Abandoned Mine Land Fund Reauthorization: Selected Issues (CRS Report for Congress)
Premium Purchase PDF for $24.95 (17 pages)
add to cart or
subscribe for unlimited access
Pro Premium subscribers have free access to our full library of CRS reports.
Subscribe today, or
request a demo to learn more.
| Release Date |
Revised March 8, 2005 |
| Report Number |
RL32373 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Robert Bamberger, Resources, Science, and Industry Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
-
Premium April 30, 2004 (16 pages, $24.95)
add
|
Summary:
The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA, P.L. 95-87 ), enacted in 1977,
established reclamation standards for all coal surface mining operations and for the surface effects
of underground mining. It also established the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) program to promote
the reclamation of sites mined and abandoned prior to the enactment of SMCRA. To finance
reclamation of abandoned mine sites, the legislation established fees on coal production. These
collections are divided into federal and state shares; subject to annual appropriation, AML funds are
distributed annually to states with approved reclamation programs. Since the program's
inception
and through FY2004, collections have totaled $7.1 billion; appropriations from the fund have totaled
$5.5 billion. The unappropriated balance in the fund approached $1.7 billion at the end of FY2004.
As of the end of FY2004, roughly $1.1 billion of this sum is credited to the state share accounts, of
which nearly $430 million alone is in Wyoming's account, because -- even though most of
the sites
awaiting cleanup are in the eastern part of the nation -- coal production has shifted westward.
Consequently, the western states have been making significantly larger contributions to the fund in
recent years.
    Authorization for collection of AML fees was scheduled to expire
at the end of FY2004, and
was extended nine months to the end of June 2005 by the Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2005
( P.L. 108-447 ) while Congress continued to debate changes to the program. A number of bills were
introduced during the 108th Congress to reauthorize fee collections and make changes to the
program
that would address concerns about the mechanics of the program, the fee structure, and the
unappropriated balances. A Bush Administration proposal ( S. 2049 / H.R. 3778 ) proposed to refund, through a significant increase in appropriations, unobligated state
balances over a 10-year period. These balances would be returned to states and Indian tribes that had
completed reclamation of their Priority 1 sites. These states would no longer receive grants from the
AML fund itself, freeing up funds to be targeted to states with sites awaiting cleanup.
    House and Senate legislation -- H.R. 3796 and S. 2086 -- differed
greatly in some respects from the Administration proposal. These bills would have maintained the
distinction between state and federal shares and would have required that 50% of annual
contributions be returned to states even if cleanup of priority abandoned mine sites had been
completed. States and tribes would have been allowed to use the money for other purposes if
cleanup
of AML sites had been completed. The House, Senate, and Administration proposals were in
agreement to end an allocation of a portion of AML collections to the Rural Abandoned Mine Land
Program, a program that has received no appropriation since FY1995. The FY2006 budget
submitted
by the Administration is essentially the same as the plan proposed for FY2005 with the exception
that the fees based on coal production would not be lowered in the FY2006 request. As of
mid-March, no legislation had been introduced. This report will be updated as developments
warrant.
