[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4729 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4729

  To provide for protection of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife 
 Refuge and endangered species and other wildlife that inhabit or uses 
 that refuge, and to ensure that scarce refuge land in and around the 
Minneapolis, Minnesota, metropolitan area is not subjected to physical 
                        or auditory impairment.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 7, 1998

   Mr. Young of Alaska (for himself, Mr. Doolittle, Mr. McInnis, Mr. 
   Gibbons, Mrs. Cubin, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Pombo, Mr. Radanovich, Mr. 
 McKeon, Mr. Bob Schaffer of Colorado, and Mr. Hansen) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide for protection of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife 
 Refuge and endangered species and other wildlife that inhabit or uses 
 that refuge, and to ensure that scarce refuge land in and around the 
Minneapolis, Minnesota, metropolitan area is not subjected to physical 
                        or auditory impairment.

    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 ``Minnesota Valley National Wildlife 
Refuge Protection Act of 1998''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) On September 21, 1998, the United States Fish and 
        Wildlife Service announced an agreement with the Metropolitan 
        Airports Commission of the State of Minnesota, which is the 
        public agency that operates the Minneapolis-St. Paul 
        International Airport. The agreement would allow construction 
        of a new runway for that airport that would have severe impacts 
        on the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
            (2) The agreement purported to mitigate impacts of a major 
        runway expansion that would allow jumbo jets to fly as low a 
        500 feet from the surface of the Minnesota Valley National 
        Wildlife Refuge.
            (3) The Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, in 
        serving as an urban-oriented refuge, is a sanctuary in the 
        midst of the urban and industrial sprawl of Minneapolis and St. 
        Paul, Minnesota. Any agreement to allow scores of jumbo jets 
        each day to fly any closer to the one place of sanctuary in 
        that region violates the very concept of providing places of 
        refuge for wildlife.
            (4) A disparity exists in the treatment of activities 
        affecting various National Wildlife Refuges. Although low-
        altitude overflights would be allowed over the Minnesota Valley 
        National Wildlife Refuge, activities that would have 
        significantly fewer impacts have been prohibited on or near 
        other National Wildlife Refuges located in rural areas. Even 
        emergency medical services necessary to save human lives have 
        not been allowed access to some National Wildlife Refuges.

SEC. 3. MINNESOTA VALLEY NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE PROTECTION.

    (a) Moratorium on Implementation of Agreement.--The Secretary of 
the Interior and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service shall not 
implement any agreement that would allow for an expansion of the 
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
    (b) Report.--Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall report to the Congress 
regarding whether the activities associated with expansion of the 
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport or additional overflights of 
Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge by air traffic using that 
airport may constitute a taking of an endangered species or threatened 
species prohibited by the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 
1531 et seq.).
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