[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2873 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2873

    To provide for all right, title, and interest in and to certain 
property in Washington County, Utah, to be vested in the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 14, 2000

  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 all right, title, and interest in and to certain 
property in Washington County, Utah, to be vested in the United States.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) In 1983, Environmental Land Technology, Ltd. (hereafter 
        in this Act referred to as ``ELT'') acquired from the State of 
        Utah 2,440 acres of school trust lands in Washington County, 
        Utah, north of the city of St. George, for residential and 
        recreational development purposes and over the next several 
        years completed appraisals, cost estimates, engineering 
        studies, site plans, surveys, utility layouts, and right-of-way 
        negotiations with the city, and obtained water rights for the 
        land.
            (2) With the issuance by the United States Fish and 
        Wildlife Service of a permit under section 10 of the Endangered 
        Species Act of 1973 to Washington County, Utah, and the 
        adoption of the Habitat Conservation Plan and Implementation 
        Agreement of February of 1996 (hereafter in the Act referred to 
        as ``HCP and Agreement''), the Bureau of Land Management 
        assumed an obligation to acquire from willing sellers 
        approximately 12,600 acres of non-Federal land, including the 
        ELT development land, to create the Red Cliffs Reserve for the 
        protection of the desert tortoise.
            (3) Since 1996, the Bureau of Land Management has acquired, 
        through exchange or purchase, nearly all of the privately owned 
        property within the Federal portion of the Reserve, except for 
        1,516 acres of the ELT development land.
            (4) With the creation of the Grand Staircase National 
        Monument in 1996 in the State of Utah and the subsequent land 
        exchanges for the consolidation of lands necessary for the 
        Monument, there are no longer sufficient comparable lands 
        within the State of Utah to conduct intrastate exchanges for 
        the remaining desert tortoise lands.
            (5) Under the Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal Land 
        Acquisitions, ELT is entitled to have its lands appraised at 
        fair market value, highest and best use.
            (6) The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is charged 
        with protecting endangered species and administering the 
        cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund which may be 
        used for the acquisition of private lands, and the Bureau of 
        Land Management is responsible for acquiring the private lands 
        within the Red Cliffs Reserve.
            (7) The bifurcation of responsibility between the United 
        States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land 
        Management has relegated ELT to a bureaucratic ``no-man's-
        land''.
            (8) The Secretary of the Interior and other department 
        officials have characterized the acquisition of the ELT lands 
        to be administered under the HCP and Agreement as a high 
        priority.
            (9) The Department of the Interior did not request any 
        funds in the budget for fiscal year 2001 to purchase the 
        remaining privately held lands within the boundaries of the 
        land to be administered by the Bureau of Land Management under 
        the HCP and Agreement.
            (10) The listing of the desert tortoise and the failure of 
        the Department of the Interior to identify comparable land 
        suitable for exchange within the State of Utah or to fund the 
        purchase of the ELT development land have effectively taken 
        this property from the remaining private land owner, denying it 
        the right to develop or otherwise dispose of the property.
            (11) With the creation of the Red Cliffs Reserve, ELT has 
        been unable to develop its property, which has resulted in 
        extreme financial hardship to the owner, requiring the 
        liquidation of substantial ELT assets.
            (12) It is in the public interest to complete this land 
        acquisition at the earliest practicable date so that the desert 
        tortoise habitat lands can be acquired and preserved by the 
        United States for permanent public management, use, and 
        enjoyment and the private land owner may be fairly compensated 
        for its lands.

SEC. 2. ACQUISITION OF CERTAIN PROPERTY IN WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 
effective on the date of the enactment of this Act, all right, title, 
and interest in and to, and the right to immediate possession of, the 
1,516 acres of real property owned by ELT, within the Red Cliffs 
Reserve in Washington County, Utah, and the 34 acres of real property 
owned by ELT which is adjacent to the land within the Reserve but is 
landlocked as a result of the creation of the Reserve, is hereby vested 
in the United States.
    (b) Compensation for Property.--Subject to section 309(f) of the 
Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-
333), the United States shall pay just compensation to the owners of 
any real property taken pursuant to this section, determined as of the 
date of taking. An initial payment of $15,000,000 shall be made to the 
owners of such real property not later than 30 days after the date of 
taking. The remainder shall be paid in cash or, at the option of the 
land owner, as provided in subsection (e). The full faith and credit of 
the United States is hereby pledged to the payment of any judgment 
entered against the United States with respect to the taking of such 
property. Payment shall be in the amount of the agreed appraised value 
of such real property plus interest and reasonable costs and expenses 
of holding such property from February 1990 to the date of final 
payment or the valuation of such real property awarded by judgment plus 
interest, reasonable costs and expenses of holding such property from 
February 1990 to the date of final payment, and reasonable costs and 
attorney fees. Payment shall be made from the permanent judgment 
appropriation established pursuant to section 1304 of title 31, United 
States Code, or from another appropriate Federal Government fund. 
Interest shall accrue from the date of taking to the date of payment. 
Interest shall be compounded quarterly and computed at the rate 
applicable for the period involved, as determined by the Secretary of 
the Treasury on the basis of the current average market yield on 
outstanding marketable obligations of the United States of comparable 
maturities from the date of enactment of this section to the last day 
of the month preceding the date on which payment is made.
    (c) Determination by Court in Lieu of Negotiated Settlement.--In 
the absence of a negotiated settlement, or an action by the owner, 
within 90 days after the date of enactment of this section, the 
Secretary of the Interior shall initiate a proceeding in the United 
States Federal District Court for the District of Utah, seeking a 
determination, subject to section 309(f) of the Omnibus Parks and 
Public Lands Management Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-333), of just 
compensation with respect to the taking of such property.
    (d) Unauthorized Use of Lands Prohibited.--The Secretary of the 
Interior shall not allow any unauthorized use of the lands to be 
acquired under this subsection, except that the Secretary of the 
Interior shall permit the orderly termination of all current activities 
and the removal of any equipment, facilities, or personal property.
    (e) Surplus Property Account.--If requested by the land owner, the 
Secretary of the Interior shall credit a surplus property account, to 
be established in the name of the land owner, in the amount of (1) the 
agreed appraised value of such real property plus interest and 
reasonable costs and expenses of holding such property from February 
1996 to the date that surplus property credits become available for use 
under this subsection, or (2) the valuation of such real property 
awarded by judgment plus interest, reasonable costs and expenses of 
holding such property from February 1996 to the date that surplus 
property credits become available for use under this subsection, and 
reasonable costs and attorney fees. The land owner may, using the 
credit in the surplus property account established pursuant to this 
section, bid, as any other bidder for surplus property, wherever 
located, in accordance with the Federal Property and Administrative Act 
of 1949. The Administrator of General Services shall establish the land 
owner's surplus property account and shall adjust the credit in the 
account to reflect successful bids under this subsection. Credit in the 
surplus property account may be transferred or sold in whole or in part 
at any time by the land owner to any other party, thereby vesting such 
party with all the rights of the land owner, and not later than 60 days 
after such transfer, the land owner shall notify the Administrator of 
the transfer.
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