Coal mining faces faster cleanup deadlines and mandatory water monitoring
H.R. 9023 — CLEAN UP Mines Act of 2026 · Filed by Donald Beyer (D-VA) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced May 26, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act to tighten environmental standards for coal mining. It requires faster reclamation timelines (180 days for backfilling after coal production ends, 36 months for revegetation), mandates quarterly water and groundwater monitoring, treats temporary mining suspensions as significant permit revisions triggering review, and shortens the performance bond release timeline from 60 to 40 days. Ordinary citizens benefit through stricter environmental protection, faster site restoration, and better water quality monitoring.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is to insert stricter timelines, monitoring requirements, and performance standards into existing coal-mining law. It does not deregulate or create exemptions; it constrains operator conduct and accelerates environmental restoration obligations.
What the text implies
- The 180-day backfilling deadline and 36-month revegetation requirement may force operators to abandon marginal or low-recovery sites, potentially accelerating mine closures in economically stressed coal regions.
- Quarterly water monitoring and post-precipitation-event inspections create ongoing compliance costs and regulatory burden that may be passed to consumers via higher coal prices or absorbed by operators as margin pressure.
- The shift from 60-day to 40-day performance bond release (Section 519) accelerates capital return to operators but only after full compliance with tightened standards—a modest offset to the overall tightening.
- Treating temporary mining suspensions as 'significant permit revisions' may discourage operators from pausing operations during market downturns, locking them into continuous production or triggering permit review.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill imposes binding environmental performance standards and accelerated reclamation timelines on coal operators, reducing the period during which mining sites remain degraded and unmonitored. Mandatory quarterly water monitoring and stricter drainage/backfilling requirements protect groundwater and surface water quality, benefiting communities near mining operations and the general public.
Named in the bill
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, coal mining operators, regulatory authorities (state/federal), coal industry
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Democrats.
- May 26, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- May 26, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $40,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 43 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 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Donald Beyer, the sponsor, reported $633,099 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Appalachian Voices — $40,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 16, 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 (5,771 characters) on Aug 24, 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 16, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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