The Obama administration is proposing to charge royalties on hardrock mining on public lands and to rework the distribution of reclamation dollars in its fiscal 2013 budget request.

The president's spending blueprint would cut funding for the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement -- the federal government's top coal mining regulatory agency -- by roughly $9 million, from $150 million in 2012 to $141 million in 2013.

While the spending request mentions President Obama's proposal to merge OSM into the Bureau of Land Management, the two budgets were not combined. In a conference call with reporters, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar stressed the "potential" nature of the merger. Interior Department leaders are scheduled to give Salazar a report this week summarizing public input on the proposed merger.

As in past budget requests, the president's blueprint calls for enacting a first-ever royalty on hardrock mining, charging companies for extracting resources like gold, silver and copper from public lands. The White House is also asking Congress to enact a new fee on the industry to pay for the cleanup of abandoned mines.

The budget document said the move would make sure the hardrock mining industry "is held responsible in the same manner as the coal mining industry." The administration says the new fee would raise $1.8 billion over the next decade.

While mining industry leaders say they are open to negotiation on changing the 1872 mining law, a major priority for conservation advocates, they see the president's proposals as harmful to their economic viability. The National Mining Association refers to the proposed reclamation fee on hardrock companies as a "dirt tax."

"If enacted, which is very unlikely, [the proposals] would subject U.S. minerals mining to the world's highest federal royalty," said NMA spokeswoman Carol Raulston, "damaging our competitiveness and making the U.S. more dependent on foreign sources to meet its manufacturing, technology and national security needs for minerals."

The president is also proposing to rework coal mine reclamation by eliminating payments to states and tribes that have finished cleaning up their priority sites. With a new tax on the hardrock companies, the president's budget assumes those states would no longer need to use federal coal mining fees to clean up non-coal mines.

Like last year, the White House is proposing a competitive grant system governed by an advisory council to send reclamation dollars where they are most needed. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been cold to changing the system, however, afraid of losing much-needed dollars to other states.

Unlike last year, the president is not proposing to reduce funding for the Abandoned Mine Lands program. The White House blueprint provides for a small increase to $27.5 million.

While OSM's budget would boost regulatory oversight by $4 million, it would cut grant funding to states by $11 million. The agency is recommending that those states increase industry fees to make up the difference, an idea regulators have blasted in the past.

"This year's budget reflects a need for fiscal austerity while maintaining OSM's commitment to work with our state and tribal partners to protect communities and the economy nationwide," OSM Director Joe Pizarchik said in a statement.

Administration officials say the budget is one of hard choices, designed to cut spending wherever possible. Like last year, Obama is proposing to slash four tax subsidies for the coal industry. One of them allows companies a break for exploration and development costs.

"Coal subsidies are costly to the American taxpayers and do little to create incentives to boost production or reduce energy prices," the budget says, adding that the proposal would generate almost $3 billion in additional revenues over three years.

In another move likely to anger mining and power companies, the president is proposing to slash funding for clean coal research. Funding for carbon capture and storage technology would go down by $28 million, from $184 million to $156 million.

After similar cut proposals last year, the administration reiterated its commitment to clean coal. But Raulston said, "This would seem to call into question the president's professed commitment to an 'all of the above' energy strategy."