[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 19217-19218]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  NEW HAMPSHIRE WILDERNESS ACT OF 2006

  Mr. PEARCE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 5062) to designate as wilderness certain National Forest 
System land in the State of New Hampshire.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 5062

       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 ``New Hampshire Wilderness Act 
     of 2006''.

     SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act:
       (1) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the Forest 
     Service.
       (2) State.--The term ``State'' means the State of New 
     Hampshire.

     SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF WILDERNESS.

       In accordance with the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et 
     seq.), certain Federal land managed by the Forest Service, 
     comprising approximately 10,800 acres, as depicted on the map 
     entitled ``Proposed Sandwich Range Wilderness Additions--
     White Mountain National Forest'', dated February 6, 2006, is 
     designated as wilderness and incorporated in the Sandwich 
     Range Wilderness, as designated by the New Hampshire 
     Wilderness Act of 1984 (Public Law 98-323; 98 Stat. 259).

     SEC. 4. MAP AND DESCRIPTION.

       (a) In General.--As soon as practicable after the date of 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall file a map and a 
     legal description of the wilderness area designated by 
     section 3 with the committees of appropriate jurisdiction in 
     the Senate and the House of Representatives.
       (b) Force and Effect.--A map and legal description filed 
     under subsection (a) shall have the same force and effect as 
     if included in this Act, except that the Secretary may 
     correct clerical and typographical errors in the map and 
     legal description.
       (c) Public Availability.--The map and legal description 
     filed under subsection (a) shall be filed and made available 
     for public inspection in the Office of the Chief of the 
     Forest Service.

     SEC. 5. ADMINISTRATION.

       (a) Administration.--Subject to valid existing rights, the 
     wilderness area designated under this section shall be 
     administered by the Secretary in accordance with--
       (1) the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 
     U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); and
       (2) the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.).
       (b) Effective Date of Wilderness Act.--With respect to the 
     wilderness area designated by this Act, any reference in the 
     Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1131 et seq.) to the effective date 
     of the Wilderness Act shall be deemed to be a reference to 
     the date of enactment of this Act.
       (c) Fish and Wildlife.--As provided in section 4(d)(7) of 
     the Wilderness Act (16 U.S.C. 1133(d)(7)), nothing in this 
     Act affects any jurisdiction or responsibility of the State 
     with respect to wildlife and fish in the State.
       (d) Withdrawal.--Subject to valid existing rights, all 
     Federal land in the wilderness area designated by section 3 
     are withdrawn from--
       (1) all forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under 
     the public land laws;
       (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and
       (3) disposition under the mineral leasing laws (including 
     geothermal leasing laws).

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
Mexico (Mr. Pearce) and the gentlewoman from Guam (Ms. Bordallo) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Mexico.
  Mr. PEARCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I would like to thank Representative Bradley for introducing his 
legislation to designate, within his district, 10,800 acres of new 
wilderness in the White Mountain National Forest. The Sandwich Range 
Wilderness additions proposed in this bill were developed with the 
Forest Service through their forest planning process and with 
substantial input and involvement from the public and local interest 
groups. Since it has the strong support of New Hampshire's citizens, 
environmental groups, the forest products industry, elected officials, 
the Forest Service, and administration, it deserves our support as 
well.
  I urge you to vote in favor of H.R. 5062.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, like the bill we just considered, this measure also 
deals with the wilderness designation in New Hampshire and there has 
been no action on it by the Resources Committee. Legislation that the 
Senate passed last week, S. 2463, also includes the wilderness 
designation provided for by H.R. 5062.

                              {time}  1445

  The wilderness designation made by H.R. 5059 is clean and would 
result in the protection of 10,800 acres of forest

[[Page 19218]]

land. As such, we have no objection to the adoption of the legislation 
by the House today.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. PEARCE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bradley).
  Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, once again I thank my 
colleagues from Guam and New Mexico for their support of this 
legislation. Like Congressman Bass's bill previously, my bill expands 
by nearly 11,000 acres the Sandwich Range Wilderness Area in the 
central part of the White Mountain National Forest.
  The Forest Service in the State of New Hampshire, working once again 
with environmental groups, with businesses involved in the forest 
products industry, developed a comprehensive plan for the management of 
the White Mountain National Forest. Both of these wilderness proposals 
have seen fit to have garnered the support of everyone in New Hampshire 
that I am aware of.
  The Forest Service plan had absolutely no appeals and is in the 
process of being implemented. The legislation that myself and 
Congressman Bass have separately proposed would implement the two 
wilderness proposals and, as I have repeatedly stated, has received no 
objections.
  It is certainly my hope, and I appreciate the support of my colleague 
on the other side of the aisle, as well as my colleague from New 
Mexico, for this legislation, should go forward this afternoon. It will 
protect the New Hampshire environment. It will also serve the forest 
products industry in my State. And I would urge my colleagues in the 
strongest possible way to vote for both of these bills later on today, 
despite the call for a vote potentially by my colleague on the other 
side of the aisle
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to explain my votes in opposition 
to H.R. 5059 and H.R. While I agree with the substance of these bills, 
I strongly opposed the decision of the House Republican leadership to 
use these important bills as part of an effort to play politics with 
the environment. The Republicans had an opportunity to vote on the New 
England Wilderness Act (S. 2463), bipartisan legislation passed by the 
Senate last week that would designate wilderness areas in both New 
Hampshire and Vermont.
  Instead they chose to separate the New Hampshire wilderness areas 
into two pieces of legislation and refused to include the Vermont 
wilderness in either bill. They apparently did this to hand a victory 
to the Republican representative from New Hampshire but deny Rep. 
Sanders a legislative win on the eve of his upcoming Senate election in 
Vermont. Shame on them. By putting these bills on the Suspension 
Calendar, the Republican leadership ensured that wilderness bills in 
New England will not be signed into law this year as it is virtually 
impossible to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate 
bills given the amount of time left in this legislative session.
  The New England Wilderness Act enjoys the full backing of the two 
states' bicameral, tripartisan delegation. It is disappointing that in 
the final days of this Congress, Republicans are abusing their power 
and the American people are paying the price.
  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. PEARCE. Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers, and yield 
back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 5062.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a 
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not 
present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this question will 
be postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

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