A bill to amend the Mineral Leasing Act to provide for the payment of bonus payments of certain coal leases issued under that Act.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill amends the Mineral Leasing Act's rules for federal coal leases. When a lease is issued under a deferred bonus-payment system, the total bonus must be divided into 10 equal annual installments. The first installment must accompany the bid for the lease. This establishes a specific payment schedule for the up-front value offered by a bidder, rather than requiring the entire bonus at once. It applies only to coal leases issued under the covered deferred-payment approach and does not set royalty rates, alter lease acreage, or forgive any portion of the bonus.
Who Benefits and How
Federal coal lease bidders benefit from being able to spread a covered lease bonus across ten years, reducing the immediate cash required after a successful bid while leaving the total nominal bonus due. Coal mining companies using federal leases may gain financing flexibility and a more predictable annual payment schedule when planning development of a leased tract.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Bureau of Land Management leasing administrators must structure and track ten annual installments for each qualifying deferred-payment coal lease and verify that the first payment accompanies the bid. Recipients of federal mineral revenue bear delayed collection of most of the bonus amount because nine installments arrive in later years, although the bill does not reduce the stated total owed.
Key Provisions
- Requires a deferred bonus payment for a covered federal coal lease to be divided into 10 equal annual installments.
- Requires the first annual installment to be submitted with the bidder's lease bid.
- Limits the new schedule to coal leases issued under a system of deferred bonus payment under the Mineral Leasing Act.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Require bonus payments for federal coal leases using deferred payment to be paid in 10 equal annual installments, beginning with the lease bid.
Key Policy Areas
Energy, Public Lands
Primary Purpose
Require bonus payments for federal coal leases using deferred payment to be paid in 10 equal annual installments, beginning with the lease bid.
Policy Domains
A bill to amend the Mineral Leasing Act to provide for the payment of bonus payments of certain coal leases issued under that Act.
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Federal coal lease applicant companies
- Coal mining companies and workers using federal leases
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Bureau of Land Management leasing administrators
- State governments and communities receiving federal mineral revenue
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedCommittee on Energy and Natural Resources. Ordered to be reported …
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and …
Introduced in Senate
Mr. Barrasso (for himself, Ms. Lummis, and Mr. Lee) introduced …
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "lease_bidder"
- → Bidder for a federal coal lease
- "leasing_agency"
- → Bureau of Land Management
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology