Description:
S. 436 would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide Ark Coal Company (Ark) with bidding credits to acquire federally owned mineral rights if Ark agrees to relinquish its rights to acquire noncompetitive coal leases on certain federal land. Bidding credits are assigned a dollar value and can be used in lieu of cash to make certain payments to the federal government. The bill also would cancel certain selections of federal land made by the Navajo Nation and allow the tribe to acquire other land owned by the federal government. Finally, the bill would add 9,500 acres of federal land to the National Wilderness Preservation System. CBO estimates that enacting S. 436 would reduce offsetting receipts, which are treated as increases in direct spending, by $34 million over the 2019-2025 period; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Enacting the bill would not affect revenues or spending subject to appropriation. CBO estimates that enacting S. 436 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029. S. 436 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
