[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 7 (Thursday, February 5, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E120]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             NATIONAL HISTORIC LIGHTHOUSE PRESERVATION ACT

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                          HON. MARK E. SOUDER

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, February 5, 1998

  Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, I have introduced H.R. 2970, the National 
Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act, which would amend the National 
Historic Preservation Act, to establish a national historic light 
station preservation program. This legislation was 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 life-saving 
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 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 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 non-profit 
historical lighthouse societies, which have donated a great deal of 
time, money, and resources to lighthouse preservation efforts. 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 non-profit 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 non-profit groups can, in some specific 
cases, purchase the light house directly from the BLM, they sometimes 
have to pay as much as 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 you 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 a degree of fairness to 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 have priority to those 
government agencies that have entered into a partnership agreement with 
a non-profit 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 non-profit group has been active in 
a particular lighthouses' preservation, and wishes to continue in it's 
work, that that group would be given a fair shot at claiming that 
lighthouse when the Coast Guard declares it excessed.
  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 non-profit 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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