SEDRA Section by Section Analysis
Sustainable Energy Development Reform Act (SEDRA)
Title I. Fair Return for Taxpayers – Leasing, enforcement, and royalty reforms to increase the amount of money raised from federal land and water energy development.
Title II. Encouraging Development of Renewable Energy – Language to increase the amount of renewable energy on public land and waters.
Title III. Preparing and Managing for Climate Change – Rescinds Trump’s executive order and helps better prepare for the impending impacts of climate change.
Title IV. Onshore Oil & Gas Reforms – Reforms the onshore leasing, permitting, and enforcement process to codify several Obama-era practices and increase public involvement. Reinstates or protects a variety of DOI oil and gas rules, and closes fracking loopholes.
Title V. Offshore Oil & Gas Reforms – Establishes new regional coordination and planning processes, and amends the OCS Lands Act to move the focus from development to protection.
Title VI. Coal Reforms – Changes the onshore coal leasing system to increase competition and taxpayer returns. Also reinstates the Stream Protection Rule in stronger form.
Title VII. Land Management and Science – Permanently protects ANWR and reauthorizes LWCF, in addition to other land management provisions.
Title I. Fair Return for Taxpayers
Sec. 101 – Onshore Fossil Fuel Royalty Rates – Raises onshore royalty rates to 18.75% for all new oil and gas and coal leases. The federal onshore royalty rate of 12.5% has not been adjusted in nearly a century, and is considerably below the federal offshore royalty rate and the royalty rates charged by states.
Sec. 102 – Minimum Bid Amount – Raises the current onshore oil and gas minimum bid from $2 to $5, and requires it to be indexed to inflation. The current minimum bid for onshore oil and gas leases has not been adjusted since 1987.
Sec. 103 – Onshore Oil and Gas Rental Rates – Raises onshore rental rates for oil and gas leases from their current values of $1.50 for the first 5 years and $2 for the second five years, to $3 for the first 5 years and $5 for the second 5 years.
Sec. 104 – Surface Disturbance and Reclamation – Increases bonding amounts to ensure that complete and timely reclamation of the lease tract and restoration of land and waters adversely affected by the lease can be undertaken as necessary. Also requires submission of interim and final reclamation plans with each drilling permit application and sets minimum bond amounts for individual, statewide, and national bonds, to be adjusted regularly for inflation.
Sec. 105 – Penalties – Raises civil and criminal penalties in the Mineral Leasing Act, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), and the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act (FOGRMA).
Sec. 106 – Royalty Relief – Repeals the shallow-water-deep-gas, deep-water, and Alaskan OCS royalty relief provisions that were enacted by Sections 344 and 345 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT).
Sec. 107 – Royalty Policy Committee – Requires the Secretary to modify the membership of the RPC to increase bipartisanship and include more public-interest and environmental groups. Also requires additional disclosures from companies with representatives on the RPC.
Sec. 108 – Royalty in Kind – Eliminates the authority of the Secretary to take royalties in kind (RIK) except for filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Sec. 109 – Amendments to Definitions – This section amends FOGRMA by adding new definitions to simplify and strengthen royalty payment oversight.
Sec. 110 – Compliance Reviews – Provides statutory authority for the Secretary to conduct compliance reviews of royalty payments, and requires any uncovered discrepancies to be referred to an auditor.
Sec. 111 – Liability for Royalty Payments – Clarifies that designees are liable for royalty payments under a lease, and that lease owners and operators are liable for their pro-rated share of payment obligations under a lease.
Sec. 112 – Recordkeeping – Requires oil and gas records to be kept by payors for seven years instead of the current six, which aligns that timeframe with the statute of limitations for the government established under the Royalty Fairness and Simplification Act of 1995 (P.L. 104-185) to collect unpaid royalties.
Sec. 113 – Adjustments and Refunds – Eliminates the opportunity for lessees to make adjustments to their royalty obligations after a compliance review or audit is completed on a lease in question, and limits the ability to make adjustments to four years after the date royalties were initially due. Currently, lessees are allowed to make adjustments for a full six years even after ONRR has already completely a compliance review or audit.
Sec. 114 – Obligation Period – Establishes that in the case of an adjustment made by a lessee that results in an underpayment, the lessee would be obligated to repay that amount (plus interest) from the date the lessee makes the adjustment, thus extending the statute of limitations on that royalty payment. This will enable DOI to audit such lease during the ensuing six-year cycle.
