39 1 no present lease shall be renewed by the United States, 2 nor any agency of the United States, for the purpose of con3 ducting strip mining operations thereon. 4 SEC. 32. In addition to any other remedy at law or 5 in equity under the provisions of this Act, the Attorney 6 General may apply to an appropriate district court of the 7 United States for relief by injunction to enforce compliance 8 with, or restrain violations of any provisions of this Act or any rule, regulation, or order made pursuant thereto. 9 10 SEC. 33. (a) Any resident of the United States with 11 knowledge that any of the provisions of this Act are will12 fully and deliberately not being enforced by any public 13 officer or employee whose duty it is to enforce them, shall 14 bring such failure to the attention of the public officer or 15 employee by a written statement. 16 (b) The statement shall be under oath and shall state 17 the specific facts of the failure in enforcement. 18 (c) If the public officer or employer neglects or refuses 19 for any unreasonable time after receipt of the statement to 20 enforce the law, the resident may bring an action of manda21 mus in an appropriate district court of the United States. 22 Such court, if satisfied that any provision of this Act is not 23 being enforced, may make an appropriate order compelling 24 the public officer or employee, whose duty it is to enforce 25 the provision, to perform his duties. If he fails to do so, the 40 1 public officer, or employee, shall be held in contempt of 2 court and shall be subject to the penalties provided by law. 3 SEC. 34. Any resident of the United States who is in 4 jured in any manner through the failure of any operator to 5 6 7 comply with the provisions of this Act, or of any regulation, order, license, or plan of reclamation issued by the Director or the Commission, may bring an action for damages (in 8 cluding attorney fees) regardless of the amount involved, in an appropriate district court of the United States. SEC. 35. No person shall (1) remove more than two hundred fifty tons of coal from the earth by strip mining within twelve successive calendar months from any one operation or remove overburden for the purpose of determining the location, quality, or quantity of a natural coal deposit. without a license as required by this Act; (2) falsely represent any material fact in an application for a license or in an application for the renewal of a license or in any hearing or investigation conducted by the Commission; or (3) willfully violate any provision of this Act, or any order, rule, or regulation issued pursuant thereto. SEC. 36. (a) Whoever violates section 35 (1) of this Act shall be fined $5,000 plus $1,000 per acre of land affected. 41 1 (b) Whoever violates section 35 (2) of this Act, shall 2 be fined not less than $100 nor more than $1,000 or im 3 prisoned not more than six months, or both. 4 (c) Whoever violates section 35 (3) of this Act, shall 5 be fined not less than $1,000 nor more than $10,000 or 6 imprisoned not more than six months, or both. 7 SEC. 37. This Act shall take effect - months after its 8 date of enactment. 9 SEC. 38. There are authorized to be appropriated such 10 sums as may be necessary and appropriate to carry out the 11. provisions and purposes of this Act. 93D CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2425 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 18, 1973 Mr. SHOUP introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs A BILL To provide for the regulation of surface coal mining for the conservation, acquisition, and reclamation of surface areas 1 affected by coal mining activities, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 4 SHORT TITLE SECTION 1. This Act may be cited as the "Coal Mine 5 Surface Area Protection Act of 1972". 6 7 8 9 FINDINGS AND PURPOSE SEC. 2. (a) The Congress finds and declares (1) that there are coal mining operations on public and private lands in the Nation which adversely affect 2 the environmental and natural and manmade resources; 1 2 and 3 (2) that efficient and well conducted coal mining 4 operations are essential activities affecting interstate 5 commerce which contribute to the economic well-being, security, and general welfare of the Nation. 6 7 (b) It is the purpose of this Act to encourage a nation8 wide effort to regulate coal mining surface operations to prevent their adverse environmental effects; to return lands 10 already damaged by coal mining surface operations to pro11 ductive and useful purposes; to abate the adverse effects from 12 previously coal mined lands; to prevent further detriment 13 to the Nation from coal mining surface operations through 14 the establishment of criteria and standards for coal mined 15 lands; and to encourage the States to carry out programs for 16 these purposes. 17 (c) It is the further purpose of this Act to encourage a 18 nationwide effort to abate the adverse surface environmental 19 effects resulting from surface operations of underground coal 20 mining. 21 2235 23 DEFINITIONS SEC. 3. For the purposes of this Act (a) The term "surface coal mining" means (1) all or 24 any part of the process followed in the production of coal 25 from a natural coal deposit whereby the coal may be extracted |