232 
‘‘(ii) CONVERSION
AS
EQUIVALENT 
PAYMENTS.—Amounts allocated under sub-
paragraphs (A) or (B) of section 402(g)(1) 
shall be reallocated to the allocation estab-
lished in section 402(g)(5) in amounts 
equivalent to payments made to States or 
Indian tribes under this paragraph. 
‘‘(B) AMOUNT
DUE.—In this paragraph, 
the term ‘amount due’ means the unappropri-
ated amount allocated to a State or Indian tribe 
before October 1, 2007, under subparagraph 
(A) or (B) of section 402(g)(1). 
‘‘(C) SCHEDULE.—Payments under sub-
paragraph (A) shall be made in 7 equal annual 
installments, beginning with fiscal year 2008. 
‘‘(D) USE OF FUNDS.— 
‘‘(i) CERTIFIED STATES AND INDIAN 
TRIBES.—A State or Indian tribe that 
makes a certification under subsection (a) 
in which the Secretary concurs shall use 
any amounts provided under this para-
graph for the purposes established by the 
State legislature or tribal council of the In-
dian tribe, with priority given for address-
ing the impacts of mineral development. 
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233 
‘‘(ii) UNCERTIFIED STATES AND IN-
DIAN
TRIBES.—A State or Indian tribe 
that has not made a certification under 
subsection (a) in which the Secretary has 
concurred shall use any amounts provided 
under this paragraph for the purposes de-
scribed in section 403. 
‘‘(2) SUBSEQUENT STATE AND INDIAN TRIBE 
SHARE
FOR
CERTIFIED
STATES
AND
INDIAN 
TRIBES.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sec-
tion 401(f)(3)(B), from funds referred to in 
section 402(i)(2), the Secretary shall pay to 
each certified State or Indian tribe an amount 
equal to the sum of the aggregate unappropri-
ated amount allocated on or after October 1, 
2007, to the certified State or Indian tribe 
under subparagraph (A) or (B) of section 
402(g)(1). 
‘‘(B) CERTIFIED STATE OR INDIAN TRIBE 
DEFINED.—In this paragraph the term ‘cer-
tified State or Indian tribe’ means a State or 
Indian tribe for which a certification is made 
under subsection (a) in which the Secretary 
concurs. 
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234 
‘‘(3) MANNER OF PAYMENT.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subject to subpara-
graph (B), payments to States or Indian tribes 
under this subsection shall be made without re-
gard to any limitation in section 401(d) and 
concurrently with payments to States under 
that section. 
‘‘(B) INITIAL PAYMENTS.—The first 3 pay-
ments made to any State or Indian tribe shall 
be reduced to 25 percent, 50 percent, and 75 
percent, respectively, of the amounts otherwise 
required under paragraph (2)(A). 
‘‘(C) INSTALLMENTS.—Amounts withheld 
from the first 3 annual installments as provided 
under subparagraph (B) shall be paid in 2 
equal annual installments beginning with fiscal 
year 2018. 
‘‘(4) REALLOCATION.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The amount allocated 
to any State or Indian tribe under subpara-
graph (A) or (B) of section 402(g)(1) that is 
paid to the State or Indian tribe as a result of 
a payment under paragraph (1) or (2) shall be 
reallocated and available for grants under sec-
tion 402(g)(5). 
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235 
‘‘(B) ALLOCATION.—The grants shall be 
allocated based on the amount of coal histori-
cally produced before August 3, 1977, in the 
same manner as under section 402(g)(5).’’. 
SEC. 207. REMINING INCENTIVES. 
Title IV of the Surface Mining Control and Reclama-
tion Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1231 et seq.) is amended by 
adding at the following: 
‘‘SEC. 415. REMINING INCENTIVES. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro-
vision of this Act, the Secretary may, after opportunity 
for public comment, promulgate regulations that describe 
conditions under which amounts in the fund may be used 
to provide incentives to promote remining of eligible land 
under section 404 in a manner that leverages the use of 
amounts from the fund to achieve more reclamation with 
respect to the eligible land than would be achieved without 
the incentives. 
‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS.—Any regulations promulgated 
under subsection (a) shall specify that the incentives shall 
apply only if the Secretary determines, with the concur-
rence of the State regulatory authority referred to in title 
V, that, without the incentives, the eligible land would not 
be likely to be remined and reclaimed. 
‘‘(c) INCENTIVES.— 
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236 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Incentives that may be con-
sidered for inclusion in the regulations promulgated 
under subsection (a) include, but are not limited 
to— 
‘‘(A) a rebate or waiver of the reclamation 
fees required under section 402(a); and 
‘‘(B) the use of amounts in the fund to 
provide financial assurance for remining oper-
ations in lieu of all or a portion of the perform-
ance bonds required under section 509. 
‘‘(2) LIMITATIONS.— 
‘‘(A) USE.—A rebate or waiver under 
paragraph (1)(A) shall be used only for oper-
ations that— 
‘‘(i) remove or reprocess abandoned 
coal mine waste; or 
‘‘(ii) conduct remining activities that 
meet the priorities specified in paragraph 
(1) or (2) of section 403(a). 
