[House Report 115-545]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
115th Congress } { REPORT
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session } { 115-545
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TO PROVIDE THAT AN ORDER BY THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR IMPOSING A
MORATORIUM ON FEDERAL COAL LEASING SHALL NOT TAKE EFFECT UNLESS A JOINT
RESOLUTION OF APPROVAL IS ENACTED, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
_______
February 5, 2018.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Bishop of Utah, from the Committee on Natural Resources, submitted
the following
R E P O R T
together with
DISSENTING VIEWS
[To accompany H.R. 1778]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred
the bill (H.R. 1778) to provide that an order by the Secretary
of the Interior imposing a moratorium on Federal coal leasing
shall not take effect unless a joint resolution of approval is
enacted, and for other purposes, having considered the same,
report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that
the bill do pass.
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of H.R. 1778 is to provide that an order by the
Secretary of the Interior imposing a moratorium on Federal coal
leasing shall not take effect unless a joint resolution of
approval is enacted.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) administers coal
leasing on all federal lands.\1\ BLM currently administers 309
federal coal leases on about 474,000 acres on federal public
domain lands.\2\ All leasing is done competitively with the
exception of cases in which a party holds a ``prospecting
permit'' issued prior to the Federal Coal Leasing Amendments
Act of 1976 or where contiguous acres are added to existing
leases.\3\ This leasing process is governed by section 2 of the
Mineral Leasing Act.\4\ Although coal mines are required to
restore mine lands to preexisting condition, coal mines also
pay a per ton fee to fund a reclamation fund for abandoned coal
mines.
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\1\30 U.S.C. 181; 43 U.S.C. 1731.
\2\Michael Ratner, 21st Century U.S. Energy Sources: A Primer 21st
Century U.S. Energy Sources: A Primer (2017), http://www.crs.gov/
Reports/R44854?source=search&guid=06715c
756d3641d48ca9283a44421216&index=7#_Toc483393813.
\3\Marc Humphries, U.S. and World Coal Production, Federal Taxes,
and Incentives (2013), http://www.crs.gov/Reports/
R43011?source=search&guid=f392b2a0209d4720845e25fe7027
cf7f&index=0#_Toc351629777.
\4\30 U.S.C. 201.
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On January 16, 2016, then Secretary of the Interior Sally
Jewell announced a moratorium on federal coal leasing for the
purpose of examining the federal coal leasing program and to
determine whether it requires modernization.\5\ In the interim,
the Secretary directed BLM to prepare a programmatic
environmental impact statement (PEIS) of the leasing program as
the basis for a review. Concerns raised throughout the review
included whether the public was getting fair market value for
the sale of leases, coal mining operators lease modification
abilities, and environmental pollution caused by burning
coal.\6\ Alternatively, opponents of the moratorium noted the
major negative impacts the leasing moratorium would have on
coal communities, coal and energy markets, and reclamation
efforts.\7\
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\5\Dep't of the Interior Secretarial Order No. 3338, 81 FR 17720
(2016).
\6\Marc Humphries, The Federal Coal Leasing Moratorium (2017),
http://www.crs.gov/Reports/
IN10460?source=search&guid=f392b2a0209d4720845e25fe7027cf7f&index=1.
\7\Id.
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In the final days of the Obama Administration, the
Department of the Interior finalized a report calling for major
changes to the federal coal program.\8\ Despite making final
recommendations for the program that included charging a higher
royalty rate to companies and taking greater note of
environmental concerns, the report recommended continuing the
moratorium for further analysis to be conducted.\9\ The report
failed to note any negative impact the moratorium itself had on
the U.S. coal industry.\10\ This year, U.S. coal production is
projected to be down by over 25% as compared to 2014.\11\ The
negative impact is especially noteworthy for the state of
Wyoming, which serves as the largest producer of coal in the
United States.
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\8\Bureau of Land Management, Federal Coal Program: Programmatic
Environmental Impact Statement--Scoping Report, Volumes I and II
(January 2017), https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/projects/
nepa/65353/95059/114965/CoalPEIS_RptsScopingVol1_508.pdf.
\9\Id.
\10\Id.
\11\U.S. Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook
2017 (2017), https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/aeo/.
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On March 28, 2017, the Trump Administration issued an
executive order lifting all moratoria on federal coal
leasing.\12\ Ending the moratorium is expected to provide
greater certainty to the coal industry and coal miners.\13\
Despite ending the moratorium, Secretary of the Interior Zinke
has vowed to continue researching royalty rates in an effort to
continue the modernization review.\14\ Since ending the
moratorium, the Trump Administration has faced lawsuits from
environmentalists and public lands supporters.\15\
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\12\White House, ``Presidential Executive Order on Promoting Energy
Independence and Economic Growth,'' https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-
press-office/2017/03/28/presidential-executive-order-promoting-energy-
independence-and-economi-1.
\13\Devin Henry, Trump Administration Ends Obama's Coal Leasing
Freeze, http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/326375-interior-
department-ends-obamas-coal-leasing-freeze.
\14\Id.
\15\Id.
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COMMITTEE ACTION
H.R. 1778 was introduced on March 29, 2017, by
Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY). The bill was referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the
Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. On July 27, 2017,
the Subcommittee held a hearing on the legislation. On November
29, 2017, the Committee met to consider the bill. The
Subcommittee was discharged by unanimous consent. Congressman
Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ) offered an amendment designated 001; it
fell on a point of order. No further amendments were offered,
and the bill was ordered favorably reported to the House of
Representatives by a roll call vote of 17 ayes to 12 noes on
November 30, 2017, as follows:
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.
COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII
1. Cost of Legislation and the Congressional Budget Act of
1974. With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(2) and
(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives
and sections 308(a) and 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of
1974, the Committee has received the enclosed cost estimate for
the bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office:
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, December 11, 2017.
Hon. Rob Bishop,
Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 1778, a bill to
provide that an order by the Secretary of the Interior imposing
a moratorium on Federal coal leasing shall not take effect
unless a joint resolution of approval is enacted, and for other
purposes.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Jeff LaFave.
Sincerely,
Keith Hall,
Director.
Enclosure.
H.R. 1778--A bill to provide that an order by the Secretary of the
Interior imposing a moratorium on Federal coal leasing shall
not take effect unless a joint resolution of approval is
enacted, and for other purposes
H.R. 1778 would require a joint resolution of the Congress
to approve any proposal by the Secretary of the Interior to
impose a moratorium on coal-leasing activities on federal
lands. A moratorium on mineral leasing activities on federal
land could delay or reduce receipts collected by the government
from permitting those activities.
On January 16, 2016, the Secretary of the Interior issued
an order prohibiting the issuance of coal leases or lease
modifications on federal lands until the Bureau of Land
Management completed a programmatic environmental impact
statement under the National Environment Policy Act. On March
29, 2017, the Secretary of the Interior revoked that order.
CBO's baseline estimate of receipts from mineral leasing
activities has no expectation that either the current or a
future Administration will propose a moratorium on federal
coal-leasing activities. Therefore, CBO estimates that enacting
H.R. 1778 would not affect the federal budget.
Enacting H.R. 1778 would not affect direct spending or
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 1778 would not increase
net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2028.
H.R. 1778 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. The
estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.
2. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or
objective of this bill is to provide that an order by the
Secretary of the Interior imposing a moratorium on Federal coal
leasing shall not take effect unless a joint resolution of
approval is enacted.
EARMARK STATEMENT
This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks,
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined
under clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of
the House of Representatives.
COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4
This bill contains no unfunded mandates.
COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5
Directed Rule Making. This bill does not contain any
directed rule makings.
Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not
establish or reauthorize a program of the federal government
known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was
not included in any report from the Government Accountability
Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139
or identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program
Information Act (Public Law 95-220, as amended by Public Law
98-169) as relating to other programs.
PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW
This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or
tribal law.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
If enacted, this bill would make no changes in existing
law.
DISSENTING VIEWS
We oppose H.R. 1778 because it needlessly ties the hands of
a federal agency from taking steps to pause and review the
federal coal program. The fact that the federal coal program is
currently a mess is hardly in dispute--reports in 2013 from the
Interior Department's Office of Inspector General\1\ and the
U.S. Government Accountability Office\2\ produced 21
recommendations for improving the Bureau of Land Management's
coal program, with most designed to ensure that American
taxpayers are getting the proper value for the sale of
publicly-owned coal.
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\1\U.S. Department of the Interior Office of the Inspector General,
Coal Management Program, U.S. Department of the Interior, Report No.
CR-EV-BLM-0001-2012, June 2013.
\2\U.S. Government Accountability Office, COAL LEASING: BLM Could
Enhance Appraisal Process, More Explicitly Consider Coal Exports, and
Provide More Public Information, GAO-14-140, December 2013.
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In January 2016, Secretary of the Interior Jewell ordered a
moratorium on coal leasing to allow the Department of the
Interior to conduct a comprehensive and public review of the
federal coal program, and noted that previous comprehensive
coal program reviews in 1983 and 1973 had both been accompanied
by halts in leasing. The Department also pointed out that coal
companies had 20-years-worth of coal already under lease, and
that the moratorium included a number of exceptions to ensure
that coal mining operations on federal land weren't
unnecessarily halted.
In January 2017, the first phase of the review was
completed, with recommendations to increase transparency,
provide additional protection for surface owners, and capture
methane leaking from coal mines. The next phase of the review
was to focus on ensuring a fair return for taxpayers and making
sure companies were held financially responsible for repairing
environmental damage, but the study was prematurely halted, and
the leasing moratorium lifted, by President Trump and Secretary
Zinke in March 2017. We strongly disagree with these decisions,
which will keep taxpayers and the environment at risk from a
broken coal leasing system--a risk exacerbated by the
Administration's goal of expanding coal development.
Regardless of the decisions made by this Administration,
there is no question that the Secretary of the Interior holds a
discretionary right to choose whether or not to lease federal
coal. When systemic problems are identified in the coal program
that require a halt in leasing, as we believe is the situation
today, the Secretary should be allowed to exercise that
discretion until the problems are corrected. Since H.R. 1778
takes away that discretion, it increases the chances that flaws
in the federal coal program continue and millions of tons of
coal are leased at rates far below market value, and for that
reason we oppose the legislation.
Raul M. Grijalva,
Ranking Member, Committee on
Natural Resources.
Grace F. Napolitano.
Jared Huffman.
Colleen Hanabusa.
Darren Soto.
Madeleine Z. Bordallo.
Alan S. Lowenthal.
Nanette Diaz Barragan.
A. Donald McEachin.
[all]