" S· DEPARTMENT OF THE 

OFFICE OF SURF 

RECLAMATION AND 

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permit Fees in Program States and On rMdian Lands 

the of Surface 

for the 

paid to OSM by coal mining 

states and on Indian 

2. Summary. This directive provides policy and procedural 

guidance for OSM employees responsible for the collection, 

disposition, and refund of permit fees submitted by permit 

applicants pursuant to OSM's regulations at 30 CFR 736.25 and 

750.25. Those rules require permit applicants in Federal program 

States and on Indian lands to submit payment to OSM, in 

accordance with a specified fee schedule, to obtain 

administrative completeness and technical reviews of their permit 

applications, and for decision document preparation. 

3, Definitions 

•• review 

an 

701.5. 

b. collection Officer, An employee who receives, has 

custody of, or accounts for monies, negotiable instruments, 

remittances, repayments, and collections of loans and other funds 

received as a result of Government activities, and deposits same 

into an appropriate commercial depositary which has been 

authorized to maintain a U.S. Treasury demand account. 

Collection Officers are designated through a formal nomination 

procedure set forth in the Department of the Interior Manual. 

c. A issued by OSM under the Surface 

Mining Act of 1977 (SMCRA) in its 

capacity as the regulatory authority on Federal lands (~n States 

with limited or no cooperative agreements to regulate m1ning on 

such lands), on Indian lands, or under a Federal program for a 

State. For this directive, the term "Federal permit" includes 

only those permits issued by OSM for operations in Federal 

program states and on Indian lands. 

d. Federal Permitting Entity (FPEl, The OSM organizational 

unit with responsibility for receiving and processing permit 

applications and other materials related to Federal permits, 
i.e., the Division of Federal Programs in the Western Support 

Center in Denver, or the Division of Tennessee Permitting in the 

Knoxville Field Office (KFO). 

e. Permit Application. The documents and other information 

filed with the regulatory authority under 30 CFR Chapter VII. for 

the issuance of a permit to conduct surface coal mining and · reclamation operations. 

The technical review of a permit 

reviews other than the ACR necessary to 

that the applicant has complied with the requirements of 

SMCRA and the regulatory program, and for the FPE to make the 

findings and determinations required for the permit application 

decision. 

4. Policy/Procedures. 

a. Policy. Section 507{a) of SMCRA provides that an 

application for a surface coal mining permit sh~ll be accompanied 

by a fee determined by the regulatory authority. 

On July 19, 1990, OSM promulgated final rules at 30 CFR 736.25 

and 750.25 establishing a system of fees to be paid to OSM by permit applicants to obtain processing and issuance of new 

surface coal mining permits, in Federal program States and on 

Indian lands, respectively. 

The regulations establish identical fee schedules for Federal 

program states and Indian lands, charging a separate fee for each 

of the three major components of OSM's permit application review 

process, and supplemented by an acreage-fee surcharge calculated 

on a sliding scale basis. The final rules provide for full 

payment of all permit fees by the applicant when the application 

is submitted, or for prescribed partial payments prior to each 

stage of review and processing. The rules also provide for a 

full refund of fees if a permit is denied for certain specified 

reasons, and for specified refunds of fees that have been paid 

for a particular stage of review if an operator withdraws an 

application. Any new or pending permit application must be 

assessed a fee for any stage of review begun on or after August 

20, 1990. Permit fees are also to be assessed for new permits to 

change permit boundaries (expect incidental boundary revisions) 

submitted under 30 CFR 774.13(d). 

b. Responsibilities. 

(1) The Assistant Director, Reclamation and Regulatory 

Policy, provides national policy direction and guidance in the 

development and implementation of OSM's permit fee collection 

system. 

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(2) The Assistant Director, Western Support Center, and 

Assistant Director, Field Operations, are responsible for 

ensuring the implementation and maintenance of the permit fee 

tracking and collection systems within their respective FPE's. 

(3) The Assistant Director, Finance and Accounting,, is 

responsible for overseeing the fiscal management and 

administration of permit fee monies collected by OSM under the 

permit fee collection system. 

(4) The Chief, Division of Tennessee Permitting (DTP) 

in KFO, and the Chief, Division of Federal Programs (DFO) in 

Denver, are responsible for ensuring in their respective FPEs, 

that permit fees are collected and paid in full by permit 

applicants in accordance with the procedures outlined in this 

directive, prior to the is$uance of surface coal mining permits 

to such applicants. 

(5) OSM Collection Officers in each FPE are responsible 

for promptly notifying the Chief, DTP or OFO, as applicable, upon 

receipt of permit fees from permit applicants, and for forwarding 

such fees to OSM's Division of Financial Management {DFM), or 

depositing such fund$ into an approved commercial depository, in 

conformance with this directive and other established guidelines. 

