[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2531 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2531

  For the determination of the taking of private property and damages 
                 caused by the Department of Interior.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 8, 2018

  Mr. Hatch (for himself and Mr. Lee) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  For the determination of the taking of private property and damages 
                 caused by the Department of Interior.

    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 ``Red Cliffs Desert Reserve Completion 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) in the early 1980s, James Doyle, doing business as 
        Rocky Mountain Ventures and Environmental Land Technologies, 
        Ltd., began assembling land for a massive real estate 
        development in the rapidly growing St. George area of Utah;
            (2) the centerpieces of this development were 9 golf 
        courses surrounded by luxury homes;
            (3) during the 1980s, James Doyle acquired 2,440 acres and 
        held preferential rights to an additional 11,000 acres for this 
        development;
            (4) throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, James Doyle 
        invested large amounts of money to acquire and develop this 
        land, including--
                    (A) procuring the water rights and engineering 
                studies;
                    (B) developing proposals and designs for 
                transportation corridors;
                    (C) constructing 1 golf course and designing nine 
                more;
                    (D) developing utility layouts and placements;
                    (E) installing necessary sewer, water, and power 
                for the various properties; and
                    (F) securing all necessary zoning adjustments and 
                development permissions;
            (5) with planning and preparation essentially complete by 
        1989, James Doyle was prepared to break ground for the initial 
        phase of his project;
            (6) on April 2, 1990, the United States Fish and Wildlife 
        Service published a final rule listing the Mojave population of 
        the desert tortoise as ``threatened'' under the Endangered 
        Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.);
            (7) on February 8, 1994, the United States Fish and 
        Wildlife Service published a final rule designating all of 
        James Doyle's land as critical habitat for the Mojave 
        population of the desert tortoise;
            (8) the listing of the desert tortoise and designation of 
        James Doyle's land as critical habitat for the tortoise made 
        James Doyle's planned land development, as well as that of 
        other nearby lands, unlawful without the issuance of an 
        incidental take permit by the United States Fish and Wildlife 
        Service;
            (9) in response to the designation, James Doyle, as a 
        member of the Habitat Conservation Plan Steering Committee, 
        worked with other landowners, as well as Federal, State, and 
        county officials, to create a Habitat Conservation Plan 
        covering Washington County that would have allowed James Doyle 
        to develop a portion of his land;
            (10) the United States Fish and Wildlife Service rejected 
        the plan, stating that the plan set aside insufficient land to 
        protect the tortoise;
            (11) James Doyle and the Steering Committee prepared a 
        revised Habitat Conservation Plan, which the United States Fish 
        and Wildlife Service approved on February 23, 1996;
            (12) the approved Habitat Conservation Plan allowed the 
        development of 350,000 acres of tortoise habitat, and set aside 
        61,022 acres, including all of James Doyle's land, as protected 
        tortoise habitat reserve where no development was allowed;
            (13) to this end, the Habitat Conservation Plan expressly 
        provided that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service would 
        issue no incidental take permits for desert tortoises on 
        reserve lands;
            (14) in return for placing the land in the tortoise 
        reserve, the United States promised that it would acquire title 
        to all of the private land, including James Doyle's, by 
        exchange or purchase at fair market value;
            (15) despite extensive negotiations, the United States 
        acquired only about 400 acres of James Doyle's land for the 
        tortoise reserve, leaving the remainder of his acreage vacant 
        and unproductive;
            (16) as the years passed, James Doyle's inability to 
        develop or sell this remaining acreage resulted in severe 
        financial limitations, leaving him unable to service the 
        mortgages he had incurred on the land to finance acquisition 
        and development costs;
            (17) on March 30, 2004, unable to develop, exchange, or 
        sell the land, in which James Doyle had invested millions of 
        dollars, James Doyle was forced to seek bankruptcy protection;
            (18) in 2010, James Doyle completed, and the bankruptcy 
        court approved, a plan under which James Doyle was required to 
        transfer to his creditors all but 274 acres of his land, which 
        he still owns but cannot develop;
            (19) in 2015, James Doyle filed suit in the United States 
        Court of Federal Claims, seeking just compensation for the land 
        that has served as a tortoise reserve since 1996, and was taken 
        without compensation;
            (20) the United States Court of Federal Claims dismissed 
        James Doyle's claim, without prejudice, ruling that he must 
        first seek and be denied a United States Fish and Wildlife 
        Service permit to develop his land, even though it is within 
        the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve where no development is allowed; 
        and
            (21) the permit process would take several years and would 
        be futile.

SEC. 3. SETTLEMENT OF CLAIM.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall pay James 
Doyle, out of money not otherwise appropriated, a sum of money, in an 
amount to be determined by the United States Court of Federal Claims, 
representing the amount to which James Doyle may be entitled in order 
to make James Doyle whole for any damages and losses sustained by James 
Doyle by reason of the Federal Government's taking of approximately 
2,000 acres of his land located in the St. George area of Utah, now 
designated as the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve and set aside as habitat 
for the Mojave desert tortoise, a species listed under the Endangered 
Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.).
    (b) Full Satisfaction of Claims.--The payment made under subsection 
(a) shall be in full satisfaction of all claims of James Doyle against 
the United States.
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