[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 447 Referred in House (RFH)]


109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 447


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 28, 2005

                 Referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
To authorize the conveyance of certain Federal land in the State of New 
                                Mexico.

    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 ``Jornada Experimental Range Transfer 
Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Board.--The term ``Board'' means the Chihuahuan Desert 
        Nature Park Board.
            (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Agriculture.

SEC. 3. CONVEYANCE OF LAND TO CHIHUAHUAN DESERT NATURE PARK BOARD.

    (a) Conveyance.--The Secretary may convey to the Board, by 
quitclaim deed, for no consideration, all right, title, and interest of 
the United States in and to the land described in subsection (b).
    (b) Description of Land.--The parcel of land referred to in 
subsection (a) consists of not more than 1000 acres of land selected by 
the Secretary--
            (1) that is located in the Jornada Experimental Range in 
        the State of New Mexico; and
            (2) that is subject to an easement granted by the 
        Agricultural Research Service to the Board.
    (c) Conditions.--The conveyance of land under subsection (a) shall 
be subject to--
            (1) the condition that the Board pay--
                    (A) the cost of any surveys of the land; and
                    (B) any other costs relating to the conveyance;
            (2) any rights-of-way to the land reserved by the 
        Secretary;
            (3) a covenant or restriction in the deed to the land 
        described in subsection (b) requiring that--
                    (A) the land may be used only for educational 
                purposes;
                    (B) if the land is no longer used for the purposes 
                described in subparagraph (A), the land shall, at the 
                discretion of the Secretary, revert to the United 
                States; and
                    (C) if the land is determined by the Secretary to 
                be environmentally contaminated under subsection 
                (d)(2)(A), the Board shall remediate the contamination; 
                and
            (4) any other terms and conditions that the Secretary 
        determines to be appropriate.
    (d) Reversion.--If the land conveyed under subsection (a) is no 
longer used for the purposes described in subsection (c)(3)(A)--
            (1) the land shall, at the discretion of the Secretary, 
        revert to the United States; and
            (2) if the Secretary chooses to have the land revert to the 
        United States, the Secretary shall--
                    (A) determine whether the land is environmentally 
                contaminated, including contamination from hazardous 
                wastes, hazardous substances, pollutants, contaminants, 
                petroleum, or petroleum by-products; and
                    (B) if the Secretary determines that the land is 
                environmentally contaminated, the Board or any other 
                person responsible for the contamination shall 
                remediate the contamination.

            Passed the Senate July 27, 2005.

            Attest:

                                             EMILY J. REYNOLDS,

                                                             Secretary.