{
  "id": "RL32373",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL32373",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 302158,
      "date": "2005-03-08",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T19:51:11.148029",
      "title": "Abandoned Mine Land Fund Reauthorization: Selected Issues",
      "summary": "The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA,  P.L. 95-87 ), enacted in 1977,\nestablished reclamation standards for all coal surface mining operations and for the surface effects\nof underground mining. It also established the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) program to promote\nthe reclamation of sites mined and abandoned prior to the enactment of SMCRA. To finance\nreclamation of abandoned mine sites, the legislation established fees on coal production. These\ncollections are divided into federal and state shares; subject to annual appropriation, AML funds are\ndistributed annually to states with approved reclamation programs. Since the program\u2019s\ninception\nand through FY2004, collections have totaled $7.1 billion; appropriations from the fund have totaled\n$5.5 billion. The unappropriated balance in the fund approached $1.7 billion at the end of FY2004.\nAs of the end of FY2004, roughly $1.1 billion of this sum is credited to the state share accounts, of\nwhich nearly $430 million alone is in Wyoming\u2019s account, because -- even though most of\nthe sites\nawaiting cleanup are in the eastern part of the nation -- coal production has shifted westward.\nConsequently, the western states have been making significantly larger contributions to the fund in\nrecent years.\n \n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Authorization for collection of AML fees was scheduled to expire\nat the end of FY2004, and\nwas extended nine months to the end of June 2005 by the Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2005\n( P.L. 108-447 ) while Congress continued to debate changes to the program. A number of bills were\nintroduced during the 108th Congress to reauthorize fee collections and make changes to the\nprogram\nthat would address concerns about the mechanics of the program, the fee structure, and the\nunappropriated balances. A Bush Administration proposal ( S. 2049 / H.R. 3778 ) proposed to refund, through a significant increase in appropriations, unobligated state\nbalances over a 10-year period. These balances would be returned to states and Indian tribes that had\ncompleted reclamation of their Priority 1 sites. These states would no longer receive grants from the\nAML fund itself, freeing up funds to be targeted to states with sites awaiting cleanup.\n \n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0House and Senate legislation --  H.R. 3796  and  S. 2086  -- differed\ngreatly in some respects from the Administration proposal. These bills would have maintained the\ndistinction between state and federal shares and would have required that 50% of annual\ncontributions be returned to states even if cleanup of priority abandoned mine sites had been\ncompleted. States and tribes would have been allowed to use the money for other purposes if\ncleanup\nof AML sites had been completed. The House, Senate, and Administration proposals were in\nagreement to end an allocation of a portion of AML collections to the Rural Abandoned Mine Land\nProgram, a program that has received no appropriation since FY1995. The FY2006 budget\nsubmitted\nby the Administration is essentially the same as the plan proposed for FY2005 with the exception\nthat the fees based on coal production would not be lowered in the FY2006 request. As of\nmid-March, no legislation had been introduced. This report will be updated as developments\nwarrant.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
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      "topics": []
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc806159/",
      "id": "RL32373_2004Apr30",
      "date": "2004-04-30",
      "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26",
      "title": "Abandoned Mine Land Fund Reauthorization: Selected Issues",
      "summary": null,
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
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  ],
  "topics": [
    "Appropriations",
    "Energy Policy"
  ]
}