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RCED-84-202 1 (1984-09-28)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabnob0001 and id is 1 raw text is: UNITED STATES GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D.C. 20548 September 28, 1984 RESOURCES COMM U PIT OPi00F AIND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMEFT I DIVISION B-178726 The Honorable Mike Synar Chairman, Subcommittee on Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Government Operations House of Representatives 125792 Dear Mr. Chairman: Subject: Verification of Abandoned Coal Mine Reclamation Fees Reported and Paid to the Department of the Interior Through Third Party Sources (GAO/RCED-84-202) Section 402 of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA), 30 U.S.C. 1232, provides that all operators of coal mining operations subject to the provisions of the act shall pay to the Secretary of the Interior a reclamation fee of 35 cents per ton of coal produced by surface coal mining, 15 cents per ton of coal produced by underground mining, or 10 percent of the value of the coal at the mine, as determined by the Secretary, whichever is less. Reclamation fees are to be paid by coal operators no later than 30 days after the end of each calendar quarter. Your February 21, 1984, letter asked that we conduct a review to provide information on the extent of underreporting of reclamation fees due and payable to the Department of the Inte- rior. During our work, we accompanied officials from Interior's Office of Surface Mining (OSM) on several audits of coal mine operators in Kentucky. We noted instances where coal production reported by the operators was less than their records showed they had produced. This type of underreporting is easy to detect. On the other hand, if an operator produces more coal than he records in his production records and reports to OSM, an examination of his records will not disclose such underreporting. An independent third party source of production information is therefore needed to verify the accuracy of an operator's records. Such sources would include the records of the recipients of the operator's coal. Such recipients would include railroads, which transport coal, and tipples, which receive, crush, store, and load coal into railroad cars. (140011) ' ), ) A

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