Sec. 115 – Tolling Agreements and Subpoenas – Allows the Secretary to correspond only with the lease designee in the case of subpoenas or agreements to pause the statute of limitations, as opposed to having to contact each lessee individually.
Sec. 116 – Appeals – Extends the timeframe for the Secretary to issue final decisions on any appeals on demands or orders to pay royalties or penalties to 48 months, from the current 33 months.
Sec. 117 – Assessments – Repeals a section of FOGRMA that prohibits the Secretary from imposing assessments on payors who chronically submit erroneous royalty reports.
Sec. 118 – Pilot Project on Automatic Data Transfer – Establishes a pilot project for the automated transmission of electronic data from offshore wellheads and meters to the federal government, in order to improve the accuracy and efficiency of data and royalty collection.
Sec. 119 – Penalty for Late or Incorrect Reporting of Data – Establishes a penalty for companies that file late or incorrect data, to be set at a level the Secretary determines is sufficient to ensure that companies file correct data on time, but no less than $10 per incorrect line of data.
Sec. 120 – Required Recordkeeping for Natural Gas Plants – Requires the Secretary to promulgate a regulation that requires purchasers of federal natural gas to maintain and provide records. FOGRMA already includes this authority, but the existing regulation applies only to lessees and operators.
Sec. 121 – Shared Penalties – Eliminates a disincentive for states and tribes to diligently pursue royalty violators.
Sec. 122 – Applicability to Other Minerals – Extends the civil and criminal enforcement authority in FOGRMA to coal and other solid minerals on federal lands, as well as to solid mineral mining or alternative energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf.
Sec. 123 – Entitlements – Requires the Secretary to publish final regulations regarding procedures for reporting royalties on entitled shares of production from unitized leases when lessees do not actually sell their share of production from that lease.
Sec. 124 – Royalties on All Extracted Methane – Eliminates the royalty waiver for natural gas produced and used on the lease, and requires royalties to be paid on all gas vented, flared, or lost through leakage.
Title II. Encouraging Development of Renewable Energy
Subtitle A. Environmental Reviews and Permitting
Sec. 201 – Definitions
Sec. 202 – Renewable Energy Goal – Sets a goal for the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture to have 25GW of wind, solar, geothermal, or marine hydrokinetic energy permitted on public lands by 2025.
Sec. 203 – Coordination – Directs the Secretary to create a position at DOI with the responsibility to coordinate renewable energy project reviews across agencies, and report to Congress annually on the effectiveness of those efforts.
Sec. 204 – Land Use Planning; Supplements to Programmatic Environmental Impact Statements – Requires the identification of priority and variance areas for wind, solar, and geothermal, and requires updates of the programmatic EISs for each of the three technologies.
Sec. 205 – Environmental Review on Covered Land – Directs the Secretary to use the programmatic EISs from Section 204 to provide the foundation for site-specific renewable energy project NEPA reviews.
Sec. 206 – Program to Improve Renewable Energy Project Permit Coordination – Establishes a program to improve permit coordination between the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Sec. 207 – Disposition of Revenues – Distributes revenues from renewable energy projects on public land to states, counties, and a newly-created Renewable Energy Resource Conservation Fund.
Sec. 208 – Study and Report on Conservation Banking – Directs the Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Agriculture to carry out a study on the feasibility of carrying out a conservation banking program on Federal land.
Sec. 209 – Brownfields – Directs the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy to study and improve the siting of renewable energy projects on brownfield sites.
Subtitle B. Geothermal Energy
Sec. 221 – Authorization of Geothermal STEAM Act – Extends authorization of the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 until 2022.
Sec. 222 – National Goal for Geothermal Energy – Establishes a goal for the Secretary of the Interior to significantly increase the amount of geothermal energy on public lands, and directs the U.S. Geological Survey to partner with the geothermal industry to identify sites capable of generating 50,000 MW of geothermal power.
Sec. 223 – Facilitation of Coproduction of Geothermal Energy on Oil & Gas Leases – Allows holders of producing oil and gas leases the option to obtain a geothermal lease noncompetitively for the same site.
Sec. 224 – Noncompetitive Leasing for Geothermal – Creates a new option for the non-competitive lease of federal lands for geothermal exploration and development, when the proposed lease area is no larger than 640 acres and adjoins an existing geothermal lease where a valid discovery has been made.
Sec. 225 – Report to Congress – Requires periodic reports on the progress toward meeting the geothermal goal from Section 222.
