[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3709 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3709

To reform the process for the study of areas for potential inclusion in 
           the National Park System, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 22, 1993

  Mr. Vento introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To reform the process for the study of areas for potential inclusion in 
           the National Park System, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Park System New Area Study 
Reform Act''.

SEC. 2. STUDY OF NEW PARK SYSTEM AREAS.

    Section 8 of the Act of August 18, 1970, entitled ``An Act to 
improve the Administration of the National Park System by the Secretary 
of the Interior, and to clarify the authorities applicable to the 
system, and for other purposes'' (16 U.S.C. 1a-1 and following) is 
amended as follows:
            (1) Insert ``General Authority.--'' after ``(a)''.
            (2) Strike the second through the seventh sentences of 
        subsection (a).
            (3) In the last sentence of subsection (a) insert: ``(d) 
        Authorization of Appropriations.--'' before the last sentence.
            (4) Redesignate subsection (b) as subsection (e) and insert 
        ``National Park System Plan.--'' before the first sentence.
            (5) Insert the following after subsection (a):
    ``(b) Studies of Areas for Potential Addition.--(1) At the 
beginning of each calendar year, the Director of the National Park 
Service shall submit to the Committee on Natural Resources of the House 
of Representatives and to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 
of the United States Senate a list of areas recommended by the Director 
for study for potential inclusion in the National Park System.
    ``(2) In developing the list to be submitted under this subsection, 
the Director shall give consideration to those areas that have the 
greatest potential to meet the established criteria of national 
significance, suitability, and feasibility. The Director may also 
consider the public use potential of the areas, their interpretive and 
educational potential, the costs associated with adding any area, the 
rarity of the resources associated with an area, and the integrity of, 
and the threats to, those resources. The Director shall also give 
special consideration to themes, sites, and resources not already 
adequately represented in the National Park System. No study of the 
potential of an area for inclusion in the National Park System may be 
carried out except as provided by specific authorization of an Act of 
Congress.
    ``(c) Report.--Within 3 years following the date of enactment of 
specific legislation providing for the study of an area for potential 
inclusion into the National Park System, the Director shall transmit to 
the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives and 
to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the United States 
Senate a study of the potential of that area for inclusion in the 
National Park System. Each study under this section shall be prepared 
with appropriate opportunity for public involvement and shall consider 
whether the area under study--
            ``(1) possesses nationally significant natural, cultural, 
        or recreational resources, and
            ``(2) is a suitable and feasible addition to the system.
Each such study shall also consider whether direct National Park 
Service management or alternative protection by other agencies or the 
private sector is appropriate for the area. Each such study shall 
contain, without alteration by any other officer or employee of the 
United States, the recommendations of the Director regarding the 
preferred management option for the area. Recommendations and 
additional views may also be submitted, separately from the 
recommendations of the Director, by the Secretary of the Interior, the 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget, or the National Park 
System Advisory Board, or any combination thereof''.

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