[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5471 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5471

   To provide to the Bureau of Land Management a mechanism to cancel 
certain mining leases for lands in the leases CA-20139 and CA-22901 and 
provide new leasing opportunities in the Soledad Canyon adjacent to the 
 City of Santa Clarita, California, that reflect the historical mining 
                    levels, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 24, 2006

  Mr. McKeon introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide to the Bureau of Land Management a mechanism to cancel 
certain mining leases for lands in the leases CA-20139 and CA-22901 and 
provide new leasing opportunities in the Soledad Canyon adjacent to the 
 City of Santa Clarita, California, that reflect the historical mining 
                    levels, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Soledad Canyon Mine Leases 
Adjustment Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Transit Mixed Concrete Corporation holds two valid 
        Federal leases for the extraction of sand and gravel from the 
        Federal mineral estate in lands located in Soledad Canyon 
        adjacent to the City of Santa Clarita, California, numbered CA-
        20139 and CA-22901. Such lands contain approximately 56 million 
        tons of sand and gravel.
            (2) Mining 56 million tons of sand and gravel under the 
        terms of the leases would produce harm to the environment and 
        cause major transportation problems for the City of Santa 
        Clarita, surrounding areas, and other users of the 
        transportation systems in the vicinity.
            (3) It is in the best interest of the citizens of 
        California and the Federal Government to cancel those leases 
        and make available new leases for those resources that reflect 
        the level of mining that has historically occurred in the 
        Soledad Canyon area of California.
            (4) TMC should be offered resources extraction 
        opportunities of similar economic value in other areas of 
        California that would not impact the environment and 
        transportation systems to the degree that they would have been 
        impacted in the Soledad Canyon.
            (5) TMC should receive credit for reasonable and customary 
        costs associated with their efforts to develop leases CA-20139 
        and CA-22901.
            (6) A site-specific solution that is fair to TMC, protects 
        the environment, and has minimal impact on local transportation 
        system is in the best interest of the Nation.
            (7) Considerable sums of money have been expended by all 
        parties trying to insure their interests are protected with 
        respect to leases CA-20139 and CA-22901, with no conclusion 
        foreseen at this time.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are the following:
            (1) To provide to the Bureau of Land Management a mechanism 
        that is not available under existing law to cancel leases CA-
        20139 and CA-22901 and provide new leasing opportunities in the 
        Soledad Canyon that reflect the historical production levels.
            (2) To provide a means for TMC to recover and transfer to 
        other Federal resources the amounts expended trying to develop 
        leases CA-20139 and CA-22901.
            (3) To provide the Bureau of Land Management tools to 
        evaluate expenses incurred by TMC and provide relief.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior.
            (2) TMC.--The term ``TMC'' means the Transit Mixed Concrete 
        Corporation.
            (3) The term ``historical production levels'' means 
        production of 300,000 tons of aggregate produced for sale per 
        calendar year.

SEC. 4. TMC LEASE CANCELLATIONS AND EXCHANGE OF VALUES EXPENDED.

    (a) Leases Cancellations.--The Secretary shall cancel Bureau of 
Land Management leases CA-20139 and CA-22901 effective on the date of 
the enactment of this Act.
    (b) Exchange for Economic Values.--
            (1) In general.--In exchange for the economic value 
        invested in trying to bring leases CA-20139 and CA-22901 into 
        commercial production the Secretary shall provide to TMC other 
        financial and mineral production opportunities in accordance 
        with subsection (d).
            (2) Values assigned to leases.--For purposes of paragraph 
        (1), the economic value invested is an amount equal to the sum 
        of the following:
                    (A) All amounts paid to the United States with 
                respect to the leases as bonus bids or other 
                prepayments.
                    (B) Interest on amounts referred to in subparagraph 
                (A), from the date of payment of such amounts to the 
                United States, at a rate determined by the Secretary.
                    (C) Amounts expended by TMC in securing the leases 
                and trying to bring them into production, including--
                            (i) reasonable costs associated with the 
                        engineering and environmental studies 
                        associated with the leases; and
                            (ii) reasonable legal costs associated with 
                        efforts to exercise the rights granted in the 
                        leases.
    (c) Submission of Expenses Incurred.--
            (1) In general.--To assist in the determination of the 
        amounts expended referred to in subsection (b)(2)(C), TMC shall 
        submit to the Secretary within 90 days after the date of the 
        enactment of this Act an itemized list of such amounts, with 
        enough detail and supporting documentation so the Secretary can 
        determine that the expenses are associated with the leases and 
        are reasonable.
            (2) Arbitration.--The Secretary's determination of the 
        amounts expended referred to in subsection (b)(2)(C) shall be 
        issued within 90 days of receipt of the itemized list required 
        under paragraph (1). If the Secretary disapproves such list, 
        the Secretary shall, upon request of TMC, determine the 
        economic value invested for purposes of subsection (b)(2) 
        through arbitration in accordance with subchapter IV of chapter 
        5 of title 5, United States Code.
    (d) Return of Value Opportunities for TMC.--Financial and mineral 
production opportunities provided under subsection (b)(1) may be in the 
form of one or a combination of any of the following that is mutually 
agreed to by the Secretary and TMC:
            (1) Interests in the mineral estate in Federal lands in the 
        State of California that are available for leasing under the 
        Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.).
            (2) Interests in the surface estate in Federal lands in the 
        State of California that are under the administrative 
        jurisdiction of the Secretary and that are available for 
        disposal.
    (e) Referral to Court of Claims.--
            (1) Referral.--If the Secretary and TMC do not reach 
        agreement under subsection (b) regarding the financial and 
        mineral production opportunities to be provided by the 
        Secretary under subsection (b)(1) within 24 months after date 
        of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall refer the 
        issue to the United States Court of Federal Claims for 
        resolution.
            (2) Resolution by court.--In any referral under this 
        subsection, the court shall--
                    (A) determine the economic value invested for 
                purposes of subsection (b)(2); and
                    (B) determine and order the Secretary to provide 
                financial and mineral production opportunities for 
                purposes of subsection (b)(1) and subsection (d).

SEC. 5. LIMITATIONS ON FUTURE LEASING FOR SAND AND GRAVEL IN SOLEDAD 
              CANYON AREA OF CALIFORNIA.

    (a) Limitation on Rate of Mining.--The Secretary may not issue any 
lease for mining sand and gravel in the Soledad Canyon area of 
California as described on the map titled ___ and dated ___ on file 
with the Secretary of Interior that in aggregate exceeds the historical 
production level.
    (b) Consultation and Considerations.--Before issuing any lease 
authorizing the mining of sand or gravel in the Soledad Canyon area of 
California, the Secretary shall--
            (1) consult with the City of Santa Clarita, California, Los 
        Angeles County, California, and surface owners in that area; 
        and
            (2) take into consideration the environmental and 
        transportation concerns of such mining in that area.
                                 <all>