(dd) Permit has the meaning set forth in 30 CFR Chapter VII.

(ee) Permit area has the meaning set forth in 30 CFR Chapter VII.

(ff) Public bodies means Federal and state agencies; political subdivisions of a state, including counties and municipalities; rural electric cooperatives and similar organizations; and nonprofit corporations controlled by any such entities.

(gg) Qualified surface owner means the natural person or persons (or corporation, the majority stock of which is held by a person or persons otherwise meeting the requirements of this section) who:

(1) Hold legal or equitable title to the surface of split estate lands;

(2) Have their principal place of residence on the land, or personally conduct farming or ranching operations upon a farm or ranch unit to be affected by surface mining operations; or receive directly a significant portion of their income, if any, from such farming and ranching operations; and

(3) Have met the conditions of paragraphs (gg) (1) and (2) of this section for a period of at least 3 years, except for persons who gave written consent less than 3 years after they met the requirements of both paragraphs (gg) (1) and (2) of this section. In computing the three year period the authorized officer shall include periods during which title was owned by a relative of such person by blood or marriage if, during such periods, the relative would have met the requirements of this section.

(hh) Reserves has the meaning set forth in the term recoverable coal reserves in § 3480.0–5(a)(37) of this title.

(ii) Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior.

(jj) Sole party in interest means a party who is and will be vested with all legal and equitable rights under a lease, bid, or an application for a lease. No one is a sole party in interest with respect to a lease or bid in which any other party has any interest.

(kk) Split estate means land in which the ownership of the surface is held by persons, including governmental bodies, other than the Federal government and the ownership of underlying coal is, in whole or in part, reserved to the Federal government.

(11) Substantial legal and financial commitments means significant investments that have been made on the basis of a long-term coal contract in power plants, railroads, coal handling and preparation, extraction or storage facilities and other capital intensive activities. Costs of acquiring the coal in place or of the right to mine it without an existing mine are not sufficient to constitute substantial legal and financial commitments.

(mm) Surface coal mining operations means activities conducted on the surface of lands in connection with a surface coal mine or surface operations and surface impacts incident to an underground mine, as defined in section 701(28) of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (30 U.S.C. 1291(28).

(nn) Surface management agency means the Federal agency with jurisdiction over the surface of federally owned lands containing coal deposits, and, in the case of private surface over Federal coal, the Bureau of Land Management, except in areas designated as National Grasslands, where it means the Forest Service.

(00) Surface Mining Officer means the regulatory authority as defined in 30 CFR Chapter VII.

(pp) Valid existing rights as used in §3461.1 of this title is defined in 30 CFR 761.5.

(qq) Written consent means the document or documents that a qualified surface owner has signed that:

(1) Permit a coal operator to enter and commence surface mining of coal; (2) Describe any financial or other consideration given or promised in return for the permission, including inkind considerations;

(3) Describe any consideration given in terms of type or method of operation or reclamation for the area;

(4) Contain any supplemental or related contracts between the surface owner and any other person who is a party to the permission; and

(5) Contain a full and accurate description of the area covered by the permission.

(rr) For the purposes of section 2(a)(2)(A) of the Act:

(1) Arm's length transaction means the transfer of an interest in a lease to an

entity that is not controlled by or under common control with the trans¡feror.

(2) Bracket means a 10-year period that begins on the date that coal is I first produced on or after August 4, 1976, from a lease that has not been made subject to the diligence provi[sions of part 3480 of this title on the date of first production.

(3) Controlled by or under common control with, based on the instruments of ownership of the voting securities of an entity, means:

(i) Ownership in excess of 50 percent constitutes control;

(ii) Ownership of 20 through 50 percent creates a presumption of control; and

(iii) Ownership of less than 20 percent creates a presumption of noncontrol.

(4) Entity means any person, association, or corporation, or any subsidiary, affiliate, or persons controlled by or under common control with such person, association, or corporation.

(5) Holds and has held means the cumulative amount of time that an entity holds any working interest in a lease on or after August 4, 1976. The holds and has held requirement of section 2(a)(2)(A) of the Act is working interest holder-specific for each lease. Working interest includes both record title interests and arrangements whereby an entity has the ability to determine when, and under what circumstances, the rights granted by the lease to develop coal will be exercised.