Subtitle C. Offshore Renewable Energy
Sec. 231 – Wind leasing amendments – Amends the alternative energy leasing subsection of OCSLA to delete ambiguous language from Section 388 of EPACT (43 U.S.C. 1337(p)) that could be interpreted to allow non-energy development under the Secretary’s offshore alternative energy leasing authority.
Sec. 232 – Report to Congress – Mandates a report within one year from DOI on recommendations to speed up permitting for offshore renewable energy.
Title III. Preparing and Managing for Climate Change
Sec. 301 – Energy Development Policy – Establishes a national policy to reduce carbon pollution as rapidly as practical, and sets the following goals for energy development decisions on federal lands: protecting public health and the environment, avoiding the most dangerous impacts of climate change, and promoting a rapid, just, and equitable transition to a clean energy economy.
Sec. 302 – Preparing for Climate Change – Rescinds Trump’s March 28, 2017, Executive Order on Energy, and requires CEQ to promulgate regulations requiring agencies to comply with the August 1, 2016, CEQ guidance on climate change, and to use the social costs of carbon and methane in cost-benefit analyses.
Sec. 303 – GHG Inventory – Requires the online publication of information regarding the greenhouse gas emission potential of fossil fuel leases on public lands, as well as the amount of methane emissions from fossil fuel operations on public lands and an estimate of the amount of emissions avoided by renewable energy sources on those lands.
Sec. 304 – Terrestrial Sequestration Pilot Program – Establishes a pilot program to award grants for projects to increase the amount of carbon sequestered by public lands.
Sec. 305 – Federal Lands Adaptation – Establishes a National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy Joint Implementation Working Group that would adopt the National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy designed to improve the resilience of fish, wildlife, and plants to the expected impacts of climate change.
Sec. 306 – Public Lands Service Corps – Expands the Public Lands Corps to include additional opportunities for veterans and individuals from minorities or underrepresented communities, authorize an Indian Youth Service Corps, and allow the National Marine Fisheries Service to employ Corps personnel, among other changes.
Sec. 307 – Coastal State Climate Change Planning – Amends the Coastal Zone Management Act to include grants to states to plan and implement climate change adaptation projects in the coastal zone.
Title IV. Onshore Oil & Gas Reforms
Subtitle A – Leasing Reforms
Sec. 401 – Leasing Process – Amends Section 17 of the Mineral Leasing Act to improve the onshore oil and gas leasing system and assure receipt of fair market value for lands leased for oil and gas. The amendments include:
- Requirements for sealed bids rather than oral auctions of leases;
- A maximum of 3 lease sales per year per state;
- A requirement that no field office can hold more than one lease sale per year;
- The elimination of non-competitive leasing;
- Authority for the Secretary to evaluate the resource potential of lease tracts and rejects bids that are below the estimated fair market value based on that potential;
- Shortening the primary lease term to 5 years;
- Requiring leaseholders to have the demonstrated capability to explore and produce oil and gas, in order to discourage speculation; and
- Adding terms to all leases to preserve the Government’s flexibility to control or prohibit activities that pose serious and unacceptable impacts to other values.
Sec. 402 – Transparency & Landowner Protections – Requires parties to disclose their identity when nominating and bidding on federal minerals, and requires the Secretary to notify surface land owners and holders of commercial use permits when oil and gas leases are offered on lands which would affect their property or permits. Also requires a surface use agreement between the operator and the surface landowner (if not the federal government), and provides additional safeguards for private surface owners overlying federal minerals. Also requires public notice and comment whenever lease stipulations are proposed to be waived or subject to an exception or modification.
Sec. 403 – Lease Stipulations – Requires a revision of the DOI-USDA MOU developed under Section 363 of EPACT to allow for more protective stipulations.
Sec. 404 – Master Leasing Plans – Requires the Secretary to develop Master Leasing Plans (MLPs) for any area where the four criteria under BLM Instructional Memorandum (IM) No. 2010-117 are met:
- A substantial portion of the area to be analyzed in the MLP is not currently leased;
- There is a majority Federal mineral interest;
- The oil and gas industry has expressed a specific interest in leasing, and there is a moderate or high potential for oil and gas confirmed by the discovery of oil and gas in the general area; and
- Additional analysis or information is needed to address likely resource or cumulative impacts if oil and gas development were to occur where there are.
Also provides general authority for MLPs in other areas, and requires the Secretary to respond to petitions requesting the development on new MLPs.