‘‘(B) AMOUNT.—The amount of a rebate 
or waiver provided as an incentive under para-
graph (1)(A) to remine or reclaim eligible land 
shall not exceed the estimated cost of reclaim-
ing the eligible land under this section.’’. 
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237 
SEC. 208. EXTENSION OF LIMITATION ON APPLICATION OF 
PROHIBITION ON ISSUANCE OF PERMIT. 
Section 510(e) of the Surface Mining Control and 
Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 1260(e)) is amended 
by striking the last sentence. 
SEC. 209. TRIBAL REGULATION OF SURFACE COAL MINING 
AND RECLAMATION OPERATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 710 of the Surface Min-
ing Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (30 U.S.C. 
1300) is amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(j) TRIBAL REGULATORY AUTHORITY.— 
‘‘(1) TRIBAL REGULATORY PROGRAMS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 
other provision of law, an Indian tribe may 
apply for, and obtain the approval of, a tribal 
program under section 503 regulating in whole 
or in part surface coal mining and reclamation 
operations on reservation land under the juris-
diction of the Indian tribe using the procedures 
of section 504(e). 
‘‘(B) REFERENCES TO STATE.—For pur-
poses of this subsection and the implementation 
and administration of a tribal program under 
title V, any reference to a ‘State’ in this Act 
shall be considered to be a reference to a ‘tribe’. 
‘‘(2) CONFLICTS OF INTEREST.— 
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238 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The fact that an indi-
vidual is a member of an Indian tribe does not 
in itself constitute a violation of section 201(f). 
‘‘(B) EMPLOYEES OF TRIBAL REGULATORY 
AUTHORITY.—Any employee of a tribal regu-
latory authority shall not be eligible for a per 
capita distribution of any proceeds from coal 
mining operations conducted on Indian reserva-
tion lands under this Act. 
‘‘(3) SOVEREIGN
IMMUNITY.—To receive pri-
mary regulatory authority under section 504(e), an 
Indian tribe shall waive sovereign immunity for pur-
poses of section 520 and paragraph (4). 
‘‘(4) JUDICIAL REVIEW.— 
‘‘(A) CIVIL ACTIONS.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—After exhausting 
all tribal remedies with respect to a civil 
action arising under a tribal program ap-
proved under section 504(e), an interested 
party may file a petition for judicial review 
of the civil action in the United States cir-
cuit court for the circuit in which the sur-
face coal mining operation named in the 
petition is located. 
‘‘(ii) SCOPE OF REVIEW.— 
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239 
‘‘(I) QUESTIONS
OF
LAW.—The 
United States circuit court shall re-
view de novo any questions of law 
under clause (i). 
‘‘(II) FINDINGS OF FACT.—The 
United States circuit court shall re-
view findings of fact under clause (i) 
using a clearly erroneous standard. 
‘‘(B) CRIMINAL
ACTIONS.—Any criminal 
action brought under section 518 with respect 
to surface coal mining or reclamation oper-
ations on Indian reservation lands shall be 
brought in— 
‘‘(i) the United States District Court 
for the District of Columbia; or 
‘‘(ii) the United States district court 
in which the criminal activity is alleged to 
have occurred. 
‘‘(5) GRANTS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 
subparagraph (B), grants for developing, ad-
ministering, and enforcing tribal programs ap-
proved in accordance with section 504(e) shall 
be provided to an Indian tribe in accordance 
with section 705. 
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240 
‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding sub-
paragraph (A), the Federal share of the costs 
of developing, administering, and enforcing an 
approved tribal program shall be 100 percent. 
‘‘(6) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after 
the date on which a tribal program is approved 
under subsection (e) of section 504, the Secretary 
shall submit to the appropriate committees of Con-
gress a report, developed in cooperation with the ap-
plicable Indian tribe, on the tribal program that in-
cludes a recommendation of the Secretary on wheth-
er primary regulatory authority under that sub-
section should be expanded to include additional In-
dian lands.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 710(i) of 
the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 
(30 U.S.C. 1300(i)) is amended in the first sentence by 
striking ‘‘, except’’ and all that follows through ‘‘section 
503’’. 
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241 
Subtitle B—Coal Industry Retiree 
Health Benefit Act 
SEC. 211. CERTAIN RELATED PERSONS AND SUCCESSORS 
IN INTEREST RELIEVED OF LIABILITY IF PRE-
MIUMS PREPAID. 
(a) COMBINED BENEFIT FUND.—Section 9704 of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to liability of as-
signed operators) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new subsection: 
‘‘(j) PREPAYMENT OF PREMIUM LIABILITY.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If— 
‘‘(A) a payment meeting the requirements 
of paragraph (3) is made to the Combined 
Fund by or on behalf of— 
‘‘(i) any assigned operator to which 
this subsection applies, or 
‘‘(ii) any related person to any as-
signed operator described in clause (i), and 
‘‘(B) the common parent of the controlled 
group of corporations described in paragraph 
(2)(B) is jointly and severally liable for any pre-
mium under this section which (but for this 
subsection) would be required to be paid by the 
assigned operator or related person, 
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