Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 90 Part 1.djvu/1136

 90 STAT. 1086 Data.

Penalty.

Notice and hearing. Repeal. 30 USC 201-1 note. Logical mining unit. 30 USC 201. 30 USC 202a. Hearing.

Reserves.

Regulation.

PUBLIC LAW 94-377—AUG. 4, 1976

"(3) The licensee shall furnish to the Secretary copies of all data (including, but not limited to, geological, geophyscal, and core drilling analyses) obtained during such exploration. The Secretary shall maintain the confidentiality of all data so obtained until after the areas involved have been leased or until such time as he determines that making the data available to the public would not damage the competitive position of the licensee, whichever comes first. "(4) Any person who willfully conducts coal exploration for commercial purposes on lands subject to this Act without an exploration license issued hereunder shall be subject to a fine of not more than $1,000 for each day of violation. All data collected by said person on any li'ederal lands as a result of such violation shall be made immediately available to the Secretary, who shall make the data available to the public as soon as it is practicable. No penalty under this subsection shall be assessed unless such person is given notice and opportunity for a hearing with respect to such violation.". SEC. 5. (a) Subject to valid existing rights, subsections 2(c) and 2(d) of the Act of August 31, 1964 (78 Stat. 710; 30 U.S.C. 201-1) are hereby repealed. (b) Section 2 of the Mineral Lands Leasing Act is amended by the addition of the following new subsection at the end thereof: "(d)(1) 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 eflfective control of a single operator, be able to be developed and operated as a single operation and be contiguous. " (2) 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. " (3) 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 he. 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) 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 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) By regulation the Secretary may require a lessee under this Act to form a logical mining unit, and may provide for determination of participating acreage within a unit.

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