(6) Producing means actually severing coal, or operating an ongoing mining operation in accordance with standard industry operation practices. A lease is deemed to be producing, even though:

(i) Severance is temporarily suspended for reasons beyond the reasonable control of the operator/lessee, as that term is defined at §3480.0-5(a) of this title, including but not limited to factors such as: Dragline or other equipment moving, breakdown, or repair; overburden removal; sale of coal from stockpiles; vacations and holidays; orders of governmental authorities; coal buyer's operations of its power plants that require the coal buyer to stop taking coal shipments for a limited duration of time; or

(ii) Severed coal is being processed, loaded, or transported from the point of severance to the point of sale.

[44 FR 42609, July 19, 1979, as amended at 47 FR 33133, 33134, July 30, 1982; 47 FR 38131, Aug. 30, 1982; 50 FR 8626, Mar. 4, 1985; 51 FR 43921, Dec. 5, 1986; 52 FR 416, Jan. 6, 1987] §3400.1 Multiple development.

(a) The granting of an exploration license, a license to mine or a lease for the exploration, development, or production of coal deposits shall preclude neither the issuance of prospecting permits or mineral leases for prospecting, development or production of deposits of other minerals in the same land with suitable stipulations for simultaneous operation, nor the allowance of applicable entries, locations, or selections of leased lands with a reservation of the mineral deposits to the United States.

(b) The presence of deposits of other minerals or the issuance of prospecting permits or mineral leases for prospecting, development or production of deposits of other minerals shall not preclude the granting of an exploration license, a license to mine or a lease for the exploration, development or production of coal deposits on the same lands with suitable stipulations for simultaneous operations.

[44 FR 42609, July 19, 1979, as amended at 47 FR 33134, July 30, 1982]

$3400.2 Lands subject to leasing.

The Secretary may issue coal leases on all Federal lands except: (a) Lands in:

(1) The National Park System;

(2) The National Wildlife Refuge System;

(3) The National Wilderness Preservation System;

(4) The National System of Trails;

(5) The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, including study rivers designated under section 5(a) of the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act;

(6) Incorporated cities, towns, and villages;

(7) The Naval Petroleum Reserves, the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, and oil shale reserves; and

(8) National Recreation Areas designated by law;

(b) Tide lands, submerged coastal lands within the Continental Shelf adjacent or littoral to any part of land within the jurisdiction of the United States; and

(c) Land acquired by the United States for the development of mineral deposits, by foreclosure or otherwise for resale, or reported as surplus property pursuant to the provisions of the Surplus Property Act of 1944 (50 U.S.C. App. 1622).

§ 3400.3 Limitations on authority to lease.

$3400.3-1 Consent or conditions of surface management agency.

Leases for land, the surface of which is under the jurisdiction of any Federal agency other than the Department of the Interior, may be issued only with the consent of the head or other appropriate official of the other agency having jurisdiction over the lands containing the coal deposits, and subject to such conditions as that officer may prescribe to insure the use and protection of the lands for the primary purpose for which they were acquired or are being administered.

§3400.3-2 Department of Defense lands.

The Secretary may issue leases with the consent of the Secretary of Defense on acquired lands set apart for military or naval purposes only if the leases are issued to a governmental entity which:

(a) Produces electrical energy for sale to the public;

(b) Is located in the state in which the leased lands are located; and

(c) Has production facilities in that state, and will use the coal produced from the lease within that state.

§ 3400.3-3 Department of Agriculture lands.

Subject to the provisions of §3400.3-1, the Secretary may issue leases that authorize surface coal mining operations on Federal lands within the National Forest System, provided that such leases may not be issued on lands within a national forest unless the tract is assessed to be acceptable for all or certain stipulated methods of surface coal mining operations under the provisions

(a) In order to implement the requirements of law for Federal-state cooperation in the management of Federal lands, a Department-state regional coal team shall be established for each coal production region defined pursuant to §3400.5. The team shall consist of a Bureau of Land Management field representative for each state in the region, who will be the Bureau of Land Management State Director, or, in his absence, his designated representative; the Governor of each state included in the region or, in his absence, his designated representative; and a representative appointed by and responsible to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management. The Director's representative shall be chairperson of the team. If the region is a multi-state region under the jurisdiction of only one Bureau of Land Management State Office, each State Director shall designate a Bureau of Land Management representative for each state.

(b) Each regional coal team shall guide all phases of the coal activity planning process described in §§ 3420.3 through 3420.3-4 of this title which relate to competitive leasing in the region.

