[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 147 (Monday, October 20, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H9699-H9700]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




REPEALING RESERVATION OF MINERAL RIGHTS IN LIVINGSTON PARISH, LOUISIANA

  Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 542) to repeal the reservation of mineral rights made by the 
United States when certain lands in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, were 
conveyed by Public Law 102-562.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                H.R. 542

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. REPEAL OF RESERVATION OF MINERAL RIGHTS, 
                   LIVINGSTON PARISH, LOUISIANA.

       (a) Amendments.--Section 102 of Public Law 102-562 (106 
     Stat. 4234) is amended--
       (1) by striking ``(a) In General.--'';
       (2) by striking ``and subject to the reservation in 
     subsection (b),''; and
       (3) by striking subsection (b).
       (b) Implementation of Amendment.--The Secretary of the 
     Interior shall execute the legal instruments necessary to 
     effectuate the amendment made by subsection (a)(3).

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Arizona (Mr. Renzi) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Renzi).
  Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  H.R. 542, introduced by the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Baker), 
would give private citizens in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, mineral 
rights that have been rightfully theirs for generations. The 640 acres 
of land in question were held in private ownership when the United 
States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803; but due 
to poor recordkeeping by French colonial authorities, the Federal 
Government ultimately came into possession of the title to this 
property.
  The citizens who rightfully held the land remained on the land for 
nearly 2 centuries. In 1825, an order of survey was signed by a Federal 
agent asserting the landowner's claim to the land, but those documents 
were never filed in Washington. Again, in 1875 the owners' claim was 
acknowledged but a land patent was never issued. Finally, in the late 
1960s and early 1970s, the Federal Government surveyed the inventory of 
Louisiana properties and discovered that no patent had been issued for 
the Livingston Parish properties in question. While some legislative 
attempts were made, it was not until 1992 that the gentleman from 
Louisiana (Mr. Baker) and Senator J. Bennett Johnston passed 
legislation that conveyed the surface rights of the land to its 
rightful owners. That bill did not convey the mineral rights to the 
private owners. Historical precedent, however, shows that the mineral 
rights should have been conveyed to them at the time, since private 
landholders in the Louisiana Purchase territory were given title to 
both surface and subsurface property rights.
  Because the Federal Government was never actually entitled to the 640 
acres in Livingston Parish, the mineral rights should be conveyed to 
the rightful and patient owners of this property. Incidentally, there 
is currently no oil and gas development on these lands and the U.S. 
Geological Survey reports potential for only marginal minerals 
production. H.R. 542 conveys these property owners their mineral rights 
and corrects a 200-year-old bureaucratic error.
  I urge my colleagues to support the legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 542 would repeal the reservation of 
mineral rights made by the United States when lands in Livingston 
Parish, Louisiana, were conveyed by Public Law 102-562, which was 
enacted in 1992. The Congressional Budget Office's cost estimate of the 
proposed legislation found that any foregoing receipts to the United 
States would be negligible.
  Mr. Speaker, we would have preferred that this bill be considered 
under regular order with a hearing in the Committee on Resources prior 
to markup and floor consideration. However, we will not object to its 
consideration today.

                              {time}  1500

  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Baker), the author of this bill.
  Mr. BAKER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time, and I wish to express my appreciation to him and the minority for 
their courtesies extended in the consideration of this important 
measure.
  As has been previously recited, at the time of the Louisiana Purchase 
in 1803, the French law provided that the State at that time would 
maintain control of mineral rights. Upon the acquisition of the 
property by the United States Government, there was an effort to 
restore mineral rights with surface rights. On March 3, 1819, Congress 
passed an act adjusting the claims to land, establishing land offices 
in the district east of the island of New Orleans. Specifically, this 
was aimed at the property now in question.
  For some 200 years, the property rights and mineral rights have been 
legally and arbitrarily separated. In 1992,

[[Page H9700]]

I offered legislation which conveyed only surface rights of the 
property to the landowners now awaiting resolution. At that time, there 
was some debate as to the value of these mineral rights to the United 
States Government. Pursuant to the intervening decade, there is now a 
geological survey determination that any such value would be so minimal 
in effect as to not adversely affect any taxpayer interest by 
transferring these unquestioned mineral rights to the rightful owner.
  I respectfully request that the House do now consider and adopt H.R. 
542 in order to restore the property rights with mineral rights to 
those who have been waiting 200 years for resolution.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Boozman). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Renzi) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 542.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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