[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 25171-25172]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



               GULF ISLANDS NATIONAL SEASHORE BOUNDARIES

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           ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION AROUND LAKE TAHOE BASIN

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Energy 
Committee be discharged from the following bill, and the Senate proceed 
en bloc to its consideration and the consideration of the following 
bill at the

[[Page 25172]]

desk: S. 2638 from the Energy Committee and H.R. 3388.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the bills by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 2638) to adjust the boundaries of the Gulf 
     Islands National Seashore to include Cat Island, Mississippi.
       A bill (H.R. 3388) to promote environmental restoration 
     around the Lake Tahoe Basin.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bills, 
en bloc.


                             mineral rights

  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I thank Chairman Murkowski, Senator Craig 
Thomas, and the members of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee 
for reporting out and helping Senator Lott and me secure passage of 
Senate Bill 2638, the Cat Island authorization legislation. When 
Senator Lott and I introduced the legislation earlier this year, we 
sought to preserve the beautiful, natural treasure of Cat Island, 
Mississippi, and complete the vision of the Gulf Islands National 
Seashore begun nearly 30 years ago. The passage of this legislation 
begins this process by authorizing the National Park Service to acquire 
the island and save it for future generations.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, in our legislation, we also sought, at the 
request of our Mississippi State officials, to clarify the State of 
Mississippi's ownership in the mineral rights underlying the Gulf 
Islands National Seashore. Mississippi conveyed much of the surface 
property to create the Seashore in 1972. Until recently, the National 
Park Service has conceded ownership of these subsurface rights to 
Mississippi, as is reflected in the State's authorizing legislation in 
1971 and the subsequent deed signed by the Governor and other 
Mississippi State officials. A copy of such deed is entered into the 
record with this statement. The only limitation on these rights was to 
be the way in which any future development of them occurred, so that 
the surface of the Seashore property would not be used for extraction 
of the minerals.
  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, our State officials, and we today, 
acknowledge that the Gulf Islands National Seashore should be preserved 
and protected as a place of relatively undeveloped natural beauty, and 
that does involve limitations on minerals development but not a 
reinterpretation by the Park Service of the ownership of these mineral 
rights. These rights are important to Mississippi and may offer our 
State in the future much needed income to address education, health 
care and other priorities for our citizens.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, the bill as introduced included language 
which would have allowed the State of Mississippi to maintain the 
State's rights in or to any oil, gas, or other minerals through this 
acquisition. After further review of this legislation and the deed and 
related documents, our inclusion of the mineral rights provision was 
unnecessary, as the language was merely redundant with respect to the 
deed of 1972. It is our understanding that the deed clearly reserves 
the State of Mississippi's mineral rights with respect to the Gulf 
Islands National Seashore, and that no additional legislative language 
on mineral rights is required in the Cat Island legislation, because 
the State has made no conveyance with respect to Cat Island. Does the 
Chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee agree?
  Mr. MURKOWSKI. Yes, Mr. President, I agree. This legislation does not 
overturn the State of Mississippi's reservation of its mineral rights. 
The deed asserts ownership, and this legislation does nothing to 
discredit such deed.
  I thank Senator Cochran and Senator Lott for their sponsorship of 
this legislation that will preserve Cat Island and add the last piece 
of the Mississippi Sound Barrier Islands to the Gulf Islands National 
Seashore. It is an important addition and one that will be treasured 
for years to come.


                     Amendment No. 4351 to S. 2638

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Utah [Mr. Hatch] for Mr. Murkowski, for 
     himself and Mr. Bingaman, proposes an amendment numbered 
     4351.

  (The text of the amendment is printed in today's Record under 
``Amendments Submitted.'')
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that amendment No. 
4351 to S. 2638 be agreed to, the bills be read a third time and 
passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any 
statements relating to the bills be printed in the Record with the 
above occurring en bloc.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment (No. 4351) was agreed to.
  The bill (S. 2638), as amended, was read the third time and passed.
  The bill (H.R. 3388) was read the third time and passed.

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