(6) DFM is responsible for establishing and maintaining 

a permit fee accounting system, for disposition of permit fees, 

and for promptly notifying the appropriate FPE of any 

deficiencies, overpayments, or other discrepancies in fee 

payments or refunds. 

Procedures for the permit application review process for surface 

coal mining operations where OSM is the regulatory authority, 

including Federal program States and Indian lands, can be found 

in OSM Directive REG-34, "Processing ApPlications for Federal 

Permits." 

{l) Pre-Application. At this stage, the FPE provides 

potential applicants with the necessary information to prepare 

and submit a permit application for proposed surface coal mining 

and reclamation operations. In addition to the permit 

application information provided by the FPE in accordance with 

OSM Directive REG-34, Section 4(c}(l}, the FPE should also advise 

potential applicants of OSM's permit fee collection system and 

include a copy of the fee schedule appended hereto as Appendix 1. 
The FPE should inform applicants that payment of the ACR, 

technical review (plus acreage) , and decision document tees must 

be received by OSM prior to each stage of review, and that 

payment of the ACR fee should therefore accompany the permit application. The FPE should advise potential applicants that the 

acreage fee applies only to disturbed areas within the permit 

area and should be calculated by applying the per-acre fee 

schedule specified in Appendix 1 to the projected area of 

disturbance specified in the permit application. The FPE should 

further advise potential applicants that permit fees may be paid in full when the application is submitted in order to avoid 

delays between each stage-of review and processing pending OSM's 

receipt of fee payment from the applicant. Applicants should be 

instructed to submit payment in the form of a certified check, 

bank draft or money order, payable to Office of Surface Mining, 

Attention: OSM Collection Officer. 

(I) 

receipt of a 

specified in 

applications received 

assessed an ACR fee. 

1, FPE begins the ACR. 

on or after August 20, 1990, 

OSM Directive REG-34 sets forth 

procedures for conducting the ACR. 

those 

be 

the 

Upon 

When the application is determined to be administratively complete, the FPE sends a letter advising the applicant of the 

completeness determination. For applicants who have chosen to 

pay by stage of review and have submitted only the ACR fee, the 

letter should state that payment of the technical review basic 

fee and acreage fee, calculated according to the permit fee 

schedule set forth in Appendix 1, must be received before the 

technical review can begin, and specify the amount due OSM. For 

applicants who have paid their permit fees in full with the 

initial application submittal, the letter should state that the 

technical review will begin without delay. If the pre-paid fees 

were inadequate, the letter should explain the shortage and 

request further payment if fees were insufficient to cover the 

technical review. If pre-paid fees were sufficient to cover the 

technical review but not the decision document fee, the applicant 

should be so informed and technical review begun without delay. 

(3) Technical Review and Decision Document Fees, 

Technical review fees are calculated according to the schedule in 

Appendix 1. The calculation of acreage fees only considers any 

acres, or a fraction thereof, in the perMit application that will 

be disturbed under the proposed operation. Per-acre fees do not 

apply to previously disturbed areas that will not be redisturbed 

under the permit. The technical review begins after the 

application is determined to be administratively complete and the 

technical review basic fee and acreage fees have been received by the FPE. Technical review fees will be assessed only for those 

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applications for which the technical review was begun on or after 

August 20, 1990. 

When an application is det~rmined to be technically adequate, the 

FPE sends a letter advising the applicant of the technical 

adequacy determination. For applicants who have chosen to pay by 

stage of review, the letter should state that the decision · · document fee must be received before decision document 

preparation can begin, and specify the amount due OSM. For 

applicants who have paid their permit fees in full with the 

initial application submittal, the letter should state that the 

decision doc~ent preparation will now begin without delay. Yf 

the "pre-paid" fees submitted were inadequate, the letter should 

explain the shortage and request further payment sufficient to 

cover the decision document preparation. 

d. pisposition of Permit Fees. Upon receipt of partial or 

full payment of permit fees from an applicant, the OSM Collection 

Officer should immediately notify the Chief, DTP or DFO, as 

applicable. The Collection Officer should then either promptly 

deposit the funds into an approved commercial depository in 

conformance with collection guidance, or promptly forward such 

payment to OSM's Division of Financial Management (DFM) for 

deposit into an approved commercial depository. In either case, 

the Collection Officer must submit an "Jibstract of Remittance" to 

DFM at the time of deposit or forwarding of the permit fee. In 

addition, when a deposit is made other than by DFM, the 

Collection Officer must submit a confirmed copy of the SF-215 

Deposit Ticket with the "Jibstract of Remittance" to DFM. 

DFM should establish a Federal permit fee account for the escrow 

of pre-permit collections and another for posting such funds once 

a permit has been issued. The fees collected for each permit 

application will be held in escrow pending completion of the 

permit application review and issuance of the Federal permit. 