Sec. 405 – Parcel Review – Codifies the leasing reforms established in BLM IM 2010-117, such as:
- Interdisciplinary review of potential parcels;
- Site visits;
- Stipulation consistency;
- 90-day public notice of lease sales; and
- Enhanced NEPA requirements.
Sec. 406 – Acreage Limitation – Tightens the per-state oil and gas leasing acreage limitation by eliminating the language added by Section 352 of EPACT that exempts producing and unitized or communitized leases from counting against that limitation.
Sec. 407 – Land Management – Requires BLM and USFS to continue to manage lands under lease for multiple-use until a company begins operations on the lease.
Sec. 408 – Oil Shale – Prohibits commercial oil shale leasing until technical and economic feasibility is established through the existing R&D program.
Subtitle B – Permitting Reforms
Sec. 411 – Categorical Exclusions – Amends Section 390 of EPACT to require extraordinary circumstances reviews on the categorical exclusions in that section.
Sec. 412 – Permitting Deadline – Eliminates the current 30-day deadline established by EPACT for review of Applications for Permits to Drill.
Sec. 413 – Abandoned and Orphaned Wells – Establishes a DOI/USDA program to address abandoned and orphaned wells that were drilled into federal minerals, and a program for providing grants to states and tribes to address environmental problems caused by abandoned wells on private and tribal lands. Both programs are funded at $5 million per year, with money coming from a surcharge to the existing APD fee.
Sec. 414 – Online publication of Notices of Staking and Applications for Permits to Drill – Requires Notices of Staking to be published online at least 10 days before any onsite review would be conducted, and drilling permits to be published online at least 30 days before any drilling is authorized.
Sec. 415 – Having Open Access to Relevant Data – Requires DOI to report the number of approved-but-unused drilling permits at the end of each year, and prevents companies with too many unused drilling permits from obtaining more leases.]
Subtitle C – Operational Reforms
Sec. 421 – Best Management Practices – Requires oil and gas operators on federal lands to adhere to best management practices, with site-specific adjustments allowed to account for special circumstances.
Sec. 422 – Inspection Fee – Establishes an onshore oil and gas inspection fee, to be determined under regulations promulgated by the Secretary, with temporary fee amounts set in the section based on the number of wells on a lease or unit.
Sec. 423 – Protection of Water Resources – Requires operators to submit a water management plan with drilling permit applications, and to replace water supplies when drilling operations negatively affect surface or ground water.
Sec. 424 – Methane Emissions – Requires the Secretary to issue rules to reduce and prevent the waste of natural gas through venting, flaring, and leaks. The rules would require 99% gas capture within 5 years of enactment, and prohibit new wells from flaring within 2 years of enactment. Also requires performance standards to be established for operations and equipment to minimize gas leakage, and establishes additional reporting requirements. Keeps the current BLM Methane Waste Rule in place until stronger regulations are promulgated.
Sec. 425 – Fracking Regulation on Federal Lands – Requires BLM to promulgate regulations to cover hydraulic fracturing on federal lands, including baseline water testing and full online disclosure of fracking chemicals. Keeps the 2013 BLM Fracking Rule in place until stronger regulations are promulgated.
Sec. 426 – Closing Loopholes – Eliminates loopholes under several environmental laws that exempt oil and gas operations:
- The Safe Drinking Water Act;
- The Clean Water Act;
- The Clean Air Act; and
- The Solid Waste Disposal Act / Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
Sec. 427 – Transparency in Lease Management – Requires the Secretary to publish the identity of each oil and gas lease holder and operator on a public website, as well as all lease transfers and lease suspensions. Also requires all previous lessees and operators to be identified.
Sec. 428 – Lease Cancellation for Improper Issuance – Clarifies that DOI can cancel leases under the MLA if those leases have been improperly issued.
Sec. 429 – Protecting National Parks and Wildlife Refuges – Ensures that the 2016 rules for oil and gas operations in National Parks and Wildlife Refuges remain in effect unless more protective rules are promulgated.
Title V. Offshore Oil & Gas Reforms
Subtitle A – Regional Coordination and Planning
Sec. 501 – Definitions
Sec. 502 – Regional Coordination – Addresses the need for long-term coordination and planning amongst Federal agencies with authorities for ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes management and between those Federal agencies and States and establishes nine Coordination Regions in the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, North Atlantic, Mid Atlantic, South Atlantic, Alaska, Pacific Islands, and the Caribbean.
Sec. 503 – Regional Coordination Councils – Establishes Regional Coordination Councils, designated by the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, which would include representatives of relevant Federal agencies, Coastal States, Regional Fishery Management Councils, interstate fisheries commissions, Regional Ocean Partnerships, affected Tribes, and county and local governments.
Sec. 504 – Regional Strategic Plans – Authorizes the Regional Coordination Councils to prepare and complete Strategic Plans, within 3 years after completion of an initial regional assessment, to foster comprehensive, integrated, and sustainable development and use of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes resources, while protecting marine ecosystem health and sustaining the long-term economic and ecosystem values of the oceans.
Sec. 505 – Regulations – Authorizes the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality to issue regulations necessary to administer this Title.
Sec. 506 – Ocean Resources Conservation and Assistance (ORCA) Fund – Establishes an Ocean Resources Conservation and Assistance (ORCA) Fund, funded with a percentage of all OCS revenues, which would provide grants to coastal states and Regional Ocean Partnerships for activities that contribute to the protection, maintenance, and restoration of ocean, coastal and Great Lakes ecosystems.
Sec. 507 – Waiver – Exempts the Regional Coordination Councils from the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
Subtitle B – Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act Amendments
Sec. 511 – National Policy for the Outer Continental Shelf – Amends Section 3 of OCSLA to require a more balanced approach to energy development that acknowledges the other resources of the OCS, and to emphasize that energy-related activities should be conducted in a matter that minimizes impacts to human health and the marine, coastal, and human environments.
Sec. 512 – OCS Leasing Standard – Amend Section 5 of OCSLA to clarify the authority of the Secretary to issue regulations related to operational safety and environmental protection on the OCS, and would require the Secretary to consult with the Secretary of Commerce on any regulation that may affect the marine or coastal environment.
Sec. 513 – OCS Leasing Procedures – Amends Section 8 of OCSLA by adding three new subsections related to royalties and financial assurances. New subsection 8(q) requires the Secretary to conduct a bonding study at least once every five years to determine if financial assurance levels are adequate for operations on the OCS. New subsection 8(r) requires the Secretary to conduct a fiscal system review at least once every three years that would outline in-place royalty and rental rates and indicate whether the Secretary intended to modify those rates. New subsection 8(s) requires the Secretary to conduct a comparative fiscal review at least once every five years, to assess the overall oil and gas fiscal system of the United States and compare it to systems in place in other countries.
Subsection (b) forbids companies from obtaining new leases or permits to drill unless the Secretary can certify that the company is meeting safety and environmental requirements on its existing leases and does not have outstanding obligations under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.
Subsection (c) requires the Secretary to request a review by the Secretary of Commerce of any proposed lease sale.
Subsection (d) prohibits the issuance of leases if the Secretary determines that such leases would likely result in harm to life, property, or the marine, coastal, or human environments.
Sec. 514 – Funding – Amends Section 9 of OCSLA to provide for yearly mandatory funding of $900 million for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, $150 million for the Historic Preservation Fund, and 10% of total offshore revenues for the ORCA Fund created by this Act.
Sec. 515 – Exploration Plans – Amends Section 11 of OCSLA to strengthen and create new requirements for exploration plans and eliminate the 30-day deadline for approval of those plans. Exploration plans would be required to include blowout scenarios with estimated timelines for drilling a potential relief well, and an analysis of the impact of a worst-case-scenario discharge from drilling. Categorical exclusions would no longer be allowed for approving plans, and plans and permits could only be approved if the applicant will be using best-available technology for drilling the well and responding to spills, and has demonstrated capability and technology to respond immediately to a worst-case-scenario oil spill. Also mandates a full engineering review of the well design and the existence of a safety and environmental management plan before a drilling permit can be issued, and provides additional authority for the disapproval of a plan if the exploration activities would probably cause damage to the marine, coastal, or human environments. For geological and geophysical exploration permits, the Secretary would be required to consult with the Secretary of Commerce, and the applicant would be required to use best available technologies to minimize impacts on marine life.
Sec. 516 – 5-Year Programs – Amends Section 18 of OCSLA to provide for additional consideration of environmental factors in the preparation of 5-year leasing plans. This section would also require consultation with the Secretary of Commerce during the preparation of those plans. In addition, a new subsection 18(i) is added, which would establish a research and development program designed to improve the ability to estimate oil and gas resources and address gaps in environmental data on the OCS.
Sec. 517 – Environmental Studies – Amends Section 20 of OCSLA to require environmental studies, in cooperation with the Secretary of Commerce, at least once every three years of OCS areas where oil and gas lease sales are scheduled. Subsection (b) would direct the Secretary to conduct research on the impacts of deepwater oil spills and the use of dispersants.
Sec. 518 – Inspections and Certifications – Amends Section 22 of OCSLA to require monthly inspections of drilling rigs, more frequent investigations of safety-related incidents on the OCS, investigations of all allegations brought by employees of operators or contractors, and certifications from operators, operators’ Chief Executive Officers, and independent third parties regarding compliance with safety and other regulations.
Sec. 519 – Petitions – Extends the timeframe for filing petitions against Secretarial actions pursuant to the OCSLA.
Subtitle C – Other Provisions
Sec. 521 – Contractor Liability – Clarifies that contractors on the OCS are jointly liable with lessees for violations on the OCS.
Sec. 522 – Area-wide Leasing – Requires the Secretary to contract with the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study of the potential financial impacts of returning to a tract-nomination system for the OCS as opposed to the current area-wide system.
Sec. 523 – Frontier Areas – Permanent protection from oil and gas leasing for the entire U.S. Arctic Ocean OCS.
Sec. 524 – Strengthening Coastal State Oil Spill Planning and Response – amends the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 to add a new section to provide grants, not to exceed $750,000, to eligible coastal States to revise relevant plans of management programs to ensure sufficient oil spill response capabilities.
Sec. 525 – Repeal of Limitation on Liability for Offshore Facilities – Eliminates the $75 million liability cap for offshore facilities under the Oil Pollution Act.
Sec. 526 – Evidence of Financial Responsibility for Offshore Facilities – Doubles the financial responsibility requirements for offshore facilities to a maximum of $300 million, and triples the current minimums to $30 million for facilities in state waters and $105 million for facilities in federal waters.
Title VI. Coal Reforms
Sec. 601 – Powder River Basin – Redesignates the Powder River Basin as a coal production area and requires leases to be offered in a manner that maximizes competition.
Sec. 602 – Deductions – Eliminates coal washing deductions for royalty valuation.
Sec. 603 – Valuation – Closes the loophole that allows companies to sell coal to a subsidiary and use that price as the value for royalty purposes, and requires an NAS study to determine the fairest way to value coal from federal lands.
Sec. 604 – Methane Recovery – Amend the Mineral Leasing Act to include coal mine methane within the scope of a Federal coal lease, and requires the development of coal mine methane at federal coal leases whenever it is economically and technically practical.
Sec. 605 – Self-bonding – Eliminates the ability of coal companies to self-bond, which would require companies to provide surety or collateral bonds to ensure that reclamation obligations are met.
Sec. 606 – Stream Protection – Establishes a 100-foot buffer around perennial or intermittent streams where surface coal mining would be prohibited, unless the Secretary shows that water quality standards would not be violated, and directs the Secretary to issue new regulations that better protect people, fish, wildlife, and the environment from the impacts of coal mining.
Sec. 607 – Certified States – Allows certified states to use AML money on non-coal projects only if the state demonstrates that there is no higher danger abandoned coal mine in the state, and the state gets approval from OSMRE.
Sec. 608 – Economic Redevelopment on Abandoned Mine Lands – Text of RECLAIM as introduced by Senator Manchin in 2017.
Sec. 609 – Prohibition on Blasting Within One Mile of Any Occupied Dwelling – Amends SMCRA to prohibit blasting within one mile of an occupied dwelling, public building, school, church, public park, or other structures.
Sec. 610 – Coal Miners Pension Protection – Text of Miners Pension Protection Act as introduced by Sen. Manchin in 2017.
Title VII. Land Management and Science
Sec. 701 – ANWR – Designates the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness.
Sec. 702 – Land Management Standard – Clarifies that “unnecessary and undue degradation” in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act means “unnecessary degradation and undue degradation”.
Sec. 703 – Geological and Geophysical Data – Reauthorizes the Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program through 2022.
Sec. 704 – LWCF – Permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and requires that at least 1.5 percent or $10 million, whichever is greater, be used on projects that improve public access to public land for hunting, fishing, and other recreational purposes. Also changes the treatment of the District of Columbia and U.S. territories under the LWCF.
Sec. 705 – Mitigation – Reinstates Secretarial Order 3330, related to mitigation policy and practices at DOI.
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