I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1452 

To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to provide for the leasing of Federal 

lands for uranium mining, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 8, 2011 

Mr. HEINRICH (for himself and Mr. LUJA ́N) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to provide for the leasing 

of Federal lands for uranium mining, 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 ‘‘Uranium Resources 

5 Stewardship Act’’ or ‘‘URSA’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FEDERAL LANDS URANIUM LEASING. 

7 The Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) is 

8 amended by redesignating section 44 as section 45, and 

9 by inserting after section 43 the following new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 44. LEASING OF LANDS FOR URANIUM MINING. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

3 ‘‘(1) WITHDRAWAL FROM ENTRY; LEASING RE4 QUIREMENT.—Effective upon the date of enactment 

5 of the Uranium Resources Stewardship Act, all Fed6 eral lands are hereby permanently withdrawn from 

7 location and entry under section 2319 of the Revised 

8 Statutes (30 U.S.C. 22 et seq.) for uranium. After 

9 the end of the 2-year period beginning on such date 

10 of enactment, no uranium may be produced from 

11 Federal lands except pursuant to a lease issued 

12 under this Act. 

13 ‘‘(2) LEASING.—The Secretary— 

14 ‘‘(A) may divide any lands subject to this 

15 Act that are not withdrawn from mineral leas16 ing and that are otherwise available for ura17 nium leasing under applicable law, including 

18 lands available under the terms of land use 

19 plans prepared by the Federal agency managing 

20 the land, into leasing tracts of such size as the 

21 Secretary finds appropriate and in the public 

22 interest; and 

23 ‘‘(B) thereafter shall, in the Secretary’s 

24 discretion, upon the request of any qualified ap25 plicant or on the Secretary’s own motion, from 

26 time to time, offer such lands for uranium leasVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:26 Apr 11, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1452.IH H1452

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1 ing and award uranium leases thereon by com2 petitive bidding. 

3 ‘‘(b) FAIR MARKET VALUE REQUIRED.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No bid for a uranium lease 

5 shall be accepted that is less than the fair market 

6 value, as determined by the Secretary, of the ura7 nium subject to the lease. 

8 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC COMMENT.—Prior to the Sec9 retary’s determination of the fair market value of 

10 the uranium subject to the lease, the Secretary shall 

11 give opportunity for and consideration to public com12 ments on the fair market value. 

13 ‘‘(3) DISCLOSURE NOT REQUIRED.—Nothing in 

14 this section shall be construed to require the Sec15 retary to make public the Secretary’s judgment as to 

16 the fair market value of the uranium to be leased, 

17 or the comments the Secretary receives thereon prior 

18 to the issuance of the lease. 

19 ‘‘(c) LANDS UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF OTHER

20 AGENCIES.—Leases covering lands the surface of which 

21 is under the jurisdiction of any Federal agency other than 

22 the Department of the Interior may be issued only— 

23 ‘‘(1) upon consent of the head of the other Fed24 eral agency; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) upon such conditions the head of such 

2 other Federal agency may prescribe with respect to 

3 the use and protection of the nonmineral interests in 

4 those lands. 

5 ‘‘(d) CONSIDERATION OF EFFECTS OF MINING.—Be6 fore issuing any uranium lease, the Secretary shall con7 sider effects that mining under the proposed lease might 

8 have on an impacted community or area, including im9 pacts on the environment, on agricultural, on cultural re10 sources, and other economic activities, and on public serv11 ices. 

12 ‘‘(e) NOTICE OF PROPOSED LEASE.—No lease sale 

13 shall be held for lands until after a notice of the proposed 

14 offering for lease has been given once a week for three 

15 consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation 

16 in the county in which the lands are situated, or in elec17 tronic format, in accordance with regulations prescribed 

18 by the Secretary. 

19 ‘‘(f) AUCTION REQUIREMENTS.—All lands to be 

20 leased under this section shall be leased to the highest re21 sponsible qualified bidder— 

22 ‘‘(1) under general regulations; 

23 ‘‘(2) in units of not more than 2,560 acres that 

24 are as nearly compact as possible; and 

25 ‘‘(3) by oral bidding. 


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1 ‘‘(g) REQUIRED PAYMENTS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A lease under this section 

3 shall be conditioned upon the payment by the lessee 

4 of— 

5 ‘‘(A) a royalty at a rate of not less than 

6 12.5 percent in amount or value of the produc7 tion removed or sold under the lease; and 

8 ‘‘(B) a rental of— 

9 ‘‘(i) not less than $2.50 per acre per 

10 year for the first through fifth years of the 

11 lease; and 

12 ‘‘(ii) not less than $3 per acre per 

13 year for each year thereafter. 

