This part sets forth procedures for grants to you, an uncertified State or Indian tribe, to reclaim eligible lands and water and conduct other activities necessary to carry out your approved reclamation plan. OSM's “Final Guidelines for Reclamation Programs and Projects” (66 FR 31250, June 11, 2001) may be used as applicable.

As used in this Part—

Award means to approve our grant agreement authorizing you to draw down and expend program funds.

Distribute means to annually assign funds to a specific State or Indian tribe. After distribution, funds are available for award in a grant to that specific State or Indian tribe.

Reclamation plan or State reclamation plan means a plan that a State or Indian tribe submitted and that we approved under section 405 of SMCRA and part 884 of this chapter.

In accordance with 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the information collection requirements of part 886, and Forms OSM-47, OSM-49, and OSM-51, and assigned clearance number 1029-0059. This information is being collected to obtain an estimate from you the uncertified State or Indian tribe of the funds you believe necessary to implement your reclamation program and to provide OSM with a means to measure performance results under the Government Performance and Results Act through State and Tribal obligations of funds. Uncertified States and Indian tribes are required to respond to obtain a benefit in accordance with SMCRA. A Federal agency may not conduct or sponsor, and you are not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

You are eligible for grants under this part if:

(a) You are a State or Indian tribe with a reclamation plan approved under part 884 of this chapter; and

(b) You have not certified that all known coal problems in your State or on Indian lands in your jurisdiction have been addressed.

(a) You must use moneys granted under this part to administer your approved reclamation program and to carry out the specific reclamation and other activities authorized in SMCRA as included in your reclamation plan or your grant application.

(b) We award grants for reclamation of eligible lands and water in accordance with sections 404 and 409 of SMCRA and §§ 874.12 and 875.12 of this chapter, and in accordance with the priorities stated in section 403 of SMCRA and § 874.13 of this chapter.

(c) You may use grant funds as established in this chapter for each type of funds you receive in your AML grant. You may use State share funds as provided in § 872.16 of this chapter; Tribal share funds as in § 872.19 of this chapter; historic coal funds as in § 872.23 of this chapter; minimum program make up funds as in § 872.28 of this chapter; prior balance replacement funds as in § 872.31 of this chapter; and Federal expense funds as in § 872.25 of this chapter and in the appropriation.

(d) You may use grant funds for acquisition of land or interests in land, and any mineral or water rights associated with the land, for up to 90 percent of the costs.

(e) You may use grant funds only for costs which are allowable as determined by OMB cost principles in Circular A-87.

(a) You may apply at any time for a grant of any or all of the program funds that are available to you.

(b) We will not award an amount greater than the total funds distributed to your State or Indian tribe in the current annual fund distribution, less any previous awards of current year funds, plus any funds distributed to you in previous years but not awarded, plus any unexpended funds recovered from previous grants and made available to you under § 886.20 of this chapter.

(c) Funds for the current fiscal year are available for award after the annual fund distribution described in § 872.13 of this chapter.

(d) Whenever you request it, we will give you information on the amounts and types of funds that are currently available to you.

(a) We approve a grant period on the basis of the information contained in the grant application showing that projects to be funded will fulfill the objectives of SMCRA and the approved reclamation plan.

(b) The grant period is normally for 3 years.

(c) We may extend the grant period at your request. We normally approve one extension for up to one additional year.

(d) The grant period for funding your administrative costs does not normally exceed the first year of the grant.

(e) We award grants containing State or Tribal share funds distributed to you in Fiscal Years 2008, 2009, or 2010 for a budget period of five or three years at your request.

(a) You must use application forms and procedures specified by OSM.

(b) We approve or disapprove your grant application within 60 days of receipt.

(c) If we do not approve your application, we inform you in writing of the reasons for disapproval. We may propose modifications if appropriate. You may resubmit the application or appropriate revised portions of the application. We process the revised application as an original application.

(d) You must agree to carry out activities funded by the grant in accordance with SMCRA, applicable Federal laws and regulations, and applicable OMB and Treasury Circulars.

(e) We do not require complete copies of plans and specifications for projects either before the grant is approved or at the start of the project. However, after the start of the project, we may review your plans and specifications at your office, the project site, or any other appropriate site.

(a) When we award your grant, we send you a written grant agreement stating the terms of the grant.

(b) After you are awarded a grant, you may assign functions and funds to other Federal, State, or local agencies. However, we will hold you responsible for the overall administration of that grant, including the proper use of funds and reporting.

(c) The grant award constitutes an obligation of Federal funds. You accept the grant and its conditions once you initiate work under the agreement or draw down awarded funds.

(d) Although we have approved the grant agreement, you must not expend any construction funds until you receive a written authorization to proceed with reclamation on the individual project. Our Authorization to Proceed ensures that both you and we have taken all actions necessary to ensure compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and any other applicable laws, clearances, permits, or requirements.

(e) You must enter coal problems in the AML inventory before you expend funds on design or construction activities for a site. We must approve any amendments to the AML inventory made after December 20, 2006. For purposes of this section, we define “amendment” as any coal problem added to the AML inventory in a new or existing problem area and any Priority 3 coal problem in the AML inventory that is elevated to either Priority 1 or Priority 2 status.

(1) For emergency projects conducted under section 410 of SMCRA, our finding that an emergency condition exists constitutes our approval for the abandoned mine lands problem to be entered into the AML inventory.

(2) We must approve amendments to the AML inventory for non-emergency coal problems before you, the State or Indian tribe, begin project development or design or use funds for construction activities. In projects where development and design is minimal, this approval may occur during the Authorization to Proceed process.

(f) To the extent technologically and economically feasible, you must use fuel other than petroleum or natural gas for all public facilities that are planned, constructed, or modified in whole or in part with abandoned mine land grant funds.

(g) You must not expend more funds than we have awarded. Our award of any grant does not commit or obligate the United States to award any continuation grant or to enter into any grant revision, including grant increases to cover cost overruns.

(a) A grant amendment is a change of the terms or conditions of the grant agreement. An amendment may be initiated by you or by us.

(b) You must promptly notify us in writing, or we must promptly notify you in writing, of events or proposed changes that may require a grant amendment.

(c) All procedures for grant amendments follow 43 CFR part 12.

(d) We must approve or disapprove the amendment within 30 days of receiving your request.

(a) You must comply with the audit requirements of the OMB Circular A-133.

(b) You must follow administrative procedures governing grant payments, property, and related requirements contained in 43 CFR part 12.

You must do all of the following in accordance with the requirements of 43 CFR part 12:

(a) Accurately and timely account for grant funds;

(b) Adequately safeguard all funds, property, and other assets and assure that they are used solely for authorized purposes;

(c) Provide a comparison of actual amounts spent with budgeted amounts for each grant;

(d) Request any cash advances as closely as possible to the actual time of the disbursement; and

(e) Design a systematic method to assure timely and appropriate resolution of audit findings and recommendations.

(a) If there are any unexpended funds after your grant is completed, we deobligate the funds when we close your grant. We treat unused funds as follows:

(1) We transfer any State share funds under § 872.14 of this chapter or Tribal share funds under § 872.17 that were not expended within three years of the date they were awarded in a grant, except five years for funds awarded in Fiscal Years 2008, 2009, and 2010, to historic coal funds, § 872.21 of this chapter. We distribute any funds transferred to historic coal in the next annual distribution in the same way as historic coal funds from fee collections during that fiscal year.

(2) We hold any unused Federal expense funds under § 872.24 of this chapter for distribution to any State or Indian tribe as needed for the activity for which the funds were appropriated.

(3) We make unused funds of all other types available for re-award to the same State or Indian tribe to which they were originally distributed. This includes historic coal funds under § 872.21 of this chapter, minimum program make up funds under § 872.26 of this chapter, and prior balance replacement funds under § 872.29 of this chapter.

(b) If you have any State share funds or Tribal share funds that were distributed to you in an annual distribution under § 872.15 or § 872.18 of this chapter but that were not awarded to you in grant within 3 years of the date they were distributed, or 5 years for funds distributed in Fiscal Years 2008, 2009, and 2010, we transfer the unawarded funds to the historic coal fund under § 872.21 of this chapter and distribute them in the next annual distribution.

(a) For each grant, you must annually report to us the performance and financial information that we specify.

(b) Upon completion of each grant, you must submit to us final performance, financial, and property reports, and any other information that we specify.

(c) When you complete each reclamation project, you must update the AML inventory.

You must maintain complete records in accordance with 43 CFR part 12. Your records must support the information you reported to us. This includes, but is not limited to, books, documents, maps, and other evidence. Accounting records must document procedures and practices sufficient to verify:

(a) The amount and use of all Title IV funds received; and

(b) The total direct and indirect costs of the reclamation program for which you received the grant.

