[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 124 (Tuesday, October 5, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H8140-H8141]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROVIDING FOR THE USE BY THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA OF FEDERAL LANDS
AT THE OXFORD RESEARCH STATION IN GRANVILLE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA
Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 2119) to provide for the use by the State of North Carolina
of Federal lands, improvements, equipment, and resource materials at
the Oxford Research Station in Granville County, North Carolina, as
amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 2119
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. LAND CONVEYANCE, OXFORD RESEARCH STATION,
GRANVILLE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA.
(a) Conveyance Required.--The Secretary of Agriculture
shall convey, without consideration, to the State of North
Carolina all right, title, and interest of the United States
in and to a parcel of Federal real property consisting of
approximately 4.28 acres and administered as part of the
Oxford Research Station in Granville County, North Carolina.
The conveyance shall include all improvements, equipment, and
resource materials at the research station.
(b) Description of Real Property.--The exact acreage and
legal description of the real property to be conveyed under
subsection (a) shall be determined by a survey satisfactory
to the Secretary. The cost of the survey shall be borne by
the State.
(c) Additional Terms and Conditions.--The Secretary may
require such additional terms and conditions in connection
with the conveyance under subsection (a) as the Secretary
considers appropriate to protect the interests of the United
States.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte).
Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2119 sponsored by the
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield).
H.R. 2119, as amended, would allow the Forest Service to transfer a
currently disused facility in North Carolina to the State of North
Carolina. The facility has not been used in several years, and in fact,
the land on which it sits was donated by the State of North Carolina to
the Federal Government for the purpose of establishing a research
station.
The administration supports the proposed transfer, and the State
intends to use the facility to do research on invasive species, a very
worthwhile project.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
House of Representatives,
Committee on Agriculture,
Washington, DC, October 5, 2004.
Hon. Tom Davis,
Chairman, House Committee on Government Reform, Rayburn House
Office Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: I would like to take this opportunity to
share with you a copy of H.R. 2119 as passed by the Committee
on Agriculture. As you know, the Committee on Government
Reform has received an additional referral of this
legislation and I am respectfully requesting that this
legislation be discharged from your committee. This
legislation, sponsored by Representative Balance would
provide for the use by the State of North Carolina of Federal
lands, improvements, equipment, and resource materials at the
Oxford Research Station in Granville County, North Carolina.
As the committee of primary jurisdiction, on September 23,
2004, the Committee on Agriculture favorably reported this
legislation by an affirmative voice vote. As this bill
prepares to move to the floor I am asking for your discharge
to move this legislation forward.
This discharge in no way affects your jurisdiction over the
subject matter of the bill and it will not serve as precedent
for future referrals. In addition, should a conference on the
bill be necessary, I would support your request to have the
Committee on Government Reform represented on the conference
committee.
Thank you for your cooperation in this matter and look
forward to working with your committee in the future.
Sincerely,
Bob Goodlatte,
Chairman.
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on Government Reform,
Washington, DC, October 5, 2004.
Hon. Bob Goodlatte,
Chairman, Committee on Agriculture, Longworth House Office
Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Chairman Goodlatte: Thank you for working with me as
you developed H.R. 2119, a bill to provide for the use by the
State of North Carolina of Federal lands, improvements,
equipment, and resource materials at the Oxford Research
Station in Granville County, North Carolina. I would like to
confirm our mutual understanding with respect to the
consideration of H.R. 2119. As you know, the disposal of
federal property, including real property, is within the
jurisdiction of the Committee on Government Reform.
In the interests of moving this important legislation
forward, I will agree to waive sequential consideration of
this bill by the Committee on Government Reform. However, I
do so only with the understanding that this procedural route
should not be construed to prejudice the Committee on
Government Reform's jurisdictional interest and prerogatives
on this bill or other similar legislation. I respectfully
request your support for the appointment of outside conferees
from the Committee on Government Reform should this bill or a
similar Senate bill be considered in conference with the
Senate.
Finally, I would ask that you include a copy of our
exchange of letters on this matter in the Congressional
Record during the
[[Page H8141]]
House debate of this bill. If you have questions regarding
this matter, please do not hesitate to call me. I thank you
for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Tom Davis,
Chairman.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. STENHOLM. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my support for H.R. 2119, legislation
to allow the Secretary of Agriculture to convey to the State of North
Carolina approximately 4.28 acres of Federal lands administered as part
of the Oxford Research Station in Granville, North Carolina.
The bill addresses concerns raised by USDA with the original
legislation. In a letter dated March 30, 2004, USDA acknowledged the
strong, equitable interest the State of North Carolina has in the
research station and stated it will gladly exercise the authority
provided to convey the Oxford Research to the State of North Carolina
once the legislation is enacted.
According to USDA estimates, the amendment will not significantly
affect the Federal budget. In fact, the research station is currently
unused and actually costs the USDA's property inventory funding to
maintain it.
For all these reasons, I urge my colleagues to support this
legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman
from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield).
Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman, the gentleman
from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) and the ranking member, the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) for bringing up this legislation today.
The Oxford Research Station was established in 1912 as a crop and
forestry research station. The station facilities include computerized
curing barns, office facilities, a shop building, several equipment
shelters, a tobacco evaluation facility and underground irrigation
systems.
For 92 years, the station's marquee programs have been tobacco-
related. Accomplishments at the Oxford Tobacco Research Station include
fertility investigations concerning tobacco plants' nutrition;
development of the first tobacco varieties with resistance to Granvill
Wilt and black shank disease; the invention of tobacco bulk curing
barns; genetic studies to develop new varieties resistance to Granville
Wilt and black shank diseases; evaluation of crop breeding lines,
curing experiments, computerized monitoring and control of humidity and
temperatures; and many others.
As long a list of accomplishments that the station has accumulated in
its 92 years of service to American agriculture, the station now stands
unused by USDA, and American taxpayers are still paying for upkeep and
maintenance. An unofficial estimate, Mr. Speaker, from the Animal and
Plant Health Inspection Service for fiscal year 2005 is that the
station will cost $227,000 for basic upkeep.
Mr. Speaker, one man's trash is another man's treasure. USDA does not
want or need the Oxford Research Station, but the North Carolina
Department of Agriculture does. If the facility is conveyed to the
North Carolina Department of Agriculture, the State will move its
entire biological control program to the station. The State intends to
use the quarantine facilities to research invasive species without risk
of introducing them to the national environment of our State.
Among the species to be studied include the hemlock wooly adelgid, an
insect that has been identified in Public Law 108-148, the President's
Healthy Forest Initiative, as a forest-damaging insect. The facility
will also research control methods of the Sudden Oak Death Fungus.
The people of North Carolina, Mr. Speaker, would be grateful for the
passage of this legislation.
Mr. STENHOLM. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I
yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the gentleman from North Carolina on
bringing forward a fine piece of legislation. I thank my colleague, the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm), the ranking member, for his work
on this and other bills that we brought before the House tonight. I
urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
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 Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2119, 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.
The title of the bill was amended so as to read: ``A bill to provide
for the conveyance of Federal lands, improvements, equipment, and
resource materials at the Oxford Research Station in Granville County,
North Carolina, to the State of North Carolina.''.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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