The FPE should promptly notify DFM in writing when the permit for 

a particular application is issued so that the permit fee monies 

for that application can then be released by DFM to the 

Treasury's General Fund in accordance with guidelines set forth 

in the Treasury Financial Manual. 

e. Refund of permit Fees. The rules at 30 CFR 73G.25(b) and 

750.25(b) set forth the criteria for the refund of permit fees in 

Federal program states and on Indian lands, respectively, upon 

receipt of a written request from an applicant. The criteria for 

granting a full refund of fees are OSM's denial of a permit based 

upon information unavailable prior to permit application 

submittal concerning endangered or threatened species or their 

critical habitats, or concerning cultural or historic resources; 

or a determination of unsuitability for mining or a denial of 

valid existing rights to surface mine subsequent to permit 

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application submittal. The criterion for granting a partial 

refund of permit fees is the withdrawal of the permit application by the applicant before completion of a stage of review for which 

the applicant has submitted the ruquired fee. 

No interest will be paid on refunded fees in Federal progra111· 

States or on Indian lands in accordance with the rule at 30 CFR 

736.25{b) {4) or 750.25(b) (4), as applicable. 

The procedures for granting a refund request because of permit denial or application withdrawal are described below. 

(1) Permit Denial. Upon receipt of a written request 

from an applicant for a refund of permit fees based upon osM•s 

denial of the permit for the reason{s) cited above, the FPE must 

make a determination of whether the applicant lacked sufficient 

information prior to submittal of an application to predict a 

denial of the permit. Upon a positive determination, the FPE 

notifies DFM in writing that the permit for a particular application has been denied and that a full permit fee refund is 

necessary. The notification to DFM should contain the following 

information: 

o name and address of applicant; 

o reason for permit denial andjor termination of 

permit application review; and 

o amount to be refunded to applicant. 

DFM will then arrange for the 111onies to be refunded to the 

applicant in accordance with established procedures. 

(2) Application Withdrawal. Upon receipt of a written 

request from an applicant for withdrawal of a permit application 

and a refund of fees, the FPE will immediately cease processing of that application. The FPE will then determine the refund 

amount for the withdrawn application as follows: 

o Any fees for a stage of OSM review or processing 

not yet begun will be refunded. 

o Any fees for a stage of OSM review or processing 

already completed will not be refunded. 

o Where the ACR or technical review, or decision 

document preparation has begun but is not yet completed, partial 

refund will be made of any fee amounts remaining after deduction 

of actual costs incurred by OSM for that stage of review or 

processing. The FPE will use the cost accounting system already in place to determine actual costs by multiplying the hours spent 

by each reviewer in processing the particular stage of permit 

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review, by the hourly salary of that reviewer, and adding a 35 

percent overhead charge to that amount. Refund amounts for the 

technical review portion of the permit application review process 

will be determined using the above formula to calculate actual 

costs and deducting that amount from the combined total technical 

review and acreage fee paY=ent for the withdrawn applicatioq. 

The FPE Will then notify OFM in writing that the permit 

application has been withdrawn and that a permit fee refund 1& 

necessary, The notification should contain: 

at the tb11e 

o name and address of applicant: 

o stage of review completed or partially 

of the withdrawal request; and 

o amount to be refunded to applicant. 

completed 

OFM will then arrange for the monies to be refunded to the 

applicant in accordance with established procedures. 

5. 

the 

responsible 

Chief, DFM, 

year: 

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o the citation or legal authority to collect 

Federal Permit tees, 

o the cost, including direct and indirect, of 

services provided, 

o the actual fees assessed during the year, 

o projected receipts for the next fiscal year, and 

o the fee schedule. 

i·;::~Th~;i~··:!:~:~:~!:~ of provides the permit fee 

and 750.25. 

7. References. 

a. Department of the Interior Manual. 

b. Treasury Financial Manual. 

c. Directive REG-34, " Processing Applications for Federal 

Permits." 

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8. Effectiye Date, Upon issuance. 

9. Contact, Branch of Federal and Indian Programs, (202) 208-

2700. 

10. Keywords, Federal permit, permit fee. 

11. Appendices, 

Appendix 1 Fee Schedule For a New Permit. 

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" Appendix 1 

Fee Schedule For a New Permit 

Administrative completeness review 

Technical review 

Basic fee 

Fee per acre of disturbed area in 

permit area 

First 1,000 acres 

$13.50jacre 

Second 1,000 acres 

$6.oo;acre 

Third 1,000 acres 

$4. DO/acre 

Additional acres 

$3, oo;acre 

$250.00 

$1350.00 

Decision document $2000.00 

Total $3600.00 

"""" acreage 

AP-1 

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