(a) If you, or your subgrantee, fail to comply with the terms of your grant, we may take one or more of the following remedial actions, as appropriate in the circumstances:

(1) Temporarily withhold cash payments pending your correction of the deficiency;

(2) Disallow (that is, deny both use of Federal funds and matching credit for non-Federal funds) all or part of the cost of the activity or action not in compliance;

(3) Wholly or partly reduce, suspend or terminate the current award for your program;

(4) Withhold further grant awards for the program; or

(5) Take other remedies that may be legally available.

(b) If we terminate your State regulatory administration and enforcement grant, provided under part 735 of this chapter, for failure to implement, enforce, or maintain an approved State regulatory program or any part thereof, we will terminate the grant awarded under this part. This paragraph does not apply to the States of Missouri or Tennessee under section 402(g)(8)(B) of SMCRA, or to the Navajo, Hopi and Crow Indian tribes under section 405(k) of SMCRA.

(c) If you fail to enforce the financial interest provisions of part 705 of this chapter, we will terminate the grant.

(d) If you fail to submit reports required by this part or part 705 of this chapter, we take appropriate remedial actions. We may terminate the grant.

(e) If you fail to submit a reclamation plan amendment as required by § 884.15 of this chapter, we may reduce, suspend, or terminate all existing AML grants in whole or in part or may refuse to process all future grant applications.

(f) If you are not in compliance with all Federal statutes relating to nondiscrimination, including but not limited to the following, we will terminate the grant:

(1) Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Public Law 88-352, 78 Stat. 252 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.). “Nondiscrimination in Federally Assisted Programs,” which provides that no person in the United States shall on the grounds of race, color, or national origin be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance, and the implementing regulations in 43 CFR part 17.

(2) Executive Order 11246, as amended by Executive Order 11375, “Equal Employment Opportunity,” requiring that employees or applicants for employment not be discriminated against because of race, creed, color, sex, or national origin, and the implementing regulations in 40 CFR part 60.

(3) Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Public Law 93-112, 87 Stat. 355 (29 U.S.C. 794), as amended by Executive Order 11914, “Nondiscrimination with Respect to the Handicapped in Federally Assisted Programs.”

We will use the following procedures to reduce, suspend, or terminate your grant:

(a) We must give you at least 30 days written notice of intent to reduce, suspend, or terminate a grant. An OSM official authorized to approve your grant must sign our notice of intent. We must send this notice by certified mail, return receipt requested. Our notice must include the reasons for the proposed action and the proposed effective date of the action.

(b) We must give you opportunity for consultation and remedial action before we reduce or terminate a grant.

(c) We must notify you in writing of the termination, suspension, or reduction of the grant. The notice must be signed by the authorized approving official and sent by certified mail, return receipt requested.

(d) Upon termination, you must refund to us that remaining portion of the grant money not encumbered. However, you may retain any portion of the grant that is required to meet contractual commitments made before the effective date of termination.

(e) You must not make any new commitments of grant funds after receiving notification of our intent to terminate the grant without our approval.

(f) We may allow termination costs as determined by applicable Federal cost principles listed in OMB Circular A-87.

(a) Within 30 days of our decision to reduce, suspend, or terminate a grant, you may appeal the decision to the Director.

(1) You must include in your appeal a statement of the decision being appealed and the facts that you believe justify a reversal or modification of the decision.

(2) The Director must decide the appeal within 30 days of receipt.

(b) Within 30 days of a decision by the Director to reduce, suspend, or terminate a grant, you may appeal the decision to the Department of the Interior's Office of Hearings and Appeals. You must include in the appeal a statement of the decision being appealed and the facts that you believe justify a reversal or modification of the decision.

Either you or we may terminate or reduce a grant if both parties agree that continuing the program would not produce benefits worth the additional costs. We will handle a termination for convenience as an amendment to the grant to be approved by the OSM official authorized to approve your grant.

(a) This section applies to Indian lands not subject to an approved Tribal reclamation program. The Director is authorized to mitigate emergency situations or extreme danger situations arising from past mining practices and begin reclamation of other areas determined to have high priority on such lands.

(b) The Director is authorized to receive proposals from Indian tribes for projects that should be carried out on Indian lands subject to this section and to carry out these projects under parts 872 through 882 of this chapter.

(c) For reclamation activities carried out under this section on Indian lands, the Director shall consult with the Indian tribe and the Bureau of Indian Affairs office having jurisdiction over the Indian lands.

(d) If a proposal is made by an Indian tribe and approved by the Director, the Tribal governing body shall approve the project plans. The costs of the project may be charged against Federal expense funds under § 872.25 of this chapter.

(e) Approved projects may be carried out directly by the Director or through such arrangements as the Director may make with the Bureau of Indian Affairs or other agencies.