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CHAPTER 4-300

TITLE IV GRANT PROCEDURES FOR CERTIFIED PROGRAMS

4-300-00 What does this chapter do?

4-300-10 What types of Abandoned Mine Land (AML) funds may you get and how may you 

use them?

4-300-20 What grant policies apply to your program?

4-300-30 How do you apply for a Title IV grant?

4-300-40 How will we process your grant award?

4-300-50 How do you meet environmental compliance requirements?

4-300-60 How will we process grant amendments?

4-300-70 What reports must you send us?

4-300-80 What closeout information will you send us and how will we close your grant?

4-300-00 What does this chapter do?

This chapter explains the procedures used by us, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and 

Enforcement (OSMRE), for grants to certified states and tribes under Title IV of the Surface 

Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). These procedures apply to your reclamation 

program if you have certified that you have achieved all the priorities in section 403(a) of 

SMCRA for coal reclamation on eligible lands and waters in your jurisdiction. Because the 

SMCRA Amendments of 2006 gave you wide authority over your activities and expenditures, 

we created separate grant procedures to reflect our limited role after coal reclamation is 

completed.

4-300-10 What types of Abandoned Mine Land (AML) funds may you get and how may you 

use them?

Please refer to Chapter 4-500 for a full listing of available AML fund types.

4-300-20 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 

Department of Interior, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Treasury 

regulations, including the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and 

Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, at 2 CFR Part 200 Subpart D. 

C. You must comply with the provisions of 2 CFR 1402, Financial Assistance Interior 

Regulation , Supplementing the Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles 

and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards. 

4-300-30 How do you apply for a Title IV grant?
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A. You may mail or e-mail your application to the appropriate OSMRE awarding office.

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 breakout showing the requested funding by OSMRE subaccount 

categories. Please refer to Chapter 4-500 for a full listing of available AML 

subaccounts.

3. A program narrative statement very briefly describing the planned activities. The 

application is not required to include information on individual projects or 

activities. The narrative must include a statement that activities to be supported 

with Prior Balance Replacement Funds are for purposes established by the state 

legislature or tribal governing body. The narrative must discuss how priority was 

given to addressing the impacts of minerals development for these activities.

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

5. Certifications form showing compliance with Debarment and Suspension, DrugFree Workplace, and Lobbying statutes. 

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

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

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

information we need to process the award.

4-300-40 How will we process your grant award?

A. We will award the grant as soon as practicable, but no more than 30 days after receipt of 

a complete application. 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 (SAM) to confirm that your 

organization or its officials are not debarred, suspended, or ineligible for Federal 

assistance.
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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. Announce the award to Congress and the public using the notification procedures 

established by OSM’s Office of Communication.

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. If any 

subaccounts have different performance periods than the grant period, the performance 

periods must be specified in the application or the award.

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.

4-300-50 How do you meet environmental compliance requirements?

A. When you conduct a coal reclamation project to comply with certification requirements 

under 30 CFR 875.14(b), you must implement the environmental compliance procedures 

found in OSMRE REG-1, Handbook on Procedures for Implementing the National 

Environmental Policy Act (NEPA Handbook) (Revised 2019). 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 an Authorization to Proceed (ATP). 

1. A complete ATP request must confirm that you have entered the problem area 

information into the Enhanced Abandoned Mine Land Inventory System (eAMLIS) in compliance with directive AML-1. 

2. The ATP request must also include the appropriate NEPA compliance 

information. See the NEPA Handbook for a detailed description of the 

information and documentation.

3. 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 
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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).

B. You are responsible to ensure that all applicable laws, clearances, permits, or 

requirements are met before you expend Title IV 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 where we are not required to issue an ATP. Therefore, please 

consult with OSMRE’s NEPA staff to determine specific requirements. 

4-300-60 How will we process grant amendments?

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

requirements in the 2 CFR Part 200. 

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

receive the request after the 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 our awarding office.

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

amendment.

1. Add more funds to the agreement.

2. Deobligate funds before the end of the grant performance period.

3. Make the grant performance period longer or shorter.

4. Transfer funds from one subaccount to another.

5. Add a new subaccount.

D. You may enter an amendment application using an approved electronic grant system. 

Alternatively, you may send an e-mail or paper application which must include a signed 

Form SF-424 cover page and a brief explanation of the requested change. If the 

amendment will revise the budget, you must also include a revised breakout of the grant 

budget by subaccount. 

E. We will award the amended grant agreement within 20 days of receiving an amendment 

application. We will process amendments in accordance with the provisions for 
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awarding new agreements in section 4-300-40 above, except that we will only announce 

the amendment through the Office of Communications if the amendment provides 

additional funding of more than $100,000.

4-300-70 What reports must you send us?

A. You must provide performance and financial reports to OSMRE annually. Reports are 

due 90 days after the end of each 12-month period of the grant performance period, 

starting on the effective date of the grant. Alternatively, you may provide reports on 

another annual cycle mutually acceptable to you and us.

1. You may file the financial report through an electronic grant system or on an SF 

425 and 425A reporting form. Alternatively, information may be provided in 

another format mutually acceptable to you and us. An alternative format must 

include the grant number, the report period, cumulative expenditures for each 

subaccount, cumulative indirect costs and program income if any, and a dated 

signature or approval by an authorized official of the State or Tribe. 

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. When an OSMRE office receives grant financial and performance reports, it must review 

the reports and document that the reports comply with all requirements. We will prepare 

a monitoring statement to document our review.

C. You must annually update Enhanced Abandoned Mine Land Inventory System (eAMLIS) for each reclamation project as it is completed. If you add any coal problems to 

e-AMLIS in a new or existing problem area, we must approve the amendment to the 

inventory before you expend Title IV funds.

4-300-80 What closeout information will you send us and how will we close your grant?

A. Upon completion of each grant, you must send us a final financial report 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. 

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

1. Review the closeout information you provided.

2. Deobligate any unexpended grant funds.
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C. All Title IV grant funds are available until expended. If we deobligate any unexpended 

funds when we close out your grant, the funds will be available for re-award to you. You 

may apply for unused funds whenever you choose, either in a new grant or as an 

amendment to an existing open grant.