30 U.S.C. § 202a — Consolidation of coal leases into logical mining unit

(1) Approval by Secretary: The Secretary can approve combining coal leases into a logical mining unit, if doing so serves the maximum economic recovery of the coal. This can only happen after a public hearing, if anyone whose interest might be hurt asks for one. A logical mining unit is an area of land where the coal can be efficiently, economically, and properly mined as a single operation, with care for conserving coal and other resources. It can include one or more federal leases, plus nearby or in-between land where the U.S. does not own the coal — but everything in the unit must be under one operator's control, able to be developed and run as one operation, and touching (contiguous). (2) Mining plan requirements: Once the Secretary approves a logical mining unit, any mining plan for it must require developing, operating, and producing diligently enough that the whole unit's coal reserves are mined within a period the Secretary sets, no more than 40 years. The Secretary can allow more than 40 years if a longer period would ensure maximum economic recovery of the coal, or would serve the orderly, efficient, or economic development of the coal resource. (3) Conditions for approval: When approving a logical mining unit, the Secretary can decide that diligent development, ongoing operation, and production on any lease or land in the unit counts as happening on every federal lease in that unit. The Secretary can also let rents and royalties for all the unit's federal leases be combined, and let any advance royalties already paid for a lease in the unit be credited against that combined total. (4) Amendment to lease: The Secretary can change the terms of any lease in a logical mining unit, so mining under it matches the requirements set for the whole unit. (5) Leases issued before this Act: Leases signed before this Act became law can be added to a logical mining unit if every lessee agrees, and once added, they follow this section's rules. (6) Lessee required to form unit: By regulation, the Secretary can require a lessee under this chapter to form a logical mining unit, and can set rules for figuring out how much of a unit's acreage counts as each party's participating share. (7) Required acreage: The Secretary cannot approve a logical mining unit if its total acreage — federal and non-federal combined — would be more than 25,000 acres. (8) Acreage limitations not waived: Nothing in this section removes the separate acreage limits for coal leases set in section 184(a) of this title.