Mine Affected Community Energy and Environment Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4735 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit for certain facilities that remediate and reclaim coal refuse sites in the United States by producing electricity from coal refuse. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 18, 2019 Mr. MEUSER (for himself and Mr. CARTWRIGHT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit for certain facilities that remediate and reclaim coal refuse sites in the United States by producing elec- tricity from coal refuse. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Mine Affected Commu- 4 nity Energy and Environment Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4735.IH H4735 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4735 IH SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR COAL REFUSE USED TO PRODUCE 1 ELECTRICITY AT CERTAIN FACILITIES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 45(e) of the Internal Rev- 3 enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 4 following new paragraph: 5 ‘‘(12) COAL REFUSE FACILITIES.— 6 ‘‘(A) DETERMINATION OF CREDIT 7 AMOUNT.— 8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The credit deter- 9 mined under this section (without regard 10 to this subparagraph) for any taxable year 11 shall be an amount equal to the product 12 of— 13 ‘‘(I) $12.50, multiplied by 14 ‘‘(II) the tons of coal refuse used 15 at a coal refuse facility to produce 16 electricity at such facility during the 17 10-year period beginning on January 18 1, 2019. 19 ‘‘(ii) EXCLUSION.—Other than coal 20 refuse removed from sites that are subject 21 to the current remediation and reclamation 22 activities of a coal refuse facility, coal 23 refuse generated from sites where coal is 24 mined after the effective date of this legis- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4735.IH H4735 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4735 IH lation is excluded from the determination 1 of the credit amount in this section. 2 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENT.—For purposes 3 of this subsection, the term ‘eligible recipient’ 4 means, with respect to a coal refuse facility for 5 a taxable year, a taxpayer who, for each ton of 6 eligible coal refuse described in subparagraph 7 (A) for such taxpayer for the previous taxable 8 year, contributed $0.50 to the State in which 9 such facility is located for restoring riparian 10 buffers within the communities where the coal 11 refuse is being removed or consumed, or in 12 communities located downstream of that activ- 13 ity, for the purpose of improving water quality 14 downstream of the communities affected by 15 such coal refuse and reducing carbon emissions 16 in such communities. 17 ‘‘(C) CREDIT ELIGIBILITY.—In the case of 18 a facility described in subparagraph (A), if the 19 owner of such facility is not the producer of the 20 electricity, the person eligible for the credit de- 21 termined under subparagraph (A) shall be the 22 lessee or the operator of such facility. 23 ‘‘(D) APPLICATION OF RULES.—Rules 24 similar to the rules of paragraphs (1), (3), and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4735.IH H4735 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4735 IH (5) of this subsection shall apply for purposes 1 of determining the amount of any increase 2 under this paragraph.’’. 3 (b) COAL REFUSE FACILITY DEFINED.—Section 4 45(d) of such Code is amended by adding at the end the 5 following new paragraph: 6 ‘‘(12) COAL REFUSE FACILITY.—In the case of 7 a facility using coal refuse to produce electricity, the 8 term ‘coal refuse facility’ means any facility— 9 ‘‘(A) which was originally placed in service 10 prior to January 1, 2019, and combusts coal 11 refuse or fuel composed of at least 75 percent 12 coal refuse by BTU energy value, and 13 ‘‘(B) uses— 14 ‘‘(i) at a minimum, a circulating fluid- 15 ized bed combustion unit or a pressurized 16 fluidized bed combustion unit, equipped 17 with a limestone injection system for con- 18 trol of acid gases, and 19 ‘‘(ii) a fabric filter particulate emis- 20 sion control system.’’. 21 (c) COAL REFUSE.—Section 45(c) of such Code is 22 amended by adding at the end the following new para- 23 graph: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4735.IH H4735 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4735 IH ‘‘(11) COAL REFUSE.—The term ‘coal refuse’ 1 means any waste coal, rock, shale, slurry, culm, gob, 2 boney, slate, clay, and related materials associated 3 with or near a coal seam that are either brought 4 aboveground or otherwise removed from a coal mine 5 in the process of mining coal or that are separated 6 from coal during the cleaning or preparation oper- 7 ations. Such term includes underground development 8 wastes, coal processing wastes and excess spoil, but 9 does not include overburden from surface mining ac- 10 tivities.’’. 11 (d) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT AGAINST ALTERNATIVE 12 MINIMUM TAX.—Section 38(c)(4)(B)(v) of such Code is 13 amended by inserting ‘‘or section 45(e)(12) (relating to 14 coal refuse facilities)’’ before the comma at the end. 15 (e) CREDIT REFUNDABLE.