US House clears bill expanding domestic mining, resuming coal leases on federal lands

The US House of Representatives passed a massive budget package May 22 that would expand domestic mining activities and reinstate mineral leases, clearing a hurdle for the Trump administration to advance many of its energy goals.

The Republican-led bill, which passed by one vote along party lines, allows companies to pay for expedited environmental reviews, permanently reinstates new coal leasing on federal lands and reopens some national forests to mining.

While a few provisions were stripped from the final bill, notably selling of some public lands, environmentalists castigated the bill as a handout to miners.

And while the bill must still pass the Senate and be signed by President Donald Trump, Republican Representative Bruce Westerman, of Arkansas, who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, cheered its passage and what it would do for natural-resource extractors.

"The Natural Resources title of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will generate billions of dollars in new revenue for the federal government, restore American energy dominance, turbocharge critical mineral development, streamline permitting processes and promote an all-of-the-above energy future," he said in a May 22 statement.

Permit timelines

The legislation addresses permitting, allowing projects to pay a fee equal to 125% of the anticipated costs of preparing an environmental review in exchange for a streamlined National Environmental Policy Act review.

The provision seeks to reduce the time to complete an Environmental Impact Statement to one year and the time to complete an Environmental Assessment to six months. It also shields applicants from lawsuits under NEPA.

The legislation instructs the Department of the Interior to make known, recoverable coal resources on federal land available for lease, so long as the land does not include certain areas like national monuments, national recreation areas or national preserves.

Interior placed a moratorium on most federal coal leases under former-President Joe Biden in 2016 to conduct a review of the leasing program.

One provision allows for the mining of a federal coal lease at the Bull Mountains Mine in Montana, which has over 70 million short tons of in-place coal reserves, according to the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement. A judge blocked mine expansion in 2023 amid legal challenges from conservation groups. The mine is owned by power utility First Energy, and coal mine operator Boich Companies and coal trader Gunvor International B.V.

A separate amendment reduces the surface mine coal royalty – a percentage of the value of coal mined or sold that is paid to the government on public lands -- to 7% from 12.5% on new and active coal leases.

Minnesota mining

Two provisions target federal lands in Minnesota.

One rescinds a 2023 order that withdrew federal lands in the National Forest System from mineral leasing laws. The order aimed to protect natural resources and wilderness in areas like the Rainy River Watershed and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

The other reinstates certain 20-year hard rock mineral leases in the 3 million-acre Superior National Forest, the largest national forest east of the Mississippi River.

The bill made aggressive cuts to the Biden Administration's Inflation Reduction Act incentives and will eliminate clean electric and production tax credits on a faster timeline than previous versions.

Stripped out

Several mining-related amendments initially included in the House Natural Resources committee's version of the budget bill were struck.

One removed a provision that would have established a $500,000/year rental fee for a surface transportation access road in Alaska from Ambler Mining District to the Dalton Highway. This would have allowed for better access to the mining district.

The House-passed bill also dropped an amendment that would allow for the sale of public lands in Nevada and Utah. Lawmakers representing the states supported the provision, but Representative Ryan Zinke, a Montana Republican and former interior secretary, led an effort against it.

Environmentalists deplored the bill. Tracy Stone-Manning, president of The Wilderness Society, called it "one big giveaway."

"By opening hundreds of millions of acres to drilling, mining and logging to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy, this bill harms the tens of millions of people who like to hike, recreate or find solace in the outdoors," she said in a May 22 statement.

Revisions to the budget bill are still expected as the bill now heads to the US Senate.

Republicans are aiming to get the bill to the White House for Trump to sign into law by July 4.