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






                                                 Union Calendar No. 300
108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 2909

                          [Report No. 108-521]

  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

                              June 3, 2004

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]
 [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on July 
                               25, 2003]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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 ``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        near lands withdrawn for military use and beneath special use 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.
            (2) The term ``Tribe'' means the Skull Valley Band of 
        Goshute Indians.
            (3) 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.
            (4) The term ``Wilderness Act'' means Public Law 88-577, 
        approved September 3, 1964 (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.).

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 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 shall 
prevent any required maintenance of existing communications, 
instrumentation, or electronic tracking systems (or infrastructure 
supporting such systems) or prevent the installation of new 
communication, instrumentation, or other equipment necessary for 
effective testing and training to meet military requirements in 
wilderness study areas located beneath special use airspace comprising 
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 
Interior, 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, comply with section 603 of the Federal Land Policy and 
Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1782).
    (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 a military operation to be conducted on the ground in covered 
wilderness in the Utah Test and Training Range unless such ground 
operation is otherwise permissible under Federal law and consistent 
with the Wilderness Act.

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 for rights-of-way under 
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'' and 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 March 7, 2004, 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, 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 (16 U.S.C. 1133(d)(7)), 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.
    (i) Release From Wilderness Study Area Status.--The lands 
identified as the Browns Spring Cherrystem on the map entitled 
``Proposed Browns Spring Cherrystem'' and dated May 11, 2004, are 
released from their status as a wilderness study area, and shall no 
longer be subject to the requirements of section 603(c) of the Federal 
Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1782(c)) pertaining 
to the management of wilderness study areas in a manner that does not 
impair the suitability of those areas for preservation of wilderness.

SEC. 6. IDENTIFICATION OF ADDITIONAL BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT LAND IN 
              UTAH AS TRUST LAND FOR SKULL VALLEY BAND OF GOSHUTES.

    (a) Identification of Trust Land.--The Secretary of the Interior 
shall identify approximately 640 additional acres of Bureau of Land 
Management land in the State of Utah to be administered in trust for 
the benefit of the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes.
    (b) Special Considerations.--In identifying the land under 
subsection (a), the Secretary of the Interior shall--
            (1) consult with leaders of the Tribe and the Governor of 
        Utah; and
            (2) ensure that the land has ready access to State or 
        Federal highways and, in the judgment of the Secretary, 
        provides the best opportunities for commercial economic 
        development in closest proximity to other lands of the Tribe.
    (c) Placement in Trust.--Not later than December 31, 2005, the 
Secretary of the Interior shall place the land identified pursuant to 
subsection (a) into trust for the purposes of economic development for 
the Tribe. At least 30 days before placing the land in trust for the 
Tribe, the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register legal 
descriptions of the land to be placed in trust.
    (d) Management of Trust Land.--The land placed into trust for the 
Tribe under subsection (c) shall be administered in accordance with 
laws generally applicable to property held in trust by the United 
States for Indian Tribes, except that the land shall immediately revert 
to the administrative control of the Bureau of Land Management if the 
Tribe sells, or attempts to sell, any part of the land.
    (e) Effect.--Nothing in this section--
            (1) affects any valid right-of-way, lease, permit, mining 
        claim, grazing permit, water right, or other right or interest 
        of any person or entity (other than the United States) in or to 
        the trust land that exists before the date on which the land is 
        placed in trust for the Tribe under subsection (c);
            (2) enlarges, impairs, or otherwise affects a right or 
        claim of the Tribe to any land or interest in land based on 
        Aboriginal or Indian title that exists before the date of the 
        enactment of this Act;
            (3) constitutes an express or implied reservation of water 
        or water right for any purpose with respect to the trust land; 
        or
            (4) affects any water right of the Tribe that exists before 
        the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 7. 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) Conforming Repeal.--Section 2815 of the National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000 (Public Law 106-65; 113 Stat. 
852) is amended by striking subsection (d).




                                                 Union Calendar No. 300

108th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 2909

                          [Report No. 108-521]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 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.

_______________________________________________________________________

                              June 3, 2004

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed