[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6344 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6344

 To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey lands of the former 
 Fort Bayard Military Reservation in Grant County, New Mexico, to the 
 village of Santa Clara, the city of Bayard, or the county of Grant in 
that State, in tracts of not less than 40 acres, and at market price at 
its present state of use as agricultural grazing lands as determined by 
 the Secretary, for business and community development, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 2, 2012

  Mr. Pearce introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Natural 
 Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
 in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey lands of the former 
 Fort Bayard Military Reservation in Grant County, New Mexico, to the 
 village of Santa Clara, the city of Bayard, or the county of Grant in 
that State, in tracts of not less than 40 acres, and at market price at 
its present state of use as agricultural grazing lands as determined by 
 the Secretary, for business and community development, 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. CONVEYANCE OF LAND, FORMER FORT BAYARD MILITARY RESERVATION, 
              GRANT COUNTY, NEW MEXICO.

    (a) In General.--Subject to this Act, the Secretary of Agriculture 
shall convey the lands described in subsection (b) to one or more 
eligible buyers for the purpose of business and community development.
    (b) Land Described.--The lands to be conveyed under subsection (a) 
are the following lands that were formerly part of the Fort Bayard 
Military Reservation, Grant County, New Mexico, comprising 
approximately 1499 acres, and are situated in sections:
            Township 17 South, Range 12 West, New Mexico Principal 
        Meridian.
             Section 30, all within the former Fort Bayard Military 
        Reservation (31 acres more or less).
             Section 31, all within the former Fort Bayard Military 
        Reservation (155 acres more or less).
            Township 17 South, Range 13 West, New Mexico Principal 
        Meridian.
            Section 34, all within the former Fort Bayard Military 
        Reservation (584 acres more or less).
            Section 35, all within the former Fort Bayard Military 
        Reservation less lands conveyed under other Federal authorities 
        to the Village of Central (Santa Clara), and the State of New 
        Mexico (216 acres more or less).
            Section 36, all within the former Fort Bayard Military 
        Reservation (513 acres more or less).
    (c) Eligible Buyers.--For the purposes of this Act, eligible buyers 
are the village of Santa Clara, the city of Bayard, and the county of 
Grant in the State of New Mexico.

SEC. 2. CONDITIONS.

    In making the conveyance under section 1, the Secretary of 
Agriculture--
            (1) shall sell the land in tracts of not less than 40 
        acres;
            (2) shall require as consideration for the land the market 
        price of the land in its present state of use as agricultural 
        grazing lands as determined by the Secretary;
            (3) shall protect all valid existing rights;
            (4) shall reserve easements for existing facilities such as 
        roads, telephone lines, pipelines, electric power transmission 
        lines, or other facilities or improvements in place;
            (5) shall reserve such easements for roads as the Secretary 
        of Agriculture finds necessary to assure access to lands of the 
        United States or to meet public needs; and
            (6) may contain such additional terms, conditions, 
        reservations, and restrictions as may be determined by the 
        Secretary of Agriculture to be necessary to protect the 
        interests of the United States.

SEC. 3. APPROVAL OF ALL PARTIES REQUIRED FOR CONVEYANCE.

    The Secretary of Agriculture shall not make a conveyance under this 
Act to any one of the eligible buyers, without written approval of the 
two nonacquiring eligible buyers.

SEC. 4. HISTORIC OR PREHISTORIC SITES.

    If historic or prehistoric cultural properties are located upon the 
lands to be conveyed under section 1, the Secretary of Agriculture 
shall be responsible for the costs and recovery of these sites and 
shall do so in a timely manner so as not to unduly restrict future use 
of the selected lands by the acquiring party. The Secretary may, at the 
Secretary's discretion, use a deed reservation to retain historic or 
prehistoric properties in the ownership of the United States instead of 
site recovery, if agreeable to the acquiring party.

SEC. 5. SALE OF MINERAL INTERESTS.

    (a) Inclusion in Conveyance.--Upon application by the acquiring 
party, all the undivided mineral interest of the United States in any 
parcel or tract sold pursuant to this Act shall be conveyed to the 
acquiring party or its successor in title by the Secretary of the 
Interior. In areas where the Secretary of the Interior determines that 
there is no active mineral development or leasing, and that the lands 
have no mineral value, the mineral interests covered by a single 
application shall be sold for a consideration of $1. In other areas the 
mineral interests shall be sold at the fair market value thereof as 
determined by the Secretary of the Interior after taking into 
consideration such appraisals as the Secretary of the Interior deems 
necessary or appropriate.
    (b) Administrative Costs.--
            (1) Deposit and payment.--Each application for a conveyance 
        to be made under this Act shall be accompanied by a 
        nonrefundable deposit to be applied to related administrative 
        costs as determined by the Secretary of the Interior. If the 
        conveyance is made pursuant to an application, the applicant 
        shall pay to the Secretary of the Interior the full 
        administrative costs, less the deposit. If a conveyance is not 
        made pursuant to the application, the deposit shall constitute 
        full satisfaction of such administrative costs notwithstanding 
        that the administrative costs exceed the deposit.
            (2) Definition.--For the purposes of this section, the term 
        ``administrative costs'' includes, in addition to other items, 
        all costs that the Secretary of the Interior determines are 
        included in a determination of--
                    (A) the mineral character of the land in question; 
                and
                    (B) the fair market value of the mineral interest.
    (c) Amounts Paid Into Treasury.--Amounts paid to the Secretary of 
the Interior under this section shall be paid into the Treasury of the 
United States as miscellaneous receipts.
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