[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 11 (Thursday, February 12, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E161]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  INTRODUCING A BILL TO CONVEY ADMINISTRATIVE AND OTHER LANDS IN THE 
            GEORGE WASHINGTON AND JEFFERSON NATIONAL FORESTS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOB GOODLATTE

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 12, 1998

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker today I introduced a bill to convey 
administrative and other lands in the George Washington and Jefferson 
National Forests and to utilize the value derived therefrom to acquire 
replacement sites where appropriate and for suitable improvements for 
National Forest administrative purposes.
  In addition, my bill grants authority for the Forest Service to sell 
200 acres of land adjacent to U.S. Interstate 64 to the Allegheny 
Highlands Economic Development Authority via the Commonwealth of 
Virginia for purposes of developing a corporate area catering to high-
tech companies. It will be named Innovation Park.
  Innovation Park should prove to have a positive economic impact by 
bringing high-tech jobs to those living in rural areas. This project 
will not only address a need for good, high paying jobs, but also for 
additional transportation, water and wastewater system development and 
improvement.
  An environmental impact review is currently underway. Preliminary 
results indicate that Innovation Park will not adversely impact any 
habitats for plant or animal life. A public notice of the environmental 
assessment was issued in January and not a single complaint has been 
registered.
  My bill also transfers the Natural Bridge Juvenile Correction Center 
from the Forest Service to the Commonwealth of Virginia along with 
nearly twenty other administrative land tracts or land tracts that lost 
their natural forest character because of proximity to U.S. Interstate 
64.
  The Forest Service is fully supportive of the land transfers and have 
been cooperative in this attempt to gain transfer authority. They 
believe that the property included in my bill is more conductive to 
economic development than forest management and therefore are anxious 
to remove it from their need-to-manage inventory.
  I would like to offer special recognition to Glynn Lopp, the 
Executive Director of the Allegheny Highlands Economic Development 
Authority. The Innovation Park project would not have made it as far as 
it has without his perseverance and enthusiasm.
  This is just the first step in a long journey to bring major economic 
and high-tech development to the Allegheny Highlands as well as the 
greater area of Rockbridge, Bath, Botetourt and Craig counties. I am 
proud to introduce this bill, I am confident of its success and look 
forward to being of continued assistance in the Innovation Park 
project.

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