I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5259 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to reestablish the Royalty Policy 

Committee in order to further a more consultative process with key 

Federal, State, tribal, environmental, and energy stakeholders, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 17, 2016 

Mr. ZINKE (for himself, Mrs. LUMMIS, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. TIPTON, Mr. 

GOSAR, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. WESTERMAN, and Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to reestablish the 

Royalty Policy Committee in order to further a more 

consultative process with key Federal, State, tribal, environmental, and energy stakeholders, 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 ‘‘Certainty for States 

5 and Tribes Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. RECONSTITUTION OF THE ROYALTY POLICY COM2 MITTEE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior 

4 shall, by not later than 90 days after the date of the enact5 ment of this Act, reconstitute the Royalty Policy Com6 mittee as last chartered on March 26, 2010, except as oth7 erwise provided in this Act. 

8 (b) CORRECTIONS AND UPDATES.—In reconstituting 

9 the Committee, the Secretary shall make appropriate tech10 nical corrections and updates to the charter of the Com11 mittee, including the following: 

12 (1) Revision of all references to the Minerals 

13 Management Service or Minerals Revenue Manage14 ment so as to refer to the Office of Natural Re15 sources Revenue. 

16 (2) Revision of the estimated number and fre17 quency of meetings of the Committee to not less 

18 than once each year. 

19 (3) Revision of the non-Federal members of the 

20 Committee to include— 

21 (A) not fewer than 5 members rep22 resenting Governors of States that each receive 

23 more than $10,000,000 annually in royalty rev24 enues from Federal leases; and 


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1 (B) not more than 5 members representing 

2 Indian tribes that are mineral-producing Indian 

3 tribes under— 

4 (i) the Act of May 11, 1938 (com5 monly known as the ‘‘Indian Mineral Leas6 ing Act of 1938’’) (25 U.S.C. 396a et 

7 seq.); 

8 (ii) title XXVI of the Energy Policy 

9 Act of 1992 (25 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.); 

10 (iii) the Indian Mineral Development 

11 Act of 1982 (25 U.S.C. 2101 et seq.); or 

12 (iv) any other law relating to mineral 

13 development that is specific to one or more 

14 Indian tribes. 

15 (4) Creation of a subcommittee of the Com16 mittee to be known as the State and Tribal Re17 sources Board, comprised of designees of States’ 

18 Governors and tribes participating as non-Federal 

19 members of the reconstituted Committee. 

20 SEC. 3. REVIEW OF REGULATIONS AND POLICIES THE ROY21 ALTY POLICY COMMITTEE ADVISORY ACTIVI22 TIES SHOULD INCLUDE. 

23 (a) CONSULTATION AND REPORT.—Not later than 

24 180 days after the date of the issuance by the Department 

25 of the Interior of any proposed regulation or policy related 


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1 to mineral leasing policy for Federal land for exploration, 

2 development, or production of oil, gas, or coal (including 

3 valuation methodologies and royalty and lease rates for oil, 

4 gas, or coal), and not later than 180 days after the date 

5 of the enactment of this Act with respect to any proposed 

6 regulation of such Department relating to such policy that 

7 is pending as of the date of the enactment of this Act, 

8 the Committee shall— 

9 (1) assess the proposed regulation or policy; 

10 and 

11 (2) issue a report that describes the potential 

12 impact of the proposed regulation or policy, includ13 ing any State and tribal economic impacts described 

14 in subsection (b). 

15 (b) STATE AND TRIBAL IMPACT DETERMINATION.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Before the date on which 

17 any proposed regulation related to mineral leasing 

18 policy on Federal land (including valuation meth19 odologies and royalty and lease rates for oil, gas, or 

20 coal) may be issued as a final rule, the State and 

21 Tribal Resources Board shall publish a determina22 tion of the impact of the regulation on school fund23 ing, public safety, and other essential State or In24 dian tribal government services. 


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1 (2) DELAY REQUEST.—If the State and Tribal 

2 Resources Board determines that a regulation de3 scribed in paragraph (1) will have a negative State 

4 or tribal budgetary impact, the State and Tribal Re5 sources Board may request a delay in the finaliza6 tion of the regulation for the purposes of further— 

7 (A) stakeholder consultation; 

8 (B) budgetary review; and 

9 (C) development of a proposal to mitigate 

10 the negative economic impact. 

11 (3) LIMITATION.—A delay under paragraph (2) 

12 shall not exceed 180 days from the date on which 

13 the State and Tribal Resources Board requested the 

14 delay in finalization. 

