Coal companies get 10-year payment plan on federal lease bonuses
H.R. 7872 — To amend the Mineral Leasing Act to provide for the payment of bonus payments of certain coal leases issued under that Act. · Filed by Harriet Hageman (R-WY) · Introduced Mar 9, 2026 · Hearing held
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What it does
This bill amends the Mineral Leasing Act to allow coal lease bonus payments to be spread over 10 equal annual installments instead of being paid upfront. The first payment is due with the bid; the remaining nine are paid annually. This reduces the immediate cash outlay required from coal companies winning federal lease auctions.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative effect is to defer bonus payments owed by coal companies to the federal government, converting an upfront lump-sum obligation into a 10-year installment plan. This is a financing accommodation for a specific extractive industry.
What the text implies
- Deferral reduces the present value of federal revenue; the government receives the same nominal total but in future dollars, effectively discounting the public's return on its natural resources.
- Coal companies gain working capital and improved cash-flow timing without any offsetting public benefit (e.g., no requirement for accelerated reclamation, environmental bonding, or community investment).
- The 10-year payment schedule may extend beyond the typical lease term or operational life, creating collection risk if a lessee becomes insolvent or abandons the lease.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Citizens own the coal resources being leased and are entitled to fair-market bonus payments. Allowing deferral reduces the present value of federal revenue (the government receives money later, worth less in today's dollars) without a stated public benefit. The savings accrue to coal companies as improved cash flow, not to consumers or the public.
Who stands to gain
- coal mining companies
- coal lease bidders
Named in the bill
Mineral Leasing Act, Section 2(a), coal leases, federal government, coal industry
Where it stands
- Mar 9, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Mar 9, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
- Mar 25, 2026 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Hearings Held”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
4 lobbying clients named this bill on 5 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,496,600 in lobbying spend. A filing names 67 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 72% of bills with at least one filing.
Harriet Hageman, the sponsor, reported $669,573 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National Mining Association — $820,000 on 1 filing
- Earthjustice Action — $376,600 on 2 filings
- Peabody Investments Corp — $260,000 on 1 filing
- Appalachian Voices — $40,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (382 characters) on Apr 14, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Coal companies get 10-year payment plan on federal lease bonuses” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr7872 Report an error
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