30 U.S.C. § 1232 — Reclamation fee

(a) Fee. Each coal-mining operator covered by this chapter must pay the Secretary of the Interior, for the Fund, the lesser of 22.4 cents per ton of surface-mined coal or 10 percent of its value at the mine, as the Secretary determines. For underground coal, the rate is the lesser of 9.6 cents per ton or 10 percent of mine value. For lignite, it is the lesser of 2 percent of mine value or 6.4 cents per ton. (b) Due date. The fee is due within 30 days after each calendar quarter, for quarters beginning after August 3, 1977, through September 30, 2034. (c) Quarterly statement. With the fee, every operator must submit a sworn and notarized statement of quarterly production, removal method, and coal type. It must identify the surface-operation permittee, any additional operator, coal owner, preparation plant, tipple or loading point, purchaser, the section 1256 permit number, and the mine safety and health identification number. Each report must state changes since the previous report. The Secretary must keep the information in a computerized database. (d) Penalties and audits. (1) A person, corporate officer, agent, or director acting for an operator who knowingly makes a false required statement, representation, or certification, or knowingly fails to make one, may on conviction be fined up to $10,000, imprisoned up to one year, or both. (2) The Secretary must audit production and fee payments as needed for compliance. At reasonable times, the Secretary or a designated officer, employee, or representative may, on request, access and copy all books, papers, and other documents of covered persons. The Secretary may audit any surface-mining and reclamation operation, including tipples and preparation plants, whenever necessary to ensure full payment. (e) Recovery. An unpaid or late fee, with statutory interest, may be recovered from the operator in any competent court through an action to collect debts. (f) Other agencies. Federal and State agencies must fully cooperate. If the Secretary believes a person has not paid the full fee, the Secretary must notify the Federal agency responsible for section 4121 of title 26 compliance. (g) Fund allocation. (1) Unless subsection (h) applies, the Secretary must use Fund money as follows. (A) Each year, 50 percent of fees collected in a State, excluding Indian-land fees, goes to the State if it has an approved section 1235 program and eligible land and water under section 1234 (if uncertified under section 1240a(a)) or section 1240a(b) (if certified). (B) Each year, 50 percent of fees from Indian lands goes to the Tribe with jurisdiction if it has an approved section 1235 program and eligible land and water under section 1234 (if uncertified) or section 1240a(b) (if certified). (C) State and Tribal allocations may be used only for annual reclamation-project construction and program-administration grants. (D) A grant not spent within three years, or within five years for grants awarded in fiscal years 2008–2010, becomes available for the Secretary’s paragraph (5) use. (2) Until a certification under section 1240a(a), grants under paragraphs (1)(C) and (5) must strictly follow section 1233(a) priorities. (3) Unallocated money may be used (A) for section 1257(c), directly or through State grants, subject to section 1231(c)(9); (B) for section 1240 emergencies; (C) for Fund objectives on eligible land and water in places without an approved section 1235 program; (D) to administer this subchapter; or (E) for paragraph (8). (4)(A) Money not allocated under paragraphs (1), (2), or (5), or spent under paragraph (3), may reclaim or control drainage on unreclaimed coal-mining sites and related wastebanks and processing areas left inadequately reclaimed. (B) This may be done if the Secretary finds either (i) the operation occurred from August 4, 1977, through the State program’s approval date and available bonds or other sources are inadequate, or (ii) it occurred from August 4, 1977, through November 5, 1990, the surety became insolvent during that period, and immediately available insolvency, guarantee, or other funds were inadequate as of November 5, 1990. (C) The Secretary must follow section 1233(a)(1) and (2) priorities, giving priority to sites near homes or harming a local economy. (D) Civil penalties under section 1268 may be appropriated for this work. (E) A State may use grants under paragraphs (1) and (5) for such a site, with the Secretary’s concurrence, if it makes one of the findings in (B) and decides the site is at least as urgent as eligible land and water. (F) Such sites count as having section 1233(a) priorities for certification, and all such sites in a State must be reclaimed before that State certifies. (5)(A) After paragraph (1), the Secretary must allocate 60 percent of the Fund for extra annual grants to uncertified States and Tribes until the section 1233(a)(1) and (2) priorities are met. The formula uses historical coal production before August 3, 