[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2909 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2909

  To ensure the continued availability of the Utah Test and Training 
 Range to support the readiness and training needs of the Armed Forces.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 25, 2003

    Mr. Bishop of Utah (for himself, Mr. Cannon, and Mr. Matheson) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To ensure the continued availability of the Utah Test and Training 
 Range to support the readiness and training needs of the Armed Forces.

    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 Test and Training Range 
Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

     In this Act:
            (1) The term ``Utah Test and Training Range'' means those 
        portions of the military operating area of the Utah Test and 
        Training Area located solely in the State of Utah. The term 
        includes the Dugway Proving Ground.
            (2) The term ``covered wilderness'' means the wilderness 
        area designated by this Act and wilderness study areas located 
        near lands withdrawn for military use and beneath special use 
        airspace critical to the support of military test and training 
        missions at the Utah Test and Training Range, including the 
        Deep Creek, Fish Springs, Swasey Mountain, Howell Peak, Notch 
        Peak, King Top, Wah Wah Mountain, and Conger Mountain units 
        designated by the Department of the Interior.

SEC. 3. MILITARY OPERATIONS AND OVERFLIGHTS, UTAH TEST AND TRAINING 
              RANGE.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The testing and development of military weapons systems 
        and the training of military forces are critical to ensuring 
        the national security of the United States.
            (2) The Utah Test and Training Range in the State of Utah 
        is a unique and irreplaceable national asset at the core of the 
        test and training mission of the Department of Defense.
            (3) The Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area designated by 
        section 5, as well as several wilderness study areas, are 
        located near lands withdrawn for military use or are beneath 
        special use airspace critical to the support of military test 
        and training missions at the Utah Test and Training Range.
            (4) The Utah Test and Training Range and special use 
        airspace withdrawn for military uses create unique management 
        circumstances for the covered wilderness in this Act, and it is 
        not the intent of Congress that passage of this Act shall be 
        construed as establishing a precedent with respect to any 
        future national conservation area or wilderness designation.
            (5) Continued access to the special use airspace and lands 
        that comprise the Utah Test and Training Range, under the terms 
        and conditions described in this section, is a national 
        security priority and is not incompatible with the protection 
        and proper management of the natural, environmental, cultural, 
        and other resources of such lands.
    (b) Overflights.--Nothing in this Act or the Wilderness Act (16 
U.S.C. 1131 et seq.) shall preclude low-level overflights and 
operations of military aircraft, helicopters, missiles, or unmanned 
aerial vehicles over the covered wilderness, including military 
overflights and operations that can be seen or heard within the covered 
wilderness.
    (c) Special Use Airspace and Training Routes.--Nothing in this Act 
or the Wilderness Act shall preclude the designation of new units of 
special use airspace, the expansion of existing units of special use 
airspace, or the use or establishment of military training routes over 
the covered wilderness.
    (d) Communications and Tracking Systems.--Nothing in this Act or 
the Wilderness Act shall prevent any required maintenance of existing 
communications, instrumentation, or electronic tracking systems (or 
infrastructure supporting such systems) in the covered wilderness or 
prevent the installation of new communication, instrumentation, or 
other equipment necessary for effective testing and training to meet 
military requirements so long as the Secretary of the Interior, after 
consultation with the Secretary of the Air Force, determines that the 
installation and maintenance of such systems, when considered both 
individually and collectively--
            (1) create a similar or lesser impact on the environment;
            (2) do not expand the size or significantly expand the 
        number of such systems, as in existence on the date of the 
        enactment of this Act; and
            (3) do not require construction of any roads in the covered 
        wilderness.
    (e) Emergency Access and Response.--Nothing in this Act or the 
Wilderness Act shall preclude the continuation of the memorandum of 
understanding in existence as of the date of enactment of this Act 
between the Department of the Interior and the Department of the Air 
Force with respect to emergency access and response.
    (f) Prohibition on Ground Military Operations.--Except as provided 
in subsections (d) and (e), nothing in this section shall be construed 
to permit military operations to be conducted on the ground in covered 
wilderness in the Utah Test and Training Range.

SEC. 4. PLANNING PROCESS FOR FEDERAL LANDS IN UTAH TEST AND TRAINING 
              RANGE.

