[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 6 (Friday, January 11, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H469]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        MINERAL RIGHTS TO ENSURE PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS IN ANF

  (Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, last week, I introduced 
a bill that protects private property rights in Pennsylvania's only 
national forest, the Allegheny National Forest. H.R. 245, the 
Cooperative Management of Mineral Rights Act of 2019, will ensure that 
private property owners and energy producers in the Allegheny National 
Forest have access to the property.
  Despite being successfully and sufficiently regulated by the 
Commonwealth for decades, a Federal law passed in 1992 required the 
Forest Service to write new regulations on oil and gas production in 
the ANF. However, Federal courts have repeatedly ruled that the Forest 
Service does not have the authority to do so because the minerals in 
the ANF are privately owned.
  My bill corrects this Federal law by repealing the improper 1992 
requirement. In fact, the House of Representatives previously passed my 
legislation, twice, with strong bipartisan support, overwhelmingly in 
2016 and unanimously in 2017.
  I hope we can get this commonsense legislation across the finish line 
during the 116th Congress. I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this 
important legislation to put the brakes on excessive litigation in the 
ANF and protect private property rights.

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