15 (c) REVISION OF PROPOSED REGULATION.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Before the date on which 

17 any proposed regulation related to mineral leasing 

18 policy on Federal land (including valuation meth19 odologies and royalty and lease rates for oil, gas, or 

20 coal) is issued as a final rule, the Secretary shall re21 vise the proposed regulation to avoid any negative 

22 State or tribal economic impact determined by the 

23 Committee under subsection (a)(2). 

24 (2) FINAL RULE.—Any final regulation subject 

25 to paragraph (1) must include— 


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1 (A) a summary of the report required 

2 under subsection (a)(2); and 

3 (B) a clear explanation of why the rec4 ommendations of that report (including the 

5 State and tribal determination) were or were 

6 not taken into account in the finalization of the 

7 regulation. 

8 SEC. 4. SPECIAL REVIEW OF PROGRAMMATIC ENVIRON9 MENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT. 

10 (a) PARTICIPANTS IN PROGRAMMATIC REVIEW.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out the pro12 grammatic review of coal leasing on Federal land as 

13 described in section 4 of the order of the Secretary 

14 of the Interior entitled ‘‘Discretionary Programmatic 

15 Environmental Impact Statement to Modernize the 

16 Federal Coal Program’’, numbered 3338 and dated 

17 January 15, 2016, the Secretary shall confer with, 

18 and take into consideration the views of, representa19 tives appointed to the review board described in 

20 paragraph (2). 

21 (2) REVIEW BOARD.—The Governor of each 

22 State in which more than $10,000,000 in revenue is 

23 collected annually by the United States as bonus 

24 bids, royalties, and rentals, and fees for production 

25 of coal under leases of Federal land or Indian land 


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1 may each appoint not more than 3 representatives to 

2 a review board for purposes of paragraph (1), at 

3 least one of whom shall be a member of the State 

4 and Tribal Resources Board. 

5 (3) DEADLINE.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

7 complete the programmatic review referred to 

8 in paragraph (1) not later than January 15, 

9 2019. 

10 (B) FAILURE TO MEET DEADLINE.—If the 

11 programmatic review is not completed by the 

12 deadline described in subparagraph (A), the 

13 programmatic review shall be considered to be 

14 complete as of that deadline. 

15 (b) TERMINATION OF OTHER PROGRAMMATIC RE16 VIEW.—No Federal funds may be used to carry out the 

17 programmatic review of coal leasing on Federal land de18 scribed in subsection (a)(1) after January 15, 2019. 

19 (c) NO IMPLEMENTATION REQUIREMENT.—Nothing 

20 in this section requires the Secretary to conduct or com21 plete the programmatic review of coal leasing on Federal 

22 land described in subsection (a)(1) after January 20, 

23 2017. 

24 (d) TERMINATION OF MORATORIUM.—Effective Jan25 uary 16, 2019— 


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1 (1) the pause or moratorium on the issuance of 

2 new Federal coal leases under the Secretarial order 

3 referred to in subsection (a)(1) is terminated; and 

4 (2) that Secretarial order shall have no force or 

5 effect. 

6 SEC. 5. GRANDFATHERING OF COAL LEASES ON APPLICA7 TION AND COAL LEASE MODIFICATIONS. 

8 Nothing in the order of the Secretary of the Interior 

9 entitled ‘‘Discretionary Programmatic Environmental Im10 pact Statement to Modernize the Federal Coal Program’’, 

11 numbered 3338 and dated January 15, 2016, shall be con12 sidered to prohibit or restrict any issuance of a coal lease 

13 on application or coal lease modification, pursuant to sec14 tion 3432 of title 43, Code of Federal Regulations, for 

15 which the Bureau of Land Management has begun its re16 view under section 102 of the National Environmental 

17 Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4332) as of January 15, 

18 2016. 

19 SEC. 6. DEADLINE FOR COAL LEASE SALES AND MODIFICA20 TIONS. 

21 Not later than 1 year after the date on which the 

22 Secretary completes the analysis required under section 

23 102 of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 

24 U.S.C. 4332) for an application for a coal lease, or an 

25 application for a modification to a coal lease pursuant to 


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1 subpart 3432 of part 3430 of title 43, Code of Federal 

2 Regulations (or successor regulations), accepted by the 

3 Secretary, the Secretary shall conduct the lease sale and 

4 issue the lease, or approve the modification, unless the ap5 plicant indicates in writing that the applicant no longer 

6 seeks the lease or modification to the lease. 

Æ 


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