—For purposes of this 16 title, the credit allowed by reason of this section shall be 17 treated as a credit allowed under subpart C (and not this 18 subpart). 19 (f) PASSIVE ACTIVITY LOSSES.—Section 469(d) of 20 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding 21 to section 469(d)(2)(A)(ii) (other than section 27 ‘‘and 22 section 45(e)(12))’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:07 Oct 25, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4735.IH H4735 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 4735 IH (g) CREDIT MADE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS 1 CREDIT.—Subsection (b) of section 38 of the Internal 2 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by— 3 (1) striking ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph 4 (31); 5 (2) striking the period at the end of paragraph 6 (32) and inserting ‘‘, plus’’; and 7 (3) adding at the end the following new para- 8 graph: 9 ‘‘(33) the coal refuse facility credit determined 10 under section 45(e)(12).’’. 11 (h) ADVANCE PAYMENT OF CREDIT.—Subchapter B 12 of chapter 65 of such Code is amended by adding at the 13 end the following new section: 14 ‘‘SEC. 6433. ELECTIVE PAYMENT FOR COAL REFUSE FACILI- 15 TIES. 16 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Any person electing the applica- 17 tion of this section with respect to any eligible coal refuse 18 facility shall be treated as making a payment against the 19 tax imposed by subtitle A for the taxable year equal to 20 the amount of the credit that would be determined under 21 section 45(e)(12) for such facility for such year. Except 22 as provided in subsection (b), such payment shall be treat- 23 ed as made on the later of the due date of the return of 24 such tax or the date on which such return is filed. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4735.IH H4735 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 4735 IH ‘‘(b) QUARTERLY ELECTION.— 1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—At the close of any quarter 2 of the taxable year of any taxpayer entitled to a 3 credit with respect to an eligible coal refuse facility, 4 if a claim is filed under this section, the Secretary 5 shall pay (without interest) an amount equal to the 6 credit determined under section 45 for such quarter, 7 calculated as if such credit were determined on a 8 quarterly basis. 9 ‘‘(2) TIME FOR FILING CLAIM.—No claim filed 10 under this subsection (b) shall be allowed unless 11 filed during the first quarter following the last quar- 12 ter included in the claim. 13 ‘‘(3) PAYMENT OF CLAIM.—Notwithstanding 14 paragraph (1) of this subsection, if the Secretary 15 has not paid pursuant to a claim filed under this 16 section within 45 days of the date of the filing of 17 such claim (20 days in the case of an electronic 18 claim), the claim shall be paid with interest from 19 such date determined by using the overpayment rate 20 and method under section 6621. 21 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL RULES FOR PARTNERSHIPS AND S 22 CORPORATIONS.—In the case of an eligible coal refuse fa- 23 cility owned or used by a partnership or an S corpora- 24 tion— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4735.IH H4735 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 4735 IH ‘‘(1) the elections under subsection (a) or (b) 1 may be made only by such partnership or S corpora- 2 tion, 3 ‘‘(2) such partnership or S corporation shall be 4 treated as making the payment referred to in sub- 5 section (a) only to the extent of the proportionate 6 share of such partnership or S corporation as is 7 owned by persons who would be treated as making 8 such payment if the property were owned or used by 9 such persons, and 10 ‘‘(3) the return required to be made by such 11 partnership or S corporation under section 6031 or 12 6037 (as the case may be) shall be treated as a re- 13 turn of tax for purposes of subsection (a). 14 ‘‘(d) COORDINATION WITH PRODUCTION CREDITS.— 15 In the case of any eligible coal refuse facility with respect 16 to which an election is made under subsection (a) or (b), 17 no credit shall be determined under section 45 with re- 18 spect to such facility for the taxable year in which such 19 election is made. 20 ‘‘(e) ELIGIBLE COAL REFUSE FACILITY.—The term 21 ‘eligible coal refuse facility’ means a facility eligible for 22 a credit during the taxable year pursuant to section 23 45(d)(12). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4735.IH H4735 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 4735 IH ‘‘(f) EXCLUSION FROM GROSS INCOME.—Any credit 1 or refund allowed or made by reason of this section shall 2 not be includible in gross income or alternative minimum 3 taxable income. 4 ‘‘(g) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary may by regula- 5 tions prescribe the conditions, not inconsistent with the 6 provisions of this section, under which payments may be 7 made under this section.’’. 8 (i) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 9 this section shall apply to coal refuse used to produce elec- 10 tricity after December 31, 2018, in taxable years begin- 11 ning after such date. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:05 Oct 23, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4735.IH H4735 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS