| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 280 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To require the Secretary of the Interior to take certain actions with respect |
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| 6 | 6 | | to certain qualified coal applications, and for other purposes. |
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| 7 | 7 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 8 | 8 | | JANUARY9, 2025 |
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| 9 | 9 | | Ms. H |
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| 10 | 10 | | AGEMAN(for herself, Mr. MEUSER, and Mrs. MILLERof West Virginia) |
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| 11 | 11 | | introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on |
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| 12 | 12 | | Natural Resources |
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| 13 | 13 | | A BILL |
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| 14 | 14 | | To require the Secretary of the Interior to take certain |
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| 15 | 15 | | actions with respect to certain qualified coal applications, |
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| 16 | 16 | | and for other purposes. |
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| 17 | 17 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 18 | 18 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 19 | 19 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 20 | 20 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Combating Obstruction 4 |
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| 21 | 21 | | Against Leasing Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘COAL Act of 5 |
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| 22 | 22 | | 2025’’. 6 |
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| 23 | 23 | | SEC. 2. LEASING FOR CERTAIN QUALIFIED COAL APPLICA-7 |
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| 24 | 24 | | TIONS. 8 |
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| 25 | 25 | | (a) D |
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| 26 | 26 | | EFINITIONS.—In this section: 9 |
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| 27 | 27 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H280.IH H280 |
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| 28 | 28 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 29 | 29 | | •HR 280 IH |
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| 30 | 30 | | (1) COAL LEASE.—The term ‘‘coal lease’’ 1 |
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| 31 | 31 | | means a lease entered into by the United States as 2 |
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| 32 | 32 | | lessor, through the Bureau of Land Management, 3 |
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| 33 | 33 | | and the applicant on Bureau of Land Management 4 |
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| 34 | 34 | | Form 3400–012. 5 |
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| 35 | 35 | | (2) Q |
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| 36 | 36 | | UALIFIED APPLICATION .—The term 6 |
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| 37 | 37 | | ‘‘qualified application’’ means any application pend-7 |
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| 38 | 38 | | ing under the lease by application program adminis-8 |
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| 39 | 39 | | tered by the Bureau of Land Management pursuant 9 |
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| 40 | 40 | | to the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) 10 |
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| 41 | 41 | | and subpart 3425 of title 43, Code of Federal Regu-11 |
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| 42 | 42 | | lations (as in effect on the date of the enactment of 12 |
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| 43 | 43 | | this Act), for which the environmental review proc-13 |
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| 44 | 44 | | ess under the National Environmental Policy Act of 14 |
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| 45 | 45 | | 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) has commenced. 15 |
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| 46 | 46 | | (b) M |
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| 47 | 47 | | ANDATORYLEASING ANDOTHERREQUIRED 16 |
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| 48 | 48 | | A |
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| 49 | 49 | | PPROVALS.—As soon as practicable after the date of the 17 |
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| 50 | 50 | | enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall promptly— 18 |
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| 51 | 51 | | (1) with respect to each qualified application— 19 |
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| 52 | 52 | | (A) if not previously published for public 20 |
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| 53 | 53 | | comment, publish a draft environmental assess-21 |
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| 54 | 54 | | ment, as required under the National Environ-22 |
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| 55 | 55 | | mental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et 23 |
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| 56 | 56 | | seq.) and any applicable implementing regula-24 |
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| 57 | 57 | | tions; 25 |
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| 58 | 58 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H280.IH H280 |
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| 59 | 59 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 60 | 60 | | •HR 280 IH |
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| 61 | 61 | | (B) finalize the fair market value of the 1 |
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| 62 | 62 | | coal tract for which a lease by application is 2 |
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| 63 | 63 | | pending; 3 |
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| 64 | 64 | | (C) take all intermediate actions necessary 4 |
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| 65 | 65 | | to grant the qualified application; and 5 |
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| 66 | 66 | | (D) grant the qualified application; and 6 |
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| 67 | 67 | | (2) with respect to previously awarded coal 7 |
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| 68 | 68 | | leases, grant any additional approvals of the Depart-8 |
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| 69 | 69 | | ment of the Interior or any bureau, agency, or divi-9 |
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| 70 | 70 | | sion of the Department of the Interior required for 10 |
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| 71 | 71 | | mining activities to commence. 11 |
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| 72 | 72 | | SEC. 3. FUTURE COAL LEASING. 12 |
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| 73 | 73 | | Notwithstanding any judicial decision to the contrary 13 |
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| 74 | 74 | | or a departmental review of the Federal coal leasing pro-14 |
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| 75 | 75 | | gram, Secretarial Order 3338, issued by the Secretary of 15 |
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| 76 | 76 | | the Interior on January 15, 2016, shall have no force or 16 |
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| 77 | 77 | | effect. 17 |
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| 78 | 78 | | Æ |
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| 79 | 79 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:17 Feb 01, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H280.IH H280 |
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| 80 | 80 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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