[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 88 (Tuesday, July 11, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H5796-H5797]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               UTAH WEST DESERT LAND EXCHANGE ACT OF 2000

  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 4579) to provide for the exchange of certain lands within 
the State of Utah, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 4579

       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 ``Utah West Desert Land 
     Exchange Act of 2000''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

       (a) Findings.--The Congress finds the following:
       (1) The State of Utah owns approximately 95,095.19 acres of 
     land, as well as approximately 11,187.60 acres of mineral 
     interests, located in the West Desert region of Utah and 
     contained wholly or partially within certain wilderness study 
     areas created pursuant to section 603 of the Federal Lands 
     Policy and Management Act of 1976, or proposed by the Bureau 
     of Land Management for wilderness study area status pursuant 
     to section 202 of that Act. These lands were granted by the 
     Congress to the State of Utah pursuant to the Utah Enabling 
     Act of 1894 (chapter 138; 23 Stat. 107), to be held in trust 
     for the benefit of the State's public school system and other 
     public institutions. The lands are largely scattered in 
     checkerboard fashion amidst the Federal lands comprising the 
     remainder of such existing and proposed wilderness study 
     areas.
       (2) Development of surface and mineral resources on State 
     trust lands within existing or proposed wilderness study 
     areas, or the sale of such lands into private ownership, 
     could be incompatible with management of such lands for 
     nonimpairment of their wilderness characteristics pursuant to 
     section 603(c) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 
     of 1976 or with future congressional designation of the lands 
     as wilderness.
       (3) The United States owns lands and interests in lands 
     outside of existing and proposed wilderness study areas that 
     can be transferred to the State of Utah in exchange for the 
     West Desert wilderness inholdings without jeopardizing 
     Federal management objectives or needs.
       (4) The large presence of State trust land inholdings in 
     existing and proposed wilderness study areas in the West 
     Desert region makes land and resource management in these 
     areas difficult, costly, and controversial for both the State 
     of Utah and the United States.
       (5) It is in the public interest to reach agreement on 
     exchange of such inholdings, on terms fair to both the State 
     of Utah and the United States. Such an agreement, subject to 
     ratification by the Congress, would save much time and delay 
     in meeting the legitimate expectations of the State school 
     and institutional trusts, in simplifying management of 
     Federal lands, and in avoiding the significant time and 
     expense associated with administrative land exchanges.
       (6) The State of Utah and the United States have reached an 
     agreement under which the State would exchange certain State 
     trust lands within specified wilderness study areas and areas 
     identified as having wilderness characteristics in the West 
     Desert region for various Federal lands and interests in 
     lands outside of those areas but in the same region of Utah. 
     The agreement also provides for the State to convey to the 
     United States approximately 483 acres of land in Washington 
     County, Utah, that has been designated as critical habitat 
     for the Desert Tortoise, a threatened species, for inclusion 
     in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve.
       (7) Because the inholdings to be acquired by the Federal 
     Government include properties within some of the most 
     spectacular wild areas in the western United States, and 
     because a mission of the Utah School and Institutional Trust 
     Lands Administration is to produce economic benefits for 
     Utah's public schools and other beneficiary institutions, the 
     exchange of lands called for in this agreement will resolve 
     longstanding environmental conflicts with respect to the 
     existing and proposed wilderness study areas, place important 
     natural lands into public ownership, and further the 
     interests of the State trust lands, the school children of 
     Utah, and these conservation resources.
       (8) Under this agreement taken as a whole, the State 
     interests to be conveyed to the United States by the State of 
     Utah, and the Federal interests to be conveyed to the State 
     of Utah by the United States, will be approximately equal in 
     value.
       (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to enact into law 
     and direct prompt implementation of this agreement, and 
     thereby to further the public interest by consolidating State 
     and Federal lands into manageable units while facilitating 
     the protection of lands with significant scientific, 
     cultural, and natural resources.

     SEC. 3. RATIFICATION OF THE AGREED EXCHANGE BETWEEN THE STATE 
                   OF UTAH AND THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.

