[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2754 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2754

   To provide for the exchange of certain land in the State of Utah.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 20, 2000

Mr. Bennett (for himself and Mr. Hatch) 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 land in 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 West Desert Land Exchange Act 
of 2000''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) the State of Utah owns approximately 95,095.19 acres of 
        land and approximately 11,187.60 acres of mineral interests 
        that are located in the West Desert region of the State and 
        contained wholly or partially within certain wilderness study 
        areas that were--
                    (A) established under section 603 of the Federal 
                Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 
                1782); or
                    (B) proposed by the Bureau of Land Management for 
                designation as wilderness study areas under section 202 
                of that Act (43 U.S.C. 1712);
            (2) the land was granted by Congress to the State under the 
        Act of July 16, 1894 (commonly known as the ``Utah Enabling 
        Act'') (28 Stat. 107; chapter 138), to be held in trust for the 
        benefit of the public school system and other public 
        institutions of the State;
            (3) the land is largely scattered in checkerboard fashion 
        amid the Federal land comprising the remainder of the 
        designated and proposed wilderness study areas;
            (4) much of the State trust land within designated and 
        proposed wilderness study areas in the West Desert region may--
                    (A) contain significant economic quantities of 
                mineral resources (including gold, silver, copper, 
                nickel, lead, phosphates, oil, natural gas, and other 
                energy and metalliferous minerals); and
                    (B) have substantial market value for recreational 
                and agricultural uses;
            (5) certain areas of the land, like the Federal land that 
        comprises the remainder of the designated and proposed 
        wilderness study areas, contain substantial noneconomic 
        scientific, historical, scenic, recreational, and natural 
        resources;
            (6) development of surface and mineral resources on State 
        trust land within designated or proposed wilderness study 
        areas, or the sale of that land into private ownership, could 
        be incompatible with--
                    (A) management of the land for nonimpairment of 
                wilderness characteristics of the land under section 
                603(c) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
                1976 (43 U.S.C. 1782(c)); or
                    (B) future congressional designation of the land as 
                wilderness;
            (7) the United States owns land and interests in land 
        outside designated and proposed wilderness study areas that 
        could be transferred to the State in exchange for the West 
        Desert wilderness inholdings without jeopardizing Federal 
        management objectives or needs;
            (8) the large presence of State trust land inholdings in 
        designated and proposed wilderness study areas in the West 
        Desert region makes land and resource management in those areas 
        difficult, costly, and controversial for the State and the 
        United States;
            (9) it is in the public interest to reach agreement on 
        exchange of the inholdings described in paragraph (7) on terms 
        that are fair to the State and the United States, because such 
        an agreement would save substantial time and avoid substantial 
        delay in--
                    (A) meeting the legitimate expectations of the 
                State school and institutional trusts;
                    (B) simplifying management of Federal land; and
                    (C) avoiding the significant time and expense 
                associated with administrative land exchanges;
            (10) the State and the United States have reached an 
        Agreement under which the State would exchange all its State 
        trust land within specified wilderness study areas and areas 
        identified as having wilderness characteristics in the West 
        Desert region for various Federal land and interests in land 
        outside those areas, but in the same region of the State;
            (11) the Agreement provides for the State to convey to the 
        United States approximately 483 acres of land in Washington 
        County, Utah, that have been designated as critical habitat for 
        the Desert Tortoise, a threatened species under the Endangered 
        Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), for inclusion in 
        the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve;
            (12) because the inholdings to be acquired by the Federal 
        Government include properties within some of the most 
        spectacular wild areas in the western United States, and 
        because a mission of the Utah School and Institutional Trust 
        Lands Administration is to produce economic benefits for public 
        schools and other beneficiary institutions of the State, the 
        exchange of land called for in the Agreement will--
                    (A) resolve longstanding environmental conflicts 
                with respect to the designated and proposed wilderness 
                study areas;
                    (B) place important natural land into public 
                ownership; and
                    (C) further the interests of the State trust land, 
                the schoolchildren of the State, and those conservation 
                resources; and
            (13) under the Agreement taken as a whole, the State 
        interests to be conveyed to the United States by the State, and 
        the Federal interests to be conveyed to the State by the United 
        States, are approximately equal in value.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are to--
            (1) incorporate into law, and direct prompt implementation 
        of, the Agreement; and
            (2) further the public interest by consolidating State and 
        Federal land into manageable units while facilitating the 
        protection of the land (including significant scientific, 
        cultural, and natural resources on the land).

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Agreement.--The term ``Agreement'' means the document 
        entitled ``Agreement for Exchange of Lands--West Desert State-
        Federal Land Consolidation'', entered into between the United 
        States and the State, dated May 30, 2000.
            (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior.
            (3) State.--The term ``State'' means the State of Utah.

SEC. 4. RATIFICATION OF THE AGREED EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE STATE OF UTAH 
              AND THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.

    (a) Ratification.--All terms, conditions, procedures, covenants, 
reservations, and other provisions described in the Agreement, as a 
matter of Federal law--
            (1) are incorporated in this Act;
            (2) are ratified and confirmed; and
            (3) describe the obligations of--
                    (A) the United States;
                    (B) the State; and
                    (C) the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands 
                Administration.

SEC. 5. CONVEYANCES.

    (a) Conveyances.--Not later than 70 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, all conveyances under sections 2 and 3 of the 
Agreement shall be completed.
    (b) Maps and Legal Descriptions.--
            (1) In general.--The maps and legal descriptions referred 
        to in the Agreement depict the land subject to the conveyances 
        under the Agreement.
            (2) Public availability.--The maps and descriptions 
        referred to in the Agreement shall be on file and available for 
        public inspection in the offices of--
                    (A) the Secretary; and
                    (B) the Utah State Director of the Bureau of Land 
                Management.
            (3) Conflict.--In case of any conflict between a map and a 
        legal description in the Agreement, the legal description shall 
        control.

SEC. 6. COSTS.

    The United States and the State shall each bear its own costs 
incurred in carrying out this Act.
                                 <all>