[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1659 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.1659

                       One Hundred Fifth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE SECOND SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the twenty-seventh day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-
                                  eight


                                 An Act


 
To provide for the expeditious completion of the acquisition of private 
mineral interests within the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument 
 mandated by the 1982 Act that established the Monument, 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 ``Mount St. Helens National Volcanic 
Monument Completion Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
        (1) The Act entitled ``An Act to designate the Mount St. Helens 
    National Volcanic Monument in the State of Washington, and for 
    other purposes'', approved August 26, 1982 (96 Stat. 301; 16 U.S.C. 
    431 note), required the United States to acquire all land and 
    interests in land in the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic 
    Monument.
        (2) The Act directed the Secretary of Agriculture to acquire 
    the surface interests and the mineral and geothermal interests by 
    separate exchanges and expressed the sense of the Congress that the 
    exchanges be completed by November 24, 1982, and August 26, 1983, 
    respectively.
        (3) The surface interests exchange was consummated timely, but 
    the exchange of all mineral and geothermal interests has not yet 
    been completed a decade and a half after the enactment of the Act.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to facilitate and 
otherwise provide for the expeditious completion of the previously 
mandated Federal acquisition of private mineral and geothermal 
interests within the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.

SEC. 3. ACQUISITION OF MINERAL AND GEOTHERMAL INTERESTS WITHIN MOUNT 
              ST. HELENS NATIONAL VOLCANIC MONUMENT.

    Section 3 of the Act entitled ``An Act to designate the Mount St. 
Helens National Volcanic Monument in the State of Washington, and for 
other purposes'', approved August 26, 1982 (Public Law 97-243; 96 Stat. 
302; 16 U.S.C. 431 note), is amended by adding at the end the following 
new subsections:
    ``(g) Exchanges For Mineral and Geothermal Interests Held by 
Certain Companies.--
        ``(1) Definition of company.--In this subsection, the term 
    `company' means a company referred to in subsection (c) or its 
    assigns or successors.
        ``(2) Exchange required.--Within 60 days after the date of 
    enactment of this subsection, the Secretary of the Interior shall 
    acquire by exchange the mineral and geothermal interests in the 
    Monument of each company.
        ``(3) Monetary credits.--
            ``(A) Issuance.--In exchange for all mineral and geothermal 
        interests acquired by the Secretary of the Interior from each 
        company under paragraph (2), the Secretary of the Interior 
        shall issue to each such company monetary credits with a value 
        of $2,100,000 that may be used for the payment of--
                ``(i) not more than 50 percent of the bonus or other 
            payments made by successful bidders in any sales of 
            mineral, oil, gas, or geothermal leases under the Mineral 
            Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.), the Outer Continental 
            Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.), or the Geothermal 
            Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) in the 
            contiguous 48 States;
                ``(ii) not more than 10 percent of the bonus or other 
            payments made by successful bidders in any sales of 
            mineral, oil, gas, or geothermal leases in Alaska under the 
            laws specified in clause (i);
                ``(iii) not more than 50 percent of any royalty, 
            rental, or advance royalty payment made to the United 
            States to maintain any mineral, oil or gas, or geothermal 
            lease in the contiguous 48 States issued under the laws 
            specified in clause (i); or
                ``(iv) not more than 10 percent of any royalty, rental, 
            or advance royalty payment made to the United States to 
            maintain any mineral, oil or gas, or geothermal lease in 
            Alaska issued under the laws specified in clause (i).
            ``(B) Value of credits.--The total credits of $4,200,000 in 
        value issued under subparagraph (A) are deemed to equal the 
        fair market value of all mineral and geothermal interests to be 
        conveyed by exchange under paragraph (2).
        ``(4) Acceptance of credits.--The Secretary of the Interior 
    shall accept credits issued under paragraph (3)(A) in the same 
    manner as cash for the payments described in such paragraph. The 
    use of the credits shall be subject to the laws (including 
    regulations) governing such payments, to the extent the laws are 
    consistent with this subsection.
        ``(5) Treatment of credits for distribution to states.--All 
    amounts in the form of credits accepted by the Secretary of the 
    Interior under paragraph (4) for the payments described in 
    paragraph (3)(A) shall be considered to be money received for the 
    purpose of section 35 of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 191) 
    and section 20 of the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 
    1019).
        ``(6) Exchange account.--
            ``(A) Establishment.--Notwithstanding any other provision 
        of law, not later than 30 days after the completion of the 
        exchange with a company required by paragraph (2), the 
        Secretary of the Interior shall establish an exchange account 
        for that company for the monetary credits issued to that 
        company under paragraph (3). The account for a company shall be 
        established with the Minerals Management Service of the 
        Department of the Interior and have an initial balance of 
        credits equal to $2,100,000.
            ``(B) Use of credits.--The credits in a company's account 
        shall be available to the company for the purposes specified in 
        paragraph (3)(A). The Secretary of the Interior shall adjust 
        the balance of credits in the account to reflect credits 
        accepted by the Secretary of the Interior pursuant to paragraph 
        (4).
            ``(C) Transfer or sale of credits.--
                ``(i) Transfer or sale authorized.--A company may 
            transfer or sell any credits in the company's account to 
            another person.
                ``(ii) Use of transferred credits.--Credits transferred 
            or sold under clause (i) may be used in accordance with 
            this subsection only by a person that is qualified to bid 
            on, or that holds, a mineral, oil, or gas lease under the 
            Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.), the Outer 
            Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.), or 
            the Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.).
                ``(iii) Notification.--Within 30 days after the 
            transfer or sale of any credits by a company, that company 
            shall notify the Secretary of the Interior of the transfer 
            or sale. The transfer or sale of any credit shall not be 
            considered valid until the Secretary of the Interior has 
            received the notification required under this clause.
            ``(D) Time limit on use of credits.--On the date that is 5 
        years after the date on which an account is created under 
        subparagraph (A) for a company, the Secretary of the Interior 
        shall terminate that company's account. Any credits that 
        originated in the terminated account and have not been used as 
        of the termination date, including any credits transferred or 
        sold under subparagraph (C), shall become unusable.
        ``(7) Title to interests.--On the date of the establishment of 
    an exchange account for a company under paragraph (6)(A), title to 
    any mineral and geothermal interests that are held by the company 
    and are to be acquired by the Secretary of the Interior under 
    paragraph (2) shall transfer to the United States.
    ``(h) Other Mineral and Geothermal Interests.--Within 180 days 
after the date of the enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall 
submit to the Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate a 
report--
        ``(1) identifying all remaining privately held mineral 
    interests within the boundaries of the Monument referred to in 
    section 1(a); and
        ``(2) setting forth a plan and a timetable by which the 
    Secretary would propose to complete the acquisition of such 
    interests.''.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.