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CHAPTER 4-400

PROCEDURES FOR CIVIL PENALTY GRANTS

4-400-00 What does this chapter do?

4-400-10 What types of funds may you get and how may you use them?

4-400-20 What grant policies apply to your program?

4-400-30 How do you apply for a Civil Penalty Grant?

4-400-40 How will we process your grant award?

4-400-50 How do you meet environmental compliance requirements?

4-400-60 How will we process grant amendments?

4-400-70 What reports must you send us?

4-400-80 What closeout information will you send us and how will we close your 

agreement?

4-400-00 What does this chapter do?

This chapter explains the procedures we, the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation, and 

Enforcement (OSMRE) use for grants for civil penalty reclamation under Title IV of the Surface 

Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). These procedures apply to your program if we 

have provided funding for a civil penalty project in your state or tribe as defined in section 

402(g) of SMCRA for coal reclamation on eligible lands and waters in your jurisdiction. We 

created separate procedures to reflect the unique characteristics of civil penalty collections and 

funding.

4-400-10 What types of funds may you get and how may you use them?

If you have a qualifying project under Section 402(g)(4) of SMCRA, you may submit a request 

for funds to us. It is our discretion to provide you with funding based on amounts collected from 

the assessment of civil penalties under Section 518 of SMCRA.

4-400-20 What grant policies apply to your program?

A. You must use funds for activities authorized in SMCRA and described in your approved 

reclamation plan or your grant application.

B. You must comply with all applicable federal laws and regulations. This includes OMB 

and Treasury regulations such as the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost 

Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, found at 2 CFR Part 200. 

C. Some cost items in OMB’s Cost Principles require the prior approval of the awarding 

agency in order to be allowable costs, including equipment and capital expenditure costs. 

4-400-30 How do you apply for a Civil Penalty Grant?

A. You may mail or e-mail your application to the appropriate OSMRE awarding office.
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B. You may apply at any time for a grant of any or all of the program funds that are 

available to you. 

C. Your application must include the following items.

1. SF-424 cover page signed by an authorized official.

2. A budget narrative explaining and justifying the requested budget. 

3. A program narrative statement must explain the proposed project. You may use 

the Optional OSMRE 51 form or plain paper.

a. Explain the need for the project.

b. Provide a summary of the project. Who will be responsible for the 

contract and oversight?

c. What are the purpose, goals and objectives of the project? 

d. Do you have the legal right of entry to the property for construction and

continuing monitoring and maintenance? Provide a copy of the 

authorizing document.

4. SF-424D, Assurances for Construction Programs.

5. If applicable, Disclosure of Lobbying Activities form SF LLL.

D. The application must provide the information that we need to award the grant. If the 

application is not complete, we will inform you as soon as practicable of the additional 

information needed to process the award and work with you to obtain the required 

documents.

4-400-40 How will we process your grant award?

A. We will award your grant as soon as funding becomes available. We will complete the 

following actions: 

1. Determine that the application is complete.

2. Confirm that the amount of funds requested is available.

3. Check the System for Award Management to confirm that your organization or its 

officials are not debarred, suspended, or excluded for purposes of receiving 

funding.
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4. Confirm that you are in compliance with OMB’s single audit requirements.

5. Assess your risk to receive grant funds. 

6. Before the planned award, we will send information about the award to our Office 

of Communications for Congressional and public news release. Our awarding 

office must follow the notification procedure established by the Office of 

Communications.

7. Approve the award through our electronic grants system.

8. Send the approved award to you.

9. Document the award in an official grant file. The file must include your

application and all other materials you sent us, all our findings and 

determinations, and all other information needed to understand the application 

and award process.

B. The award will cover the performance period you requested in your application. 

C. The award we approve obligates the federal funds. You accept the award and its 

conditions when you start work under the agreement or when you first draw down the 

funds.

4-400-50 How do you meet environmental compliance requirements?

A. When you conduct a coal reclamation project using civil penalty funds, you must comply 

with the requirements in OSMRE REG-1, Handbook on Procedures for Implementing the 

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA Handbook) (Revised 2019). Once the NEPA 

process is completed, you must request an Authorization to Proceed (ATP) from us. You 

must not expend any funds on a coal reclamation project until we have ensured that all 

necessary actions have been taken to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act 

of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and any other applicable laws, clearances, 

permits or requirements, and we issue the ATP.

1. Although NEPA documentation is part of the criteria required for an ATP request, 

the NEPA process and the ATP process are two separate processes. An ATP 

request cannot be completed until OSMRE has issued a Record of Decision 

(ROD), Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), or Categorical Exclusion 

(CE) with the NEPA documentation. The ATP approval letter will reference the 

date that OSMRE signed the ROD, FONSI, or CE (see Chapter 4-170 for 

information on the ATP process).
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B. You are responsible to ensure that all applicable laws, clearances, permits, or 

requirements are met before you expend Civil Penalty funds.

C. Projects or activities other than coal reclamation under 30 CFR Part 874 may not require 

an ATP from us. The NEPA requirements in the NEPA Handbook may apply to those 

projects or activities. Therefore, please consult with OSMRE’s NEPA staff to determine 

specific requirements. 

4-400-60 How will we process grant amendments?

A. When you wish to make changes in an assistance agreement, you must follow the 

requirements in 2 CFR Part 200 Subpart D. 

B. We will not approve a request for a change to a grant, including a time extension or 

funding increase which we receive after the scheduled end of the performance period 

unless there are unforeseen circumstances not under your direct control. You must justify 

these extenuating circumstances to the satisfaction of the authorized official in the 

awarding OSMRE office.

C. We must approve the following changes to a grant agreement with a formal amendment.

1. Add more funds to the agreement.

2. Deobligate funds.

3. Make the grant performance period longer or shorter.

D. Either you or we may initiate a grant amendment. However, we must both agree on the 

amendment terms. You must submit an amendment application via email or mail a paper 

application. The amendment application must include the following:

1. Signed or approved Form SF 424, identifying the type of change you are 

requesting in item 8.

2. A narrative explanation and justification for the requested change. You may use 

the optional OSMRE 51 form, or your transmittal letter or any other format.

3. If your request will change the budget or the subaccounts, provide revised budget 

information. You may use the optional OSMRE 49 form or any alternative format 

showing the proposed subaccounts and amounts.

E. We will approve or disapprove your amendment application within 30 days of receiving 

it. We will process amendments in accordance with the provisions for awarding new 

agreements in section 4-400-40 above, except that notification of the Office of 
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Communications is required only if the amendment provides additional funding of more 

than $100,000. We will send you notification that the amendment has been approved.

4-400-70 What reports must you send us?

A. You must provide periodic performance and financial reports to OSMRE. The awarding 

office will define reporting frequency, but it will be no more frequent than quarterly. 

Reports are due 30 days after the end of each defined reporting period starting at the end 

of the on the first calendar quarter after the effective date of the grant. 

1. You must submit your financial report on an SF 425 reporting form. 

2. The narrative performance report may be filed electronically or on paper in any 

format. The report must describe your accomplishments under the grant during 

this reporting period. 

B. We will review your programmatic and financial reports. We will verify and determine if 

you have complied with the reporting requirements and provided all the information we 

need. The following list is a minimum review:

1. An official authorized to act for your organization must sign or approve the 

reports. Reports received by e-mail must include the name and title of the 

authorized official who signed the original forms, and the date signed.

2. We must receive reports by the due dates.

3. All reported activities and claimed costs must be in compliance with the approved 

State plan and Federal regulations.

4. Programmatic reports must compare the planned and actual accomplishments of 

AML program activities.

5. Financial reports must be mathematically accurate and is consistent with our 

drawdown records.

6. All claimed costs must be supported by your accounting records and you must be 

able to reconcile them.

C. If any concerns are identified, our awarding office will work with you to correct the 

report.

D. We will prepare a monitoring statement to document our review. 

4-400-80 What closeout information will you send us and how will we close your 
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agreement?

A. Upon completion of each agreement, you must send us a final financial report (SF-425) 

and a final performance report. You must make every reasonable effort to send the 

reports no later than 90 calendar days after the end of the grant. We may extend the due 

date for the final reports at your request. You however must provide justification for the 

need to extend this date. 

B. The receiving OSMRE office must perform the following actions to close out the 

agreement: 

1. Review the closeout information you provided.

2. Verify that we have added all known changes to the grant by appropriate 

revisions or grant amendments.

3 Resolve with you any grant suspensions, withholding of funds, disputes, and 

violations of grant clauses and assurances.

4. Write a brief evaluation of your performance under the grant and keep it in our 

official grant file.

5. Reconcile the inventory of Federally-owned property to our records, and approve 

the transfer to a subsequent agreement.

6. Verify that the agreement and the file are complete. We will use the Grant and 

Cooperative Agreement Closeout Checklist or an approved alternative form to 

document this step. 

C. Process the final grant action to deobligate any unexpended funds. See Chapter 4-100 for 

information on what we will do with the deobligated funds.

D. We will send you a written notice that we consider the grant to be closed, and remind you 

of the record retention and access requirements in Chapter 2-260.

E. All civil penalty funds are available until expended or the performance period has ended, 

whichever occurs first. You may submit subsequent requests for funding if we authorize 

additional funding and apply for either a new agreement or as an amendment to an 

existing open agreement.