[House Report 104-700]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



104th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 2d Session                                                     104-700
_______________________________________________________________________


 
             CRAWFORD NATIONAL FISH HATCHERY CONVEYANCE ACT

                                _______
                                

 July 24, 1996.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

  Mr. Young of Alaska, from the Committee on Resources, submitted the 
                               following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 3287]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

  The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill 
(H.R. 3287) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey 
the Crawford National Fish Hatchery to the city of Crawford, 
Nebraska, having considered the same, report favorably thereon 
with an amendment and recommend that the bill as amended do 
pass.
  The amendment is as follows:
  Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert in lieu 
thereof the following:

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

  This Act may be cited as the ``Crawford National Fish Hatchery 
Conveyance Act''.

SEC. 2. CONVEYANCE OF CRAWFORD NATIONAL FISH HATCHERY TO THE CITY OF 
                    CRAWFORD, NEBRASKA.

  (a) Conveyance Requirement.--Within 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall convey to 
the city of Crawford, Nebraska, without reimbursement, all right, 
title, and interest of the United States in and to the property 
described in subsection (b), for use by the city for a city park and 
other public recreational purposes.
  (b) Property Described.--The property referred to in subsection (a) 
is the property known as the Crawford National Fish Hatchery, located 
in the city of Crawford, Nebraska, consisting of 5.95 acres (more or 
less), and all improvements and related personal property under the 
control of the Secretary that is located on that property, including 
buildings, structures, equipment, and all easements, leases, and water 
rights relating to that property.
  (c) Use and Reversionary Interest.--If any of the property conveyed 
to the city of Crawford, Nebraska, under this section is used by the 
city for any purpose other than the uses authorized under subsection 
(a), all right, title, and interest in and to all property conveyed 
under this section shall revert to the United States. The city of 
Crawford, Nebraska, shall ensure that all property that reverts to the 
United States under this subsection is in substantially the same or 
better condition as at the time of conveyance to the city.

                           purpose of the bill

     The purpose of H.R. 3287 is to direct the Secretary of the 
Interior to convey the Crawford National Fish Hatchery to the 
city of Crawford, Nebraska.

                   Background and need for legislation

     The Crawford National Fish Hatchery (NFH) is located in 
the northwest corner of the State in Dawes County, inside the 
city limits of Crawford, Nebraska.
     The Hatchery property consists of 5.95 acres. The history 
of this property started in 1906 when Congress, by the Act of 
June 25, 1906, granted a 134.4-acre tract of land to the 
Village of Crawford for park and water power purposes. The Act 
further stipulated that if the Village of Crawford stopped 
using the land for these purposes, then the title would revert 
to the United States.
     On September 30, 1927, the City Council of Crawford 
approved a resolution that donated 4.75 acres to the United 
States (Department of Commerce, Bureau of Fisheries) to be used 
as a site for the Hatchery. On April 27, 1954, the city added 
1.2 acres to the original 4.7-acre tract. In both cases, those 
lands donated to the United States were included within the 
original conveyance to the Village of Crawford in 1906.
     In 1929, Congress officially established the site as a 
national fish hatchery. For 42 years, Crawford NFH was a fish 
production facility. The fish produced at Crawford were used to 
stock Federal, State, and tribal waters in the States of 
Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. The 
fish species reared and stocked included bluegill, brook and 
brown trout, channel catfish, largemouth bass and rainbow 
trout.
     From 1971 to 1983, the Hatchery's fish stocking program 
was reduced and its primary focus was shifted to fish egg 
production. As a broodstock hatchery, Crawford NFH produced 
both brook and brown trout eggs for shipment to other States 
and other Federal hatcheries. In 1979, a typical year, Crawford 
shipped brown trout eggs to Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Maine, 
Michigan, New York, Ohio and South Dakota. It also shipped 
brook trout eggs to Arizona, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, 
Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Mexico.
     In 1983, Congress terminated funding for the Hatchery 
because it felt that the facility was no longer essential to 
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) nationwide stocking 
program. At that time, FWS and the State of Nebraska entered 
into a 30-year