[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2146 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2146

 To provide for the exchange of certain lands within the State of Utah.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 9, 1998

Mr. Hatch (for himself and Mr. Bennett) introduced the following bill; 
   which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for the exchange of certain lands within the State of Utah.

    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 ``Utah Schools and Lands Exchange Act 
of 1998''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The State of Utah owns approximately 176,600 acres of 
        land, as well as approximately 24,165 acres of mineral 
        interests, administered by the Utah School and Institutional 
        Trust Lands Administration, within the exterior boundaries of 
        the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, established by 
        Presidential proclamation on September 18, 1996, pursuant to 
        section 2 of the Antiquities Act of 1906 (16 U.S.C. 431). The 
        State of Utah also owns approximately 200,000 acres of land, 
        and 76,000 acres of mineral interests, administered by the Utah 
        School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, within the 
        exterior boundaries of several units of the National Park 
        System and the National Forest System, and within certain 
        Indian reservations in Utah. These lands were granted by 
        Congress to the State of Utah pursuant to the Utah Enabling 
        Act, chap. 138, 28 Stat. 107 (1894), to be held in trust for 
        the benefit of the State's public school system and other 
        public institutions.
            (2) Many of the State school trust lands within the 
        monument may contain significant economic quantities of mineral 
        resources, including coal, oil, and gas, tar sands, coalbed 
        methane, titanium, uranium, and other energy and metalliferous 
        minerals. Certain State school trust lands within the Monument, 
        like the Federal lands comprising the Monument, have 
        substantial noneconomic scientific, historic, cultural, scenic, 
        recreational, and natural resources, including ancient Native 
        American archeological sites and rare plant and animal 
        communities.
            (3) Development of surface and mineral resources on State 
        school trust lands within the monument could be incompatible 
        with the preservation of these scientific and historic 
        resources for which the monument was established. Federal 
        acquisition of State school trust lands within the monument 
        would eliminate this potential incompatibility, and would 
        enhance management of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National 
        Monument.
            (4) The United States owns lands and interest in lands 
        outside of the monument that can be transferred to the State of 
        Utah in exchange for the monument inholdings without 
        jeopardizing Federal management objectives or needs.
            (5) In 1993, Congress passed and the President signed 
        Public Law 103-93, which contained a process for exchanging 
        State of Utah school trust inholdings in the National Park 
        System, the National Forest System, and certain Indian 
        reservations in Utah. Among other things, it identified various 
        Federal lands and interests in land that were available to 
        exchange for these State inholdings.
            (6) Although Public Law 103-93 offered the hope of a 
        prompt, orderly exchange of State inholdings for Federal lands 
        elsewhere, implementation of the legislation has been very 
        slow. Completion of this process is realistically estimated to 
        be many years away, at great expense to both the State and the 
        United States in the form of expert witnesses, lawyers, 
        appraisers, and other litigation costs.
            (7) The State also owns approximately 2,560 acres of land 
        in or near the Alton coal field which has been declared an area 
        unsuitable for coal mining under the terms of the Surface 
        Mining Control and Reclamation Act. This land is also 
        administered by the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands 
        Administration, but its use is limited given this declaration.
            (8) The large presence of State school trust land 
        inholdings in the monument, national parks, national forests, 
        and Indian reservations make land and resource management in 
        these areas difficult, costly, and controversial for both the 
        State of Utah and the United States.
            (9) It is in the public interest to reach agreement on 
        exchange of inholdings, on terms fair to both the State and the 
United States. Agreement saves much time and delay in meeting the 
expectations of the State school and institutional trusts, in 
simplifying management of Federal and Indian lands and resources, and 
in avoiding expensive, protracted litigation under Public Law 103-93.
            (10) The State of Utah and the United States have reached 
        an agreement under which the State would exchange of all its 
        State school trust lands within the monument, and specified 
        inholdings in national parks, forests, and Indian reservations 
        that are subject to Public Law 103-93, for various Federal 
        lands and interests in lands located outside the monument, 
        including Federal lands and interests identified as available 
        for exchange in Public Law 103-93 and additional Federal lands 
        and interests in lands.
            (11) The State school trust lands to be conveyed to the 
        Federal Government include properties within units of the 
        National Park System, the National Forest System, and the Grand 
        Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The Federal assets made 
        available for exchange with the State were selected with a 
        great sensitivity to environmental concerns and a belief and 
        expectation by both parties that Federal assets to be conveyed 
        to the State would be unlikely to trigger significant 
        environmental controversy.
            (12) The parties agreed at the outset of negotiations to 
        avoid identifying Federal assets for conveyance to the State 
        where any of the following was known to exist or likely to be 
        an issue as a result of foreseeable future uses of the land: 
        significant wildlife resources, endangered species habitat, 
        significant archaeological resources, areas of critical 
        environmental concern, coal resources requiring surface mining 
        to extract the mineral deposits, wilderness study areas, 
        significant recreational areas, or any other lands known to 
        raise significant environmental concerns of any kind.
            (13) The parties further agreed that the use of any mineral 
        interests obtained by the State of Utah where the Federal 
        Government retains surface and other interest, will not 
        conflict with established Federal land and environmental 
        management objectives, and shall be fully subject to all 
        environmental regulations applicable to development of non-
        Federal mineral interest on Federal lands.
            (14) Because the inholdings to be acquired by the Federal 
        Government include properties within the boundaries of some of 
        the most renowned conservation land units in the United States, 
        and because a mission of the Utah School and Institutional 
        Trust Lands Administration is to produce economic benefits for 
        Utah's public schools and other beneficiary institutions, the 
        exchange of lands called for in this agreement will resolve 
        many longstanding environmental conflicts and further the 
        interest of the State trust lands, the school children of Utah, 
        and these conservation resources.
            (15) The Congress finds that, under this Agreement taken as 
        a whole, the State interests to be conveyed to the United 
        States by the State of Utah, and the Federal interests and 
        payments to be conveyed to the State of Utah by the United 
        States, are approximately equal in value.
            (16) The purpose of this legislation is to enact into law 
        and direct prompt implementation of this historic agreement.

SEC. 3. RATIFICATION OF AGREED EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE STATE OF UTAH AND 
              THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.

    (a) Agreement.--The State of Utah and the Department of the 
Interior have agreed to exchange certain Federal lands, Federal mineral 
interests, and payment of money for lands and mineral interests managed 
by the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, lands 
and mineral interests of approximately equal value inheld within the 
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument the Goshute and Navajo 
Indian Reservations, units of the national park system, the national 
forest system, and the Alton coal fields.
    (b) Ratification.--All terms, conditions, procedures, covenants, 
reservations, and other provisions set forth in the document entitled 
``Agreement to Exchange Utah School Trust Lands Between the State of 
Utah and the United States of America'' (herein referred to as ``the 
Agreement'') are hereby incorporated in this title, are ratified and 
confirmed, and set forth the obligations and commitments of the United 
States, the State of Utah, and Utah School and Institutional Trust 
Lands Administration (herein referred to as ``SITLA''), as a matter of 
Federal law.

SEC. 4. LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS.

    (a) In General.--The maps and legal descriptions referred to in the 
Agreement depict the lands subject to the conveyances.
    (b) Public Availability.--The maps and descriptions referred to in 
the Agreement shall be on file and available for public inspection in 
the offices of the Secretary of the Interior and the Utah State 
Director of the Bureau of Land Management.
    (c) Conflict.--In case of conflict between the maps and the legal 
descriptions, the legal descriptions shall control.

SEC. 5. COSTS.

    The United States and the State of Utah shall each bear its own 
respective costs incurred in the implementation of this Act.

SEC. 6. REPEAL OF PUBLIC LAW 103-93 AND PUBLIC LAW 104-211.

    The provisions of Public law 103-93 (107 Stat. 995), other than 
section 7(b)(1), section 7(b)(3) and section 10(b) thereof, are hereby 
repealed. Public Law 104-211 (110 Stat. 3013) is hereby repealed.

SEC. 7. CASH PAYMENT PREVIOUSLY AUTHORIZED.

    As previously authorized and made available by section 7(b)(1) and 
(b)(3) of Public Law 103-93, upon completion of all conveyances 
described in the Agreement, the United States shall pay $50,000,000 to 
the State of Utah from funds not otherwise appropriated from the 
Treasury.

SEC. 8. SCHEDULE FOR CONVEYANCES.

    All conveyances under sections 2 and 3 of the agreement shall be 
completed within 70 days after the enactment of this Act.
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