I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7937 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Office of Surface 
Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, to establish a program to facilitate 
coal mine reclamation and award grants to certain States and Indian 
Tribes to carry out coal mine reclamation, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 3, 2022 
Mr. LAMB (for himself and Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
Resources 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the 
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, 
to establish a program to facilitate coal mine reclamation 
and award grants to certain States and Indian Tribes 
to carry out coal mine reclamation, and for other pur-
poses. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Revitalize, Enhance, 
and Nurture in Expanded Ways Our Abandoned Mine 
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Lands Act’’ or the ‘‘RENEW Our Abandoned Mine Lands 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE SURFACE MINING CONTROL 
AND RECLAMATION ACT. 
(a) COAL MINE RECLAMATION PROGRAM.—Title V 
of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 
1977 (30 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) is amended by adding at 
the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 530. OSMRE COAL MINE RECLAMATION PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 1 year after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall 
establish a program— 
‘‘(1) to help ensure the Office of Surface Min-
ing Reclamation and Enforcement has sufficient 
funds to carry out covered reclamation projects; and 
‘‘(2) to award grants to States and Indian 
tribes to carry out covered reclamation projects. 
‘‘(b) GRANT PROGRAM.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may award 
grants under this section to States and Indian tribes 
to carry out covered reclamation projects. 
‘‘(2) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under this 
section, the Secretary shall allocate grant funds 
based on need. 
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‘‘(3) ADDITIONAL CRITERIA.—To be eligible for 
a grant under this section— 
‘‘(A) a State or Indian tribe shall maintain 
State bonding requirements approved under 
section 503 that are not less stringent than the 
bonding requirements of such State on the date 
of enactment of this section; 
‘‘(B) if the Secretary determines appro-
priate, a State or Indian tribe shall address de-
ficiencies in its approved alternative bonding 
system on permitted coal mines; 
‘‘(C) an Indian tribe shall have an ap-
proved regulatory program pursuant to this 
title and section 710; 
‘‘(D) a State or Indian tribe shall dem-
onstrate— 
‘‘(i) the use of all available legal rem-
edies to the extent practicable to recover 
reclamation costs from responsible persons 
liable under this Act, including corporate 
parents, owners, and executives; 
‘‘(ii) with respect to the use of such 
grant funds, requirements for— 
‘‘(I) active coal mines within its 
jurisdiction to reclaim surface areas 
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as contemporaneously as practicable 
with surface coal mining operations 
pursuant to the purposes of this Act; 
‘‘(II) coal mine reclamation with-
in its jurisdiction to be carried out ac-
cording 
to 
approved 
reclamation 
plans; 
‘‘(III) compliance with the Clean 
Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.); 
and 
‘‘(IV) payments of wages not less 
than those prevailing on similar 
projects in the locality, for all laborers 
and mechanics employed by contrac-
tors or subcontractors in the perform-
ance of construction, alteration, or re-
pair work on a project assisted in 
whole or in part by funding made 
available under this section, as deter-
mined by the Secretary of Labor in 
accordance with subchapter IV of 
chapter 31 of title 40, United States 
Code (commonly referred to as the 
‘‘Davis-Bacon Act’’); 
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‘‘(iii) the aggregation of reclamation 
projects when practicable to improve 
economies of scale; and 
‘‘(iv) active facilitation of community 
engagement in the design and oversight of 
reclamation projects; and 
‘‘(E) meet such additional requirements as 
the Secretary determines appropriate. 
‘‘(4) APPLICATION.— 
‘‘(A) ANNUAL
REQUIREMENT.—The Sec-
retary shall require, from each State or Indian 
tribe applying for grant funds under this sec-
tion, an application for each fiscal year. 
‘‘(B) PROJECTED SHORTFALL.—Each ap-
plication shall include the following information: 
‘‘(i) For a State applicant, the pro-
jected annual shortfall in funding for rec-
lamation with respect to all coal mines 
where the State forfeited a reclamation 
bond. 
‘‘(ii) For an Indian tribe applicant, 
the projected annual shortfall in funding 
for reclamation with respect to all coal 
mines where the Indian tribe forfeited a 
reclamation bond. 
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‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—In addition to amounts 
otherwise available, there is authorized to be appro-
priated to the Secretary $385,000,000 for each of 
fiscal years 2023 through 2032 to carry out this sec-
tion. 
‘‘(2) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Of the amounts 
made available under this section, the Secretary may 
use $1,000,000 each fiscal year for the costs of ad-
ministering this section. 
‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) COVERED
RECLAMATION
PROJECT.—The 
term ‘covered reclamation project’— 
‘‘(A) means a coal mine reclamation 
project on a site where a performance bond was 
forfeited and found to be insufficient; and 
‘‘(B) includes reclamation projects— 
‘‘(i) involving lands or waters mined 
for coal under a permit under this Act that 
were subject to permit revocation and bond 
forfeiture pursuant to section 800.50 of 
title 30, Code of Federal Regulations, (or 
its equivalent in an approved State or 
Tribal program); and 
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‘‘(ii) where there is a shortfall be-
tween the actual cost of reclamation, in-
cluding long-term water treatment, and the 
value of any forfeited bonding instrument. 
‘‘(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 
the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Of-
fice of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforce-
ment. 
‘‘(e) TERMINATION.—The program established under 
subsection (a) shall terminate on September 30, 2032.’’. 
(b) GRANTS TO THE STATES.—Section 705(a) of the 
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 
U.S.C. 1295(a)) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(a) The Secretary is authorized to make annual 
grants to any State for the purpose of assisting such State 
in developing, administering, and enforcing State pro-
grams under this Act. Except as provided in subsection 
(c)— 
‘‘(1) through fiscal year 2022, such grants shall 
not exceed 80 percent of the total costs incurred 
during the first year, 60 percent of total costs in-
curred during the second year, and 50 percent of the 
total costs incurred during each year thereafter; 
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‘‘(2) for fiscal year 2023 and 2024, such grants 
shall not exceed 75 percent of the total costs in-
curred during each year; and 
‘‘(3) for fiscal year 2025 and thereafter, such 
grants shall not exceed 100 percent of the total costs 
incurred during each year.’’. 
(c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
for the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 
1977 (30 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.) is amended by inserting 
after the item relating to section 529 the following: 
‘‘Sec. 530. OSMRE coal mine reclamation program.’’. 
Æ 
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