       (a) Agreement.--The State of Utah and the Department of the 
     Interior have agreed to exchange certain Federal lands and 
     mineral interests in the State of Utah for lands and mineral 
     interests of approximately equal value managed by the Utah 
     School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration wholly or 
     partially within certain existing and proposed wilderness 
     study areas in the West Desert region of Utah.
       (b) Ratification.--All terms, conditions, procedures, 
     covenants, reservations, and other provisions set forth in 
     the document entitled ``Agreement for Exchange of Lands--West 
     Desert State-Federal Land Consolidation'', dated May 30, 2000 
     (in this Act referred to as ``the Agreement''), are hereby 
     incorporated in this Act, are ratified and confirmed, and set 
     forth the obligations of the United States, the State of 
     Utah, and the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands 
     Administration, as a matter of Federal law.
       (c) Condition.--Before exchanging any lands under this Act, 
     the Secretary of the Interior and the State of Utah shall 
     each document in a statement of value how the determination 
     of approximately equal value was made in accordance with 
     section 206(h) of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act 
     of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1716(h)), provided that the provisions of 
     paragraph (1)(A) of section 206(h) of such Act shall not 
     apply. In addition, the Secretary and the State shall select 
     an independent qualified appraiser who shall review the 
     statements of value as prepared by the Secretary and the 
     State of Utah and all documentation and determine if the 
     lands are of approximately equal value. If there is a finding 
     of a difference in value, then the Secretary and the State 
     shall adjust the exchange to achieve approximately equal 
     value.

     SEC. 4. CONVEYANCES.

       (a) Conveyances.--All conveyances under sections 2 and 3 of 
     the Agreement shall be completed within 70 days after the 
     date on which the condition set forth in section 3(c) is met.
       (b) Maps and Legal Descriptions.--
       (1) In general.--The maps and legal descriptions referred 
     to in the Agreement depict the lands subject to the 
     conveyances under the Agreement.
       (2) Public availability.--The maps and descriptions 
     referred to in the Agreement shall be on file and available 
     for public inspection in the offices of the Secretary of the 
     Interior and the Utah State Director of the Bureau of Land 
     Management.
       (3) Conflict.--In case of any conflict between the maps and 
     the legal descriptions in the Agreement, the legal 
     descriptions shall control.

     SEC. 5. COSTS.

       The United States and the State of Utah shall each bear its 
     own respective costs incurred in the implementation of this 
     Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Utah (Mr. Hansen) and the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) 
each will control 20 minutes.

[[Page H5797]]

  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen).
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4579 introduced by myself, would facilitate a major 
land exchange between the Secretary of the Interior and the State of 
Utah. Within the West Desert of Utah lies hundreds of thousands of 
acres of wilderness study areas. For decades now, the school trust has 
owned lands within these WSAs with no ability to generate revenues from 
these lands, which is their constitutional mandate.
  Earlier in this Congress, the Secretary and the school trust began 
negotiating a land exchange to remove these lands from the WSAs to 
ensure that those lands would not be developed and to ensure that the 
school children of Utah could benefit from the lands they have owned 
since statehood.
  This exchange trades approximately 106,000 acres of State land for 
approximately 106,000 acres of Federal land. This is an equal value 
exchange that benefits both the conservation of our lands and the 
school children of Utah. We bring to the floor today an amended version 
of the legislation which ensures that the values are equal and that the 
work of the State and the Department of Interior will be independently 
reviewed. I appreciate the minority working with us and the Department 
to craft an amendment that guarantees this as an equal value exchange.
  I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4579.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such 
time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation, H.R. 4579, that 
would ratify an agreement reached May 30 between Interior Secretary 
Babbitt and Utah Governor Levitt to exchange Federal and State lands in 
the West Desert of Utah. Such legislation is necessary because the 
proposed exchange does not comply with the requirements of the Federal 
Land Policy Management Act and other applicable law.
  The agreement between the Secretary and the Governor has only 
recently been finalized, and the hearing held by the Committee on 
Resources raised several questions. Fortunately, I think we have been 
able to address the questions that were raised with respect to 
appraisal of these lands and the process by which the BLM went through 
this and raised concerns about the general, if you will, BLM appraisal 
process with respect to land exchanges.
  Clearly here the worry was that valuation methods were used that had 
no basis in law or policy and could not stand up to the appraisal 
standards. But I think the fact of the matter is that while that 
process was far from ideal, I think also we have a unique situation 
here in the sense that there is a benefit in this exchange, especially 
in the fact that we will have the opportunity to consolidate Federal 
land holdings in many wilderness study areas and other lands found to 
have significant wilderness qualities, and I think that is important.
  So some of these lands in and of them themselves may not have great 
value, but in terms of management and the consolidation impact, I think 
that clearly this exchange is needed, and I believe the bill now 
contains provisions that will provide reasonable process for assessing 
the value of the proposed land exchange before it is implemented.
  The language provides that the Secretary and the State of Utah will 
each prepare a statement of value for the lands to be exchanged. In 
addition, the two parties will select an independent qualified 
appraiser who will review those statements of values and all relevant 
documentation to determine if the lands are of approximately equal 
value. I think this in fact will make the bill acceptable.
  I really want to thank the sponsor of this legislation, the gentleman 
from Utah (Mr. Hansen), for all of the effort that he has put into this 
legislation to address these concerns. I think it is clearly a bill 
that the House should now support.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance much my time.
  Mr. HANSEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for 
his comments.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, H.R. 4579, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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