I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 794
To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to provide for the development of Federal 
coal resources. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 13, 2003
Mrs. CUBIN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Resources 
A BILL 
To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to provide for the 
development of Federal coal resources.
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 ‘‘Coal Leasing Amend-
ments Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. REPEAL OF THE 160-ACRE LIMITATION FOR COAL 
LEASES. 
Section 3 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 203) 
is amended in the first sentence by striking ‘‘such lease,’’
and all that follows through the end of the sentence and 
inserting ‘‘such lease.’’. 
SEC. 3. MINING PLANS. 
Section 2(d)(2) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 
U.S.C. 202a(2)) is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(2)’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(B) The Secretary may establish a period of more 
than 40 years if the Secretary determines that the longer 
period—
‘‘(i) will ensure the maximum economic recovery 
of a coal deposit; or 
‘‘(ii) the longer period is in the interest of the 
orderly, efficient, or economic development of a coal 
resource.’’. 
SEC. 4. PAYMENT OF ADVANCE ROYALTIES UNDER COAL 
LEASES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(b) of the Mineral Leas-
ing Act of 1920 (30 U.S.C. 207(b)) is amended to read 
as follows: 
‘‘(b)(1) Each lease shall be subjected to the condition 
of diligent development and continued operation of the 
mine or mines, except where operations under the lease 
are interrupted by strikes, the elements, or casualties not 
attributable to the lessee.
‘‘(2)(A) The Secretary of the Interior, upon deter-
mining that the public interest will be served thereby, may 
suspend the condition of continued operation upon the 
payment of advance royalties. 
‘‘(B) Such advance royalties shall be computed based 
on the average price for coal sold in the spot market from 
the same region during the last month of each applicable 
continued operation year. 
‘‘(C) The aggregate number of years during the ini-
tial and any extended term of any lease for which advance 
royalties may be accepted in lieu of the condition of contin-
ued operation shall not exceed 20. 
‘‘(3) The amount of any production royalty paid for 
any year shall be reduced (but not below zero) by the 
amount of any advance royalties paid under such lease to 
the extent that such advance royalties have not been used 
to reduce production royalties for a prior year. 
‘‘(4) This subsection shall be applicable to any lease 
or logical mining unit in existence on the date of the enact-
ment of this paragraph or issued or approved after such 
date. 
‘‘(5) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to 
affect the requirement contained in the second sentence 
of subsection (a) relating to commencement of production 
at the end of 10 years.’’.
(b) AUTHORITY TO WAIVE, SUSPEND, OR REDUCE 
ADVANCE ROYALTIES.—Section 39 of the Mineral Leas-
ing Act (30 U.S.C. 209) is amended by striking the last 
sentence. 
SEC. 5. ELIMINATION OF DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF 
COAL LEASE OPERATION AND RECLAMATION 
PLAN. 
Section 7(c) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 
207(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘and not later than three 
years after a lease is issued,’’. 
SEC. 6. AMENDMENTS RELATING TO FINANCIAL ASSUR-
ANCES WITH RESPECT TO BONUS BIDS. 
(a) PROHIBITION ON REQUIRING SURETY BONDS.—
Section 2(a) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 
201(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(4) The Secretary shall not require a surety bond 
or any other financial assurance to guarantee payment of 
deferred bonus bid installments with respect to any coal 
lease issued based upon a cash bonus bid. 
‘‘(5) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if 
the lessee under a coal lease fails to pay any installment 
of a deferred cash bonus bid within 10 days after the Sec-
retary provides written notice that payment of such in-
stallment is past due—
‘‘(A) such lease shall automatically terminate;
‘‘(B) any deferred bonus payments that have 
not been paid to the United States with respect to 
such lease shall no longer be owed to the United 
States; and 
‘‘(C) any bonus payments already made to the 
United States with respect to such lease shall not be 
returned to the lessee or credited in any future lease 
sale.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 2(a)(1) of 
the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 201(a)(1)) is amend-
ed by striking ‘‘Upon default or cancellation of any coal 
lease for which bonus payments are due, any unpaid re-
mainder of the bid shall be immediately payable to the 
United States.’’. 
SEC. 7. INVENTORY REQUIREMENT. 
(a) REVIEW OF ASSESSMENTS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Inte-
rior, in consultation with the Secretary of Agri-
culture and the Secretary of Energy, shall review 
coal assessments and other available data to iden-
tify—
(A) public lands with coal resources; 
(B) the extent and nature of any restric-
tions or impediments to the development of coal
resources on public lands identified under para-
graph (1); and 
(C) with respect to areas of such lands for 
which sufficient data exists, resources of com-
pliant coal and supercompliant coal. 
(2) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub-
section—
(A) the term ‘‘compliant coal’’ means coal 
that contains not less than 1.0 and not more 
than 1.2 pounds of sulfur dioxide per million 
Btu; and 
(B) the term ‘‘supercompliant coal’’ means 
coal that contains less than 1.0 pounds of sul-
fur dioxide per million Btu. 
(b) COMPLETION AND UPDATING OF THE INVEN-
TORY.—The Secretary—
(1) shall complete the inventory under sub-
section (a) by not later than 2 years after the date 
of the enactment of this Act; and 
(2) shall update the inventory as the availability 
of data and developments in technology warrant. 
(c) REPORT.—The Secretary shall submit to the 
Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives 
and to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 
of the Senate and make publicly available—
(1) a report containing the inventory under this 
section, by not later than 2 years after the effective 
date of this section; and 
(2) each update of such inventory. 
SEC. 8. APPLICATION OF AMENDMENTS. 
The amendments made by this Act apply with respect 
to any coal lease issued before, on, or after the date of 
the enactment of this Act.
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