    (a) Analysis of Military Readiness and Operational Impacts.--The 
Secretary of the Interior shall develop, maintain, and revise land use 
plans pursuant to section 202 of the Federal Land Policy and Management 
Act of 1976 (43 U.S. C. 1712) for Federal lands located in the Utah 
Test and Training Range in consultation with the Secretary of Defense. 
As part of the required consultation in connection with a proposed 
revision of a land use plan, the Secretary of Defense shall prepare and 
transmit to the Secretary of the Interior an analysis of the military 
readiness and operational impacts of the proposed revision within six 
months of a request from the Secretary of Interior.
    (b) Limitation on Rights-of-ways.--The Secretary of the Interior 
shall not grant or issue any authorizations pursuant to section 
501(a)(6) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 
U.S.C. 1761(a)(6)) upon Federal lands identified as inventory units 
UTU-020-086, UTU-020-088, UTU-020-095, UTU-020-096, UTU-020-100, UTU-
020-101, UTU-020-103, UTU-020-104, UTU-020-105, and UTU-020-110 as 
generally depicted on the map entitled ``Wilderness Inventory, State of 
Utah'', dated August 1979, until the later of the following:
            (1) The completion of a full revision of the Pony Express 
        Area Resource Management Plan, dated January 12, 1990, by the 
        Salt Lake Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management.
            (2) January 1, 2015.

SEC. 5. DESIGNATION AND MANAGEMENT OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN WILDERNESS, UTAH.

    (a) Designation.--Certain Federal lands in Tooele County, Utah, as 
generally depicted on the map entitled ``Cedar Mountain Wilderness'' 
and dated ____________ are hereby designated as wilderness and, 
therefore, as a component of the National Wilderness Preservation 
System to be known as the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area.
    (b) Withdrawal.--Subject to valid existing rights, the Federal 
lands in the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area are hereby withdrawn from 
all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land 
laws, from location, entry, and patent under the United States mining 
laws, and from disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral and 
geothermal leasing, and mineral materials, and all amendments to such 
laws.
    (c) Map and Description.--(1) As soon as practicable after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall 
transmit a map and legal description of the Cedar Mountain Wilderness 
Area to the Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives and 
the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate.
    (2) The map and legal description shall have the same force and 
effect as if included in this Act, except that the Secretary of the 
Interior may correct clerical and typographical errors in the map and 
legal description.
    (3) The map and legal description shall be on file and available 
for public inspection in the office of the Director of the Bureau of 
Land Management and the office of the State Director of the Bureau of 
Land Management in the State of Utah.
    (d) Administration.--Subject to valid existing rights and this Act, 
the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area shall be administered by the 
Secretary of the Interior in accordance with the provisions of the 
Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.), except that any reference in 
such provisions to the effective date of the Wilderness Act (or any 
similar reference) shall be deemed to be a reference to the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
    (e) Land Acquisition.--Any lands or interest in lands within the 
boundaries of the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area acquired by the United 
States after the date of the enactment of this Act shall be added to 
and administered as part of the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area.
    (f) Fish and Wildlife Management.--As provided in section 4(d)(7) 
of the Wilderness Act, nothing in this Act shall be construed as 
affecting the jurisdiction of the State of Utah with respect to fish 
and wildlife on the Federal lands located in that State.
    (g) Grazing.--Within the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area, the 
grazing of livestock, where established before the date of the 
enactment of this Act, shall be permitted to continue subject to such 
reasonable regulations, policies, and practices as the Secretary of the 
Interior considers necessary, as long as such regulations, policies, 
and practices fully conform with and implement the intent of Congress 
regarding grazing in such areas, as such intent is expressed in the 
Wilderness Act, section 101(f) of Public Law 101-628 (104 Stat. 4473), 
and appendix A of the Report of the Committee on Interior and Insular 
Affairs to accompany H.R. 2570 of the 101st Congress (H. Rept. 101-
405).
    (h) Buffer Zones.--Congress does not intend for the designation of 
the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area to lead to the creation of 
protective perimeters or buffer zones around the wilderness area. The 
fact that nonwilderness activities or uses can be seen or heard within 
the wilderness area shall not, of itself, preclude such activities or 
uses up to the boundary of the wilderness area.

SEC. 6. RELATION TO OTHER LANDS AND LAWS.

    (a) Other Lands.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect 
any Federal lands located outside of the covered wilderness or the 
management of such lands.
    (b) Other Laws.--Section 2815(d) of the National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 (Public Law 106-65; 113 Stat. 
852) shall not apply to the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area.
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