[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 157 (Sunday, November 9, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2278]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 THE NATIONAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION ACT

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                          HON. MARK E. SOUDER

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Saturday, November 8, 1997

  Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, today, I am introducing the National 
Historic Preservation Act, which would establish a national historic 
light station preservation program. It has been introduced in the other 
body by the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, 
Senator Frank Murkowski of Alaska.
  As you may know, Mr. Speaker, lighthouses have served as lifesaving 
navigational aids since before the turn of the century. However, many 
of these lighthouses have outlived their use to the Coast Guard as 
navigational aids. Thus, the Coast Guard is left with surplus 
lighthouses, and declares them excessed. The question then becomes, who 
cares for these lighthouses once they leave the Coast Guard's hands? If 
the land on which a particular lighthouse in question was first granted 
by a Presidential Order to the U.S. Lighthouse Establishment, it is 
considered to be public domain, and has to be first offered through the 
Bureau of Land Management [BLM] to the Interior Department. If the 
Interior Department does not claim the land, then the lighthouse is 
placed in the General Service Administration's [GSA] excessing process. 
If the property is not considered public domain, then the lighthouse is 
placed directly into the GSA excessing process.
  Through the GSA process, priority is first granted to Federal 
agencies. This means that the lighthouse could be used for such things 
as an office for the Internal Revenue Service. If no Federal agency 
claims it, the property is then surveyed to see if it is suitable to 
qualify under the McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, thereby allowing it 
to be transferred to those organizations that assist the homeless. 
Should neither of these categories claim the lighthouse, it is then 
offered to the State in which it is located, possibly to be used for 
recreation purposes. If the State does not claim it, then it is offered 
to the local government where the property is located. Finally, if the 
lighthouse is still available at the end of the GSA process, it is put 
up for public sale.
  The real tragedy here, Mr. Speaker, is that many of these lighthouses 
have been protected and preserved over the years by nonprofit 
historical lighthouse societies, who have donated a great deal of time, 
money, and resources to lighthouse preservation. As you can see, in 
order to have the lighthouses conveyed to them, they must wait through 
the long process described above, and then must bid on them. This 
process basically requires these nonprofit organizations to compete 
financially with private groups that have greater access to funds, and 
that have, in many cases not made the same commitment to the lighthouse 
in the past. In addition, these private groups may have plans for the 
lighthouse that are inconsistent with the best interests of the 
community. Though these nonprofit groups can, in some specific cases, 
purchase the lighthouse directly from the BLM, they must pay half of 
its market value--a value that those particular groups helped to 
increase over the years through their hard work. Thus, the message we 
are sending here is that if you're going to provide a public service by 
preserving historical sites, you're going to have to pay for them in 
the end.
  I should point out that another method for conveyance is for Congress 
to enact separate pieces of legislation to transfer a lighthouse to a 
specific group. As we know, this process can be very time consuming and 
cumbersome considering that there are hundreds of lighthouses that will 
be excessed in the near future.
  My legislation would introduce fairness into the conveyance process 
for historic lighthouses by amending the National Historic Preservation 
Act to transfer this process to the National Parks Service, which would 
be able to work in conjunction with the State Historic Preservation 
Officer, to establish a national historical light station program. This 
new program would give priority to those Government agencies that have 
entered into a partnership agreement with a nonprofit organization 
whose primary mission is historical preservation of lighthouses, and 
would convey them at no cost. If no such applications are offered, or 
approved of, then the lighthouse would be put up for public sale. Thus, 
this legislation would help to ensure that in those cases where a 
nonprofit group has been active in a particular lighthouse's 
preservation, and wishes to continue in it's work, that that group 
would be given a fair shot at claiming lighthouses when the Coast Guard 
excesses them.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to recognize the very important role lighthouses 
have played in this country's history. By encouraging Government 
agencies to join with nonprofit groups to help preserve lighthouses for 
the future, we will be providing a much fairer process to those who 
wish to continue their work in preserving these nationally historic 
structures.

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