[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2791 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2791

  To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to grant economy-related 
contract extensions of a certain timber contracts between the Secretary 
     of the Interior and timber purchasers, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 18, 2009

   Mr. Merkley (for himself, Mr. Baucus, Mr. Wyden, and Mr. Tester) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
               Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to grant economy-related 
contract extensions of a certain timber contracts between the Secretary 
     of the Interior and timber purchasers, 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 ``Forest Harvest Opportunity Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Economy-related contract extension.--The term 
        ``economy-related contract extension'' means the addition of 3 
        years to the expiration date of a qualifying contract for the 
        right to cut and remove timber.
            (2) Qualifying contract.--The term ``qualifying contract'' 
        means a contract, executed on or before December 31, 2008, for 
        the sale of timber from land administered by the Bureau of Land 
        Management--
                    (A) for which there is unharvested volume 
                remaining;
                    (B) for which, not later than 90 days after the 
                date of enactment of this Act, the timber purchaser 
                makes a written request to the Secretary for an 
                economy-related contract extension; and
                    (C) that has not been terminated prior to the 
                request for an economy-related contract extension under 
                section 3(a).
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior, acting through the Director of the Bureau of 
        Land Management.
            (4) Timber purchaser.--The term ``timber purchaser'' means 
        the party to the qualifying contract for the sale of timber 
        from land administered by the Bureau of Land Management.

SEC. 3. ECONOMY-RELATED CONTRACT EXTENSIONS.

    (a) Request.--Not later than 30 days after a timber purchaser 
requests an economy-related contract extension of a qualifying contract 
between the Secretary and the timber purchaser, the Secretary shall 
modify the qualifying contract to add 3 years to the contract 
expiration date.
    (b) Waiver of Claims as of Extension.--The timber purchaser shall 
waive any and all claims the timber purchaser has against the United 
States involving the qualifying contract that exist on the date that 
the Secretary modifies the qualifying contract under subsection (a).
    (c) Claims Prior to Date of Extension.--Nothing in this Act affects 
any claim by the United States against any timber purchaser, including 
claims that arose under a qualifying contract before the date on which 
the Secretary extends the contract expiration date under subsection 
(a).
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