[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6129 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6129

 To release the Bodie Wilderness Study Area in Mono County, California.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 15, 2010

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To release the Bodie Wilderness Study Area in Mono County, California.

    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 ``Mono County Economic Development Act 
of 2010''.

SEC. 2. RELEASE OF BODIE WILDERNESS STUDY AREA, MONO COUNTY, 
              CALIFORNIA.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Bodie Wilderness Study Area, consisting of 16,482 
        acres of land, is located in northeastern Mono County, 
        California, approximately nine miles east of Bridgeport, 
        California.
            (2) In 1990, the Bureau of Land Management issued its 
        California Statewide Wilderness Study Report, containing its 
        recommendations concerning the Bodie Wilderness Study Area and 
        others, as required by section 603 of the Federal Land Policy 
        and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1782).
            (3) The Bureau of Land Management reviewed the 
        environmental impact statements covering the Bodie Wilderness 
        Study Area and in its 1990 report recommended the Bodie 
        Wilderness Study area as nonsuitable for wilderness.
            (4) The Bureau of Land Management reached its decision of 
        no wilderness for the Bodie Wilderness Study Area because the 
        area's potential for mineral occurrences and motorized 
        recreation needs outweighs the area's wilderness values, and 
        secondarily because the area would be difficult to manage as 
        wilderness.
            (5) The Bureau of Land Management based its recommendation 
        on the following findings contained in the environmental impact 
        statement:
                    (A) The area contains several hundred mining 
                claims, many of which may be grandfathered.
                    (B) Most of the area contains moderate to high 
                metallic mineral potential for gold, silver, or 
                mercury, or for geothermal resources.
                    (C) The area sustains and provides opportunities 
                for motorized recreation.
                    (D) The highly irregular configuration of the area 
                as well as the existence of two cherry-stemmed roads 
                leading to private inholdings and mining claims would 
                inhibit complete and effective management as 
                wilderness.
            (6) For the purposes of section 603 of the Federal Land 
        Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1782), the Bodie 
        Wilderness Study Area has been adequately studied for 
        wilderness.
            (7) Approximately 96 percent of the land in Mono County, 
        California, is owned or controlled by the Federal Government.
            (8) Unemployment in Mono County, California, is 
        approximately 10 percent.
            (9) Releasing the Bodie Wilderness Study Area and opening 
        the wilderness study area for economic development could create 
        hundreds of good-paying jobs and annual tax revenues in the 
        hundreds of millions of dollars in an economically depressed 
        area.
    (b) Release of Wilderness Study Area.--The Bodie Wilderness Study 
Area is no longer subject to the requirements of section 603(c) of the 
Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1782(c)) or 
section 2002 of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (Public 
Law 111-11; 16 U.S.C. 7202).
    (c) Effect of Release.--The lands within the Bodie Wilderness Study 
Area, as released by subsection (b), shall return to multiple use 
management as set forth in the applicable resource management plan 
prepared under section 202 of the Federal Land Policy and Management 
Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1712) immediately, without any further action by 
the Bureau of Land Management.
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