II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 814 

To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to promote the development of Federal 

coal resources. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 15, 2005 

Mr. THOMAS (for himself and Mr. ENZI) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to promote the 

development of Federal coal resources. 

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 ‘‘Coal Leasing Amend5 ments Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINANCIAL ASSURANCES WITH RESPECT TO BONUS 

7 BIDS. 

8 Section 2(a) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 

9 201(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
2 

•S 814 IS

1 ‘‘(4)(A) The Secretary shall not require a surety bond 

2 or any other financial assurance to guarantee payment of 

3 deferred bonus bid installments with respect to any coal 

4 lease issued on a cash bonus bid to a lessee or successor 

5 in interest having a history of a timely payment of noncon6 tested coal royalties and advanced coal royalties in lieu 

7 of production (where applicable) and bonus bid installment 

8 payments. 

9 ‘‘(B) The Secretary may waive any requirement that 

10 a lessee provide a surety bond or other financial assurance 

11 for a coal lease issued before the date of enactment of 

12 this paragraph only if the Secretary determines that the 

13 lessee has a history of making the timely payments de14 scribed in subparagraph (A). 

15 ‘‘(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if 

16 the lessee under a coal lease fails to pay any installment 

17 of a deferred cash bonus bid within 10 days after the Sec18 retary provides written notice that payment of the install19 ment is past due— 

20 ‘‘(A) the lease shall automatically terminate; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(B) any bonus payments already made to the 

23 United States with respect to the lease shall not be 

24 returned to the lessee or credited in any future lease 

25 sale.’’. 
3 

•S 814 IS

1 SEC. 3. MINING PLANS. 

2 Section 2(d)(2) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 

3 U.S.C. 202a(2)) is amended— 

4 (1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(2)’’; and 

5 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(B) The Secretary may establish a period of more 

7 than 40 years if the Secretary determines that the longer 

8 period— 

9 ‘‘(i) will ensure the maximum economic recovery 

10 of a coal deposit; or 

11 ‘‘(ii) is in the interest of the orderly, efficient, 

12 or economic development of a coal resource.’’. 

13 SEC. 4. REPEAL OF THE 160-ACRE LIMITATION FOR COAL 

14 LEASES. 

15 Section 3 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 203) 

16 is amended in the first sentence by striking ‘‘such lease,’’ 

17 and all that follows through the period at the end and 

18 inserting ‘‘the lease.’’. 

19 SEC. 5. PAYMENT OF ADVANCE ROYALTIES UNDER COAL 

20 LEASES. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7 of the Mineral Leasing 

22 Act of 1920 (30 U.S.C. 207) is amended by striking sub23 section (b) and inserting the following: 

24 ‘‘(b)(1) Each lease shall be subject to the condition 

25 of diligent development and continued operation of the 

26 mine, except in cases in which operations under the lease 
4 

•S 814 IS

1 are interrupted by strikes, the elements, or casualties not 

2 attributable to the lessee. 

3 ‘‘(2)(A) The Secretary of the Interior may suspend 

4 the condition of continued operation on the payment of 

5 advance royalties if the Secretary of the Interior deter6 mines that the suspension is in the public interest. 

7 ‘‘(B) The amount of advance royalties to be paid 

8 under subparagraph (A) shall be determined based on— 

9 ‘‘(i)(I) the average price in the spot market for 

10 sales of coal from the same region during the last 

11 month of each applicable continued operation year; 

12 or 

13 ‘‘(II) if there is no spot market for coal from 

14 the same region, a comparable method established 

15 by the Secretary of the Interior to capture the com16 mercial value of coal; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) based on commercial quantities, as defined 

18 by regulations issued by the Secretary of the Inte19 rior. 

20 ‘‘(C) Advance royalties may be accepted in lieu of the 

21 condition of continued operation for not more than a total 

22 of 20 years during the initial term and any extended terms 

23 of a lease. 

24 ‘‘(3)(A) Subject to subparagraph (B), the amount of 

25 a production royalty paid for any year shall be reduced 
5 

•S 814 IS

1 by the amount of any advance royalties paid under the 

2 lease to the extent that the advance royalties have not 

3 been used to reduce production royalties for a prior year. 

4 ‘‘(B) The amount of a production royalty shall not 

5 be reduced below zero. 

6 ‘‘(4) This subsection applies to any lease or logical 

7 mining unit that is— 

8 ‘‘(A) in existence on the date of enactment of 

9 this paragraph; or 

10 ‘‘(B) issued or approved after the date of enact11 ment of this paragraph. 

12 ‘‘(5) Nothing in this subsection affects the require13 ment in the second sentence of subsection (a) relating to 

14 commencement of production at the end of 10 years.’’. 

15 (b) AUTHORITY TO WAIVE, SUSPEND, OR REDUCE

16 ADVANCE ROYALTIES.—Section 39 of the Mineral Leas17 ing Act (30 U.S.C. 209) is amended by striking the last 

18 sentence. 

19 SEC. 6. ELIMINATION OF DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF 

20 COAL LEASE OPERATION AND RECLAMATION 

21 PLAN. 

22 Section 7(c) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 

23 207(c)) is amended in the first sentence by striking ‘‘and 

24 not later than three years after a lease is issued,’’. 
6 

•S 814 IS

1 SEC. 7. INVENTORY REQUIREMENT. 

2 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

3 (1) COMPLIANT COAL.—The term ‘‘compliant 

4 coal’’ means coal that contains not less than 1.0 and 

5 not more than 1.2 pounds of sulfur dioxide per mil6 lion Btu. 

7 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

8 the Secretary of the Interior. 

9 (3) SUPERCOMPLIANT COAL.—The term 

10 ‘‘supercompliant coal’’ means coal that contains less 

11 than 1.0 pounds of sulfur dioxide per million Btu. 

12 (b) REVIEW OF ASSESSMENTS; INVENTORY.—The 

13 Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Agri14 culture and the Secretary of Energy, shall review coal as15 sessments and other available data for purposes of pre16 paring an inventory that identifies— 

17 (1) public land with coal resources; 

18 (2) the extent and nature of any restrictions or 

19 impediments to the development of coal resources on 

20 the public land identified under paragraph (1); and 

21 (3) with respect to areas of the identified public 

22 land for which sufficient data exists, resources of 

23 compliant coal and supercompliant coal. 

24 (c) COMPLETION AND UPDATES OF INVENTORY.— 

25 (1) COMPLETION.—Not later than 2 years after 

26 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary 
7 

•S 814 IS

1 shall complete the inventory required under sub2 section (b). 

3 (2) UPDATES.—The Secretary shall update the 

4 inventory prepared under subsection (b) as the avail5 ability of data and developments in technology war6 rant. 

7 (d) REPORT.—The Secretary shall submit to the 

8 Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives 

9 and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of 

10 the Senate and make publicly available— 

11 (1) on completion of the inventory required 

12 under subsection (b), a report that includes the in13 ventory; and 

14 (2) any updates of the inventory prepared 

15 under subsection (c)(2). 

16 SEC. 8. APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS. 

17 The amendments made by this Act apply with respect 

18 to any coal lease issued before, on, or after the date of 

19 enactment of this Act. 

Æ