remining of 

10 such lands or resources. 

11 ‘‘(B) CERTAIN SITES AND AREAS EX12 CLUDED.—The lands and water resources de13 scribed in this paragraph shall not include sites 

14 and areas which are designated for remedial ac15 tion under the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation 

16 Control Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. 7901 et seq.) 

17 or which are listed for remedial action under 

18 the Comprehensive Environmental Response 

19 Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (42 

20 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.). 

21 ‘‘(3) GENERAL MINING LAWS.—For purposes of 

22 paragraph (2), the term ‘general mining laws’ means 

23 those Acts which generally comprise chapters 2, 

24 12A, and 16, and sections 161 and 162 of title 30 

25 of the United States Code.’’. 


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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec2 tions for subchapter A of chapter 98 of the Internal Rev3 enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 

4 following: 

‘‘Sec. 9511. Abandoned Mine Reclamation Trust Fund.’’. 

Æ 


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