14 ‘‘(2) USE OF REVENUES.—Amounts received as 

15 revenues under this subsection with respect to a 

16 lease may be used by the Secretary of the Interior, 

17 subject to the availability of appropriations, for 

18 cleaning up uranium mill tailings and reclaiming 

19 abandoned uranium mines on Federal lands in ac20 cordance with the priorities and eligibility restric21 tions, respectively, under subsections (c) and (d) of 

22 section 411 of the Surface Mining Control and Rec23 lamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1240a). 

24 ‘‘(h) LEASE TERM.—A lease under this section— 


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1 ‘‘(1) shall be effective for a primary term of 10 

2 years; and 

3 ‘‘(2) shall continue in effect after such primary 

4 term for so long is as uranium is produced under 

5 the lease in paying quantities. 

6 ‘‘(i) EXPLORATION LICENSES.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may, under 

8 such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, 

9 issue to any person an exploration license. No per10 son may conduct uranium exploration for commer11 cial purposes on lands subject to this Act without 

12 such an exploration license. Each exploration license 

13 shall be for a term of not more than two years and 

14 shall be subject to a reasonable fee. An exploration 

15 license shall confer no right to a lease under this 

16 Act. The issuance of exploration licenses shall not 

17 preclude the Secretary from issuing uranium leases 

18 at such times and locations and to such persons as 

19 the Secretary deems appropriate. No exploration li20 cense may be issued for any land on which a ura21 nium lease has been issued. A separate exploration 

22 license shall be required for exploration in each 

23 State. An application for an exploration license shall 

24 identify general areas and probable methods of ex25 ploration. Each exploration license shall be limited 


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1 to specific geographic areas in each State as deter2 mined by the Secretary, and shall contain such rea3 sonable conditions as the Secretary may require, in4 cluding conditions to ensure the protection of the en5 vironment, and shall be subject to all applicable Fed6 eral, State, and local laws and regulations. Upon vio7 lation of any such conditions or laws the Secretary 

8 may revoke the exploration license. 

9 ‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.—A licensee may not cause 

10 substantial disturbance to the natural land surface. 

11 A licensee may not remove any uranium for sale but 

12 may remove a reasonable amount of uranium from 

13 the lands subject to this Act included under the Sec14 retary’s license for analysis and study. A licensee 

15 must comply with all applicable rules and regula16 tions of the Federal agency having jurisdiction over 

17 the surface of the lands subject to this Act. Explo18 ration licenses covering lands the surface of which is 

19 under the jurisdiction of any Federal agency other 

20 than the Department of the Interior may be issued 

21 only upon such conditions as it may prescribe with 

22 respect to the use and protection of the nonmineral 

23 interests in those lands. 

24 ‘‘(3) SHARING OF DATA.—The licensee shall 

25 furnish to the Secretary copies of all data (including 


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1 geological, geophysical, and core drilling analyses) 

2 obtained during such exploration. The Secretary 

3 shall maintain the confidentiality of all data so ob4 tained until after the areas involved have been leased 

5 or until such time as the Secretary determines that 

6 making the data available to the public would not 

7 damage the competitive position of the licensee, 

8 whichever comes first. 

9 ‘‘(4) EXPLORATION WITHOUT A LICENSE.—Any 

10 person who willfully conducts uranium exploration 

11 for commercial purposes on lands subject to this Act 

12 without an exploration license issued under this sub13 section shall be subject to a fine of not more than 

14 $1,000 for each day of violation. All data collected 

15 by such person on any Federal lands as a result of 

16 such violation shall be made immediately available to 

17 the Secretary, who shall make the data available to 

18 the public as soon as it is practicable. No penalty 

19 under this subsection shall be assessed unless such 

20 person is given notice and opportunity for a hearing 

21 with respect to such violation. 

22 ‘‘(j) CONVERSION OF MINING CLAIMS TO MINERAL

23 LEASES.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The owner of any mining 

25 claim (in this subsection referred to as a ‘claimant’) 


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1 located prior to the date of enactment of the Ura2 nium Resources Stewardship Act may, within two 

3 years after such date, apply to the Secretary of the 

4 Interior to convert the claim to a lease under this 

5 section. The Secretary shall issue a uranium lease 

6 under this section to the claimant upon a dem7 onstration by the claimant, to the satisfaction of the 

8 Secretary, within one year after the date of the ap9 plication to the Secretary, that the claim was, as of 

10 such date of enactment, supported by the discovery 

11 of a valuable deposit of uranium on the claimed 

12 land. The holder of a lease issued upon conversion 

13 from a mining claim under this subsection shall be 

14 subject to all the requirements of this section gov15 erning uranium leases, except that the holder shall 

16 pay a royalty of 6.25 percent on the value of the 

17 uranium produced under the lease, until beginning 

18 ten years after the date the claim is converted to a 

19 lease. 

20 ‘‘(2) OTHER CLAIMS EXTINGUISHED.—All min21 ing claims located for uranium on Federal lands 

22 whose claimant does not apply to the Secretary for 

23 conversion to a lease, or whose claimant cannot 

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1 come null and void by operation of law three years 

2 after such date of enactment.’’. 

Æ 


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