1977. Paragraphs (3) and (4) spending are not deducted from paragraphs (1) or (5) allocations. (B) Amounts reallocated under section 1240a(h)(3) are additional. (6)(A) A State with an approved program may keep up to 30 percent of its annual paragraph (1) and (5) grants without the three-year limit if it deposits the money and interest in a State acid-drainage fund and uses it comprehensively in qualified hydrologic units. (B) A “qualified hydrologic unit” is one whose water quality is significantly harmed by coal-related acid drainage in a way that harms biological resources and that contains eligible land and water with section 1233(a) priorities, where the State is also spending bond-forfeiture or other State money on acid drainage. (7) A State or Tribe may use annual grants for section 1233(a)(3) land before finishing paragraphs (1) and (2) projects only if it does so together with spending, before, on, or after December 20, 2006, on paragraphs (1) and (2) projects. (8)(A) The Secretary must ensure annual grants total at least $3,000,000 for each qualifying State and Tribe with an approved program and eligible land and water, while money is needed to meet paragraphs (1) and (2) priorities. (B) This rule applies to Tennessee and Missouri despite other law. (h) Interest transfers. (1)(A) Beginning as soon as practicable after the beginning of fiscal year 2007 and each fiscal year thereafter, and before making any allocation for the fiscal year under subsection (g), the Secretary must use no more than the interest the Secretary estimates will be earned and paid to the Fund during that fiscal year to transfer to the Combined Benefit Fund the amounts its trustees estimate are needed to offset any deficit in the Fund’s net assets as of October 1, 2006, and to make the transfer described in paragraph (2)(A). (B) Beginning as soon as practicable after the beginning of fiscal year 2008 and each fiscal year thereafter, and before making any allocation for the fiscal year under subsection (g), the Secretary must use no more than the interest the Secretary estimates will be earned and paid to the Fund during that fiscal year, reduced by the amount used under subparagraph (A), to make the transfers described in paragraphs (2)(B) and (2)(C). (2)(A) The Combined Benefit Fund receives the trustees’ estimated yearly spending, minus estimated required premiums, Federal-agency benefit payments, and—only up to the amount available under subsection (i)(1)(A)—health costs for unassigned beneficiaries created solely by section 9706(h)(1). (B) The 1992 UMWA Benefit Plan receives the next year’s estimated cost of benefits required as of December 20, 2006, minus estimated monthly per-beneficiary premiums, available security, and Federal-agency payments. (C)(i) The post-July 20, 1992 Multiemployer Health Benefit Plan receives the next year’s excess of estimated spending for no greater benefits than those provided December 31, 2006, over Federal-agency payments. (ii) The calculation counts only beneficiaries enrolled December 27, 2020 and eligible on the transfer year’s first day, excluding participation-agreement enrollees; people whose employer-paid coal-industry health benefits would be denied or reduced because of bankruptcies begun in 2012, 2015, 2018, 2019, or later; and dispute-resolution administration costs. Enrollees on December 27, 2020 are deemed eligible January 1, 2020. (iii) The bankruptcy-affected retirees are treated as eligible. (iv) The transfer is reduced by bankruptcy-VEBA payments for the year. (v) The VEBA administrator must transfer bankruptcy proceeds to the Plan after administrative costs. (vi) “Related coal wage agreement” means an agreement between UMWA and a bituminous-coal employer that is a signatory operator or is or was a debtor in a bankruptcy consolidated with a signatory operator or related person. (D) For this calculation, a person eligible December 20, 2006 despite receiving benefits under a bankruptcy settlement approved by September 30, 2004 is considered enrolled and receives Plan benefits beginning December 31, 2006. (3) The Secretary must adjust the next year’s transfer if a paragraph (2)(A), (B), or (C) transfer was too high or low. (4)(A) Interest credited but not previously transferred is held in reserve for subsection (i)(1)(A) and (B), and supplements them when needed to pay their permitted maximums. (B) Amounts allocated under subsection (g)(2) before December 20, 2006 but not appropriated are available for paragraph (2) transfers. (C) The Secretary must consult plan trustees at reasonable intervals and notify Congress if the reserve is insufficient for future paragraph (4)(A)(ii) needs. (D) Congress may appropriate more reserve money. (E) The subsection (i)(3)(A) cap does not apply to reserve payments. (5)(A) Transfers under (2)(B) and (C) may be made only if actuarial projections show that, after the transfer, the next fiscal year will have enough money for (2)(A). (B)(i) A (2)(C) transfer requires contributor rates at least those in effect 30 days before December 20, 2006, and those contributions first pay beneficiaries outside (2)(C)(ii). (ii) From December 20, 2006 through December 31, 2010, contributors collectively must pay the amount in (2)(C), minus the amount actually transferred because of the cap-related rule; 2006 is the first required year; 2006’s amount is calculated as if the rule applied in 2005, except it cannot exceed the amount needed for solvency on December 31, 2006. (iii) The collective obligation is divided uniformly based on covered work hours. (C) For 2008, 2009, and 2010, (2)(B) and (C) transfers are respectively 25, 50, and 75 percent of the otherwise required amounts. (i) Treasury funding. (1) Subject to paragraph (3), the Treasury Secretary must transfer money to the plans in (h)(2). (A) The Combined Fund receives the fiscal-year amount its trustees estimate premium accounts will spend for unassigned beneficiaries created solely by section 9706(h)(1), reduced for 2008 by section 9706(h)(3)(A) amounts, for 2009 by subparagraph (B) amounts, and for 2010 by subparagraph (C) amounts. (B) On trustee certification that available money, after subsection (h)(5), is less than required, the Secretary must transfer the amount needed under (h)(2). (C) The Combined Fund receives no more than $9,000,000 on each October 1 in 2007–2010 to refund, proportionally and within 60 days of receipt, pre-September 7, 2000 premiums plus 7.5 percent annual interest to eligible signatory operators, related persons, heirs, successors, or assigns whose refunds were denied by final judgment or settlement. Eligibility requires that before December 20, 2006 all beneficiary assignments were voided by the Social Security Commissioner and the operator lost litigation claiming the assignments unconstitutional, and that by September 7, 2000 it had paid an unrefunded premium. (2) Subject to (3), the Treasury Secretary must transfer money to the Interior Secretary for States and Tribes for amounts in section 1240a(h)(1)(A) and (2)(A). (3)(A) Total yearly transfers may not exceed $750,000,000. (B) If more is required, every paragraph (1) transfer is reduced by the same percentage, calculated without subsection (h)(5)(A). (C) The cap increases by the cost of benefits counted under (h)(2)(C)(ii) solely because of the American Miner Benefits Improvement Act of 2020. (4)(A) If the cap exceeds amounts required under (1) and (2), the Treasury Secretary must transfer the difference to the trustees of the 1974 UMWA Pension Plan for required benefits. (B) Transfers stop after the first plan year with a funded percentage of at least 100 percent. (C) While receiving them, the plan may not increase liabilities through benefit, accrual, or vesting changes unless required for tax qualification. (D) Until eligibility ends, the Plan is treated as in critical status for the listed Code and ERISA provisions, must maintain and follow its rehabilitation plan including updates, and is not subject to the listed Code and ERISA subsections (c) and (d). (E) Transfers and earnings are ignored in calculating unfunded vested benefits and employer withdrawal liability. (F) No transfer is made unless contributors maintain rates at least those in effect 30 days before December 20, 2019. (G)(i) By the 90th day of each plan year beginning after December 20, 2019, trustees must file with Treasury and PBGC a report, with required documents and actuarial certifications, stating: plan endangered or critical status; funded percentage and underlying asset and liability values; prior-year market assets; contributions; benefits paid; six- or ten-year cash projections and assumptions; ten-year funding-standard projections and assumptions; investment gains or losses; significant active-participant reductions and reasons; withdrawing employers and lost contributions; employers paying withdrawal liability and each assessment, annual payment, and years remaining; material benefit, accrual, or contribution changes; scheduled material benefit changes; funding-improvement or rehabilitation plans and updates; prior-year active, paid-status, and terminated-vested participant and beneficiary counts; latest annual funding notice; latest Form 5500; and plan documents, amendments, related benefit plans and contribution duties, administrative expenses, census and benefit-distribution data, latest actuarial valuation, collective bargaining agreements, financial reports, and other information required after consultation with Labor and PBGC. (ii) The report must be electronic. (iii) Treasury must share it with Labor. (iv) Late filing is treated as failure to file under section 6058(a), with a $100 rather than $25 penalty under section 6652(e), unless Treasury finds reasonable diligence. (H) “1974 UMWA Pension Plan” has the meaning in section 9701(a)(3), without the limitation to people retiring in 1976 or later. (5) Transfers under (1) and (2) begin in fiscal year 2008 and every year after and remain available until spent.