[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9194-9195]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   LAND GRANT PATENT MODIFICATION ACT

  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules 
and pass the bill (S. 404) to modify a land grant patent issued by the 
Secretary of the Interior.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                 S. 404

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

     SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds that--
       (1) pursuant to section 5505 of division A of the Omnibus 
     Consolidated Appropriations Act, 1997 (Public Law 104-208; 
     110 Stat. 3009-516), the Secretary of the Interior, acting 
     through the Bureau of Land Management, issued to the Great 
     Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society located in Chippewa County 
     of the State of Michigan United States Patent Number 61-98-
     0040 on September 23, 1998;
       (2) United States Patent Number 61-98-0040 was recorded in 
     the Office of the Register of Deeds of Chippewa County of the 
     State of Michigan, on January 22, 1999, at Liber 757, on 
     pages 115 through 118;
       (3) in order to correct an error in United States Patent 
     Number 61-98-0040, the Secretary issued a corrected patent, 
     United States Patent Number 61-2000-0007, on March 10, 2000;
       (4) after issuance of the corrected United States Patent 
     Number 61-2000-0007, the original United States Patent Number 
     61-98-0040 was cancelled on the records of the Bureau of Land 
     Management; and
       (5) corrected United States Patent Number 61-2000-0007 
     should be modified in accordance with this Act--
       (A) to effectuate--
       (i) the Human Use/Natural Resource Plan for Whitefish 
     Point, dated December 2002; and
       (ii) the settlement agreement dated July 16, 2001, filed in 
     Docket Number 2:00-CV-206 in the United States District Court 
     for the Western District of Michigan; and
       (B) to ensure a clear chain of title, recorded in the 
     Office of the Register of Deeds of Chippewa County of the 
     State of Michigan.

     SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF LAND GRANT PATENT ISSUED BY SECRETARY 
                   OF THE INTERIOR.

       (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Interior shall modify 
     the matter under the heading ``Subject Also to the Following 
     Conditions'' of paragraph 6 of United States Patent Number 
     61-2000-0007 by striking ``Whitefish Point Comprehensive Plan 
     of October 1992 or for a gift shop'' and inserting ``Human 
     Use/Natural Resource Plan for Whitefish Point, dated December 
     2002''.
       (b) Effect.--Each other term of the conveyance relating to 
     the property that is the subject of United States Patent 
     Number 61-2000-0007, including each obligation to maintain 
     the property in accordance with the National Historic 
     Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.) and any other 
     appropriate law (including regulations), and the obligation 
     to use the property in a manner that does not impair or 
     interfere with the conservation values of the property, shall 
     remain in effect.

     SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

       (a) In General.--The modification of United States Patent 
     Number 61-2000-0007 in accordance with section 2 shall become 
     effective on the date of the recording of the modification in 
     the Office of the Register of Deeds of Chippewa County of the 
     State of Michigan.
       (b) Endorsement.--The Office of the Register of Deeds of 
     Chippewa County of the State of Michigan is requested to 
     endorse on the recorded copy of United States Patent Number 
     61-2000-0007 the fact that the Patent Number has been 
     modified in accordance with this Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Washington (Mr. Hastings) and the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Lujan) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Washington.


                             General Leave

  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous materials on the bill under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Washington?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as 
I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, S. 404 would simply modify a land patent that was issued 
by the Department of the Interior to the Great Lakes Shipwreck 
Historical Society in 1998 to reflect an agreement between the 
historical society, the Michigan Audubon Society, and the U.S. Fish & 
Wildlife Service.
  The current land patent references an outdated 1992 Comprehensive 
Plan for Whitefish Point, a 43-acre spit of land surrounded by Lake 
Superior. The Michigan Audubon Society sued when this plan for 
development was proposed, and following a court-ordered settlement of 
the lawsuit, a new plan was negotiated in 2002. This bill would modify 
the land patent to appropriately reference the 2002 plan and finally 
allow for the development to go forward.
  Congressman Dan Benishek, our colleague from Michigan, is the author 
of the companion House bill, H.R. 3411, and he should be commended for 
his commonsense approach to help manage this important tourism area in 
the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

[[Page 9195]]

  And with that, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LUJAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, S. 404 requires the Secretary of the Interior to modify 
a land grant patent in Chippewa County, Michigan. The patent, issued to 
the Michigan Audubon Society and the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical 
Society, will be amended to allow for use and modification of the 
property to allow for new use plans.
  We have no objection to this legislation, and I reserve the balance 
of my time.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 3 
minutes to the author of the companion bill in the House of this 
legislation, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Benishek).
  Mr. BENISHEK. Mr. Speaker, this evening the House will take up Senate 
bill S. 404, a bill authored by my colleague in the Senate, Senator 
Carl Levin. As you heard, I authored a companion bill in the House last 
November.
  This bill will end a bureaucratic roadblock that has prevented the 
Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum from making improvements to its facility 
located in Chippewa County, Michigan, along the southern shore of Lake 
Superior. Only an act of Congress is able to correct an error in the 
land patent that was enacted in 1992.
  From the bell of the Edmund Fitzgerald to the U.S. Coast Guard's 
Whitefish Point Lighthouse, the shipwreck museum's exhibits tell the 
story of brave men and women who have navigated the Great Lakes for 
hundreds of years.
  This facility displays important parts of Northern Michigan's 
history. Each year, some 60,000 individuals visit the museum and 
explore firsthand the rich maritime traditions of Michigan's First 
District. Preserving Michigan's maritime history is a resource that 
both Senator Levin and I agree warrants enthusiastic bipartisan support 
for the benefit of future generations of visitors.
  I want to thank Chairman Hastings for bringing this bill to the floor 
today, and I encourage all of my colleagues to support this measure and 
bring it one step closer to the President's desk.
  Mr. LUJAN. Mr. Speaker, we have no other speakers, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of S. 404, 
and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, S. 404.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. HASTINGS of Washington. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas 
and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this question will be postponed.

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