(c) The regional coal team shall also serve as the forum for Department/ state consultation and cooperation in all other major Department coal management program decisions in the region, including preference right lease applications, public body and small business setaside leasing, emergency leasing and exchanges.

§3420.2(a)(4) of this title and on regional lease sales under §3420.3-4(g) shall be accepted except:

(1) In the case of an overriding national interest; or

(2) In the case the advice of the Governor(s) which is contrary to the recommendations of the regional coal team is accepted pursuant to §3420.4– 3(c) of this title. In cases where the regional coal team's advice is not accepted, a written explanation of the reasons for not accepting the advice shall be provided to the regional coal team and made available for public review. (e) Additional representatives of state and Federal agencies may participate directly in team meetings or indirectly in the preparation of material to assist the team at any time at the request of the team chairperson. Participation may be solicited from state and Federal agencies with special expertise in topics considered by the team or with direct surface management responsibilities in areas potentially affected by coal management decisions. However, at every point in the deliberations, the official team spokespersons for the Bureau of Land Management and for the Governors shall be those designated under paragraph (a) of this section.

(f) If a state declines to participate under this section in the coal-related activities of the Department:

(1) The Department may take action authorized in Group 3400 of this title in a coal production region wholly within such a state without forming a regional coal team, and

(2) The Department may form a regional coal team without a representative of the Governor of such a state in any multi-state coal production region.

(g) The regional coal team shall function under the general provisions of the cooperative procedures of subpart 1784 of this title.

[44 FR 42609, July 19, 1979; 44 FR 56339, Oct. 1, 1979, as amended at 47 FR 33134, 33135, July 30, 1982; 51 FR 18887, May 23, 1986]

$3400.5 Coal production regions.

The Bureau of Land Management shall establish by publication in the

$3410.0-2 Objective.

The objective of this subpart is to allow private parties singularly or jointly to explore coal deposits to obtain geological, environmental, and other pertinent data concerning the coal deposits.

$3410.0-3 Authority.

(a) These regulations are issued under the authority of the statutes listed in § 3400.0-3 of this title.

(b) These regulations primarily implement section 2(b) of the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as amended by section 4 of the Federal Coal Leasing Amendments Act of 1976 (30 U.S.C. 201(b)).

§3410.1 Exploration licenses: Generally.

during exploration, on lands subject to this subpart without an exploration li

cense.

(b) An exploration license shall not be required for casual use.

(c) Exploration activities conducted without an exploration license in viola

tion of this section shall constitute a trespass, and shall be subject to the provisions of 43 CFR 9239.5-3(1).

[44 FR 42613, July 19, 1979, as amended at 47 FR 33135, July 30, 1982]

$3410.2 Prelicensing procedures. $3410.2-1 Application for an exploration license.

(a) Exploration license applications shall be submitted at the Bureau of Land Management State Office having jurisdiction over the lands covered in the application (43 CFR subpart 1821). The applications shall be subject to the following requirements:

(1) No specified form of application is required.

(2) An area in a public land survey state for which an application is filed shall be described by legal description or, if on unsurveyed lands, by metes and bounds, in accordance with §3471.1

(a) Exploration licenses may be issued for:

(1) Lands administered by the Secretary that are subject to leasing, §3400.2;

(2) Lands administered by the Secretary of Agriculture through the Forest Service or other agency that are subject to leasing, §3400.2;

(3) Lands which have been conveyed by the United States subject to a reservation to the United States of the mineral or coal deposits, to the extent that those deposits are subject to leasing under § 3400.2; and

(4) Acquired lands set apart for military or naval purposes.

(b) No exploration license shall be issued for lands included in an existing coal lease.

83410.1-2 When an exploration license is required.

(a) No person may conduct exploration activities for commercial purposes, including sale of data acquired

an exploration license on acquired lands shall describe the area according to the description in the deed or document by which the United States acquired title in accordance with §3471.11(d)(2) of this title.

(3) Each application shall contain three copies of an exploration plan which complies with the requirements of § 3482.1(a) of this title.

(4) Each application and its supporting documents shall be filed with a nonrefundable filing fee (43 CFR 3473.2).

(5) Exploration license applications shall normally cover no more than 25,000 acres in a reasonably compact area and entirely within one state. An application for an exploration license covering more than 25,000 acres must include a justification for an exception to the normal acreage limitation.

(b) Nothing in this subpart shall preclude the authorized officer from issuing a call for expressions of leasing interest in an area containing exploration licenses or applications for exploration licenses.