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H.R. 1644, STREAM Act 1 (September 23, 2015)

handle is hein.congrec/cbo2516 and id is 1 raw text is: CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE
U                           COST ESTIMATE
September 23, 2015
H.R. 1644
STREAM Act
As ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources
on September 10, 2015
H.R. 1644 would authorize the appropriation of $1 million a year over the 2016-2017
period for the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to study the effectiveness of an
existing rule governing coal mining activities near streams. The bill also would prevent the
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE) from issuing any final
rules related to such activities until one year after NAS completes the study.
CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost $2 million over the 2016-2017
period, assuming appropriation of the authorized amounts for NAS to complete the study.
In addition, CBO estimates that enacting the bill would increase net offsetting receipts,
which are treated as reductions in direct spending, by roughly $1 million over the
2020-2023 period; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Enacting H.R. 1644 would
not affect revenues.
Under current law, OSMRE plans to fully implement a proposed rule governing coal
mining activities near streams by 2020. Based on information from the agency, CBO
expects that if the proposed rule is implemented it will increase operating costs for the coal
industry and reduce coal production. The rule will mainly affect coal mining activities in
eastern states, which, in 2014, accounted for a very small portion of the gross receipts from
coal production on federal lands.
Based on information from OSMRE, CBO estimates that implementing the proposed rule
also will reduce coal production on federal lands in western states by about two-tenths of a
percent. Based on CBO's projection of federal royalties from the affected areas over the
2020-2025 period (roughly $650 million a year), we estimate that implementing the
proposed rule will reduce gross offsetting receipts from federal coal leases by $1.3 million
a year over that period. Because the federal government distributes about half of those
receipts to states, CBO estimates that under current law implementing the proposed rule
will reduce net receipts by $650,000 a year over the 2020-2025 period.
Under the bill, CBO expects that OSMRE would be prohibited from finalizing that
proposed rule for at least three years after enactment of the bill (one year after the

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