republic-os/legal/us/code/title-30/chapter-3a/section-202a.md

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LegalText	30 U.S.C. § 202a	Consolidation of coal leases into logical mining unit	us	united_states_code	code_section	30	MINERAL LANDS AND MINING	3A	LEASES AND PROSPECTING PERMITS	202a	30 U.S.C. § 202a	current	119-100	2026-06-26	official	https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc30@119-100.zip	/us/usc/t30/s202a	data/legal/raw/us/code/title-30/usc30.xml	91a5b84b3f227c221e7aebc37c58f64131877cdfbb7aa9bf7e39f007a7c0db1c	355f8eb5c6ad5372de4a8e665d9ed90202d53d2aac19ac001d43948af4a4dd2f	335c0f84a44f127c18d274060c8773649057a5dd8dbe2a5cd56048eb3116c93f	2026-07-04	official	legal us-code

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

Text

(1) Approval by Secretary; public hearing; definition The Secretary, upon determining that maximum economic recovery of the coal deposit or deposits is served thereby, may approve the consolidation of coal leases into a logical mining unit. Such consolidation may only take place after a public hearing, if requested by any person whose interest is or may be adversely affected. A logical mining unit is an area of land in which the coal resources can be developed in an efficient, economical, and orderly manner as a unit with due regard to conservation of coal reserves and other resources. A logical mining unit may consist of one or more Federal leaseholds, and may include intervening or adjacent lands in which the United States does not own the coal resources, but all the lands in a logical mining unit must be under the effective control of a single operator, be able to be developed and operated as a single operation and be contiguous.

(2) Mining plan; requirements (A) After the Secretary has approved the establishment of a logical mining unit, any mining plan approved for that unit must require such diligent development, operation, and production that the reserves of the entire unit will be mined within a period established by the Secretary which shall not be more than forty years.

(B) The Secretary may establish a period of more than 40 years if the Secretary determines that the longer period—

(i) will ensure the maximum economic recovery of a coal deposit; or

(ii) the longer period is in the interest of the orderly, efficient, or economic development of a coal resource.

(3) Conditions for approval In approving a logical mining unit, the Secretary may provide, among other things, that (i) diligent development, continuous operation, and production on any Federal lease or non-Federal land in the logical mining unit shall be construed as occurring on all Federal leases in that logical mining unit, and (ii) the rentals and royalties for all Federal leases in a logical mining unit may be combined, and advanced royalties paid for any lease within a logical mining unit may be credited against such combined royalties.

(4) Amendment to lease The Secretary may amend the provisions of any lease included in a logical mining unit so that mining under that lease will be consistent with the requirements imposed on that logical mining unit.

(5) Leases issued before date of enactment of this Act Leases issued before the date of enactment of this Act may be included with the consent of all lessees in such logical mining unit, and, if so included, shall be subject to the provisions of this section.

(6) Lessee required to form unit By regulation the Secretary may require a lessee under this chapter to form a logical mining unit, and may provide for determination of participating acreage within a unit.

(7) Required acreage No logical mining unit shall be approved by the Secretary if the total acreage (both Federal and non-Federal) of the unit would exceed twenty-five thousand acres.

(8) Acreage limitations for coal leases not waived Nothing in this section shall be construed to waive the acreage limitations for coal leases contained in section 184(a) of this title.

(Feb. 25, 1920, ch. 85, § 2(d), as added Pub. L. 94–377, § 5(b), Aug. 4, 1976, 90 Stat. 1086; amended Pub. L. 109–58, title IV, § 433, Aug. 8, 2005, 119 Stat. 761.)

Notes

Editorial Notes

References in TextThe date of enactment of this Act, referred to in par. (5), probably means the date of enactment of Pub. L. 94–377, which was approved Aug. 4, 1976. This section, referred to in pars. (5) and (8), is section 2 of act Feb. 25, 1920, which is comprised of subsecs. (a) to (d). Subsecs. (a) and (b) of section 2 are classified to section 201 of this title, subsec. (c) of section 2 is classified to section 202 of this title, and subsec. (d) of section 2, as added by section 5(b) of Pub. L. 94–377, is classified to this section.

Codification Section is comprised of subsec. (d) of section 2 of act Feb. 25, 1920, as added by Pub. L. 94–377. Subsecs. (a) and (b) of said section 2 are classified to section 201 of this title. Subsec. (c) of said section 2 is classified to section 202 of this title.

Amendments2005—Par. (2). Pub. L. 109–58 designated existing provisions as subpar. (A) and added subpar. (B).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date of 2005 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 109–58 applicable with respect to any coal lease issued before, on, or after Aug. 8, 2005, see section 438 of Pub. L. 109–58, set out as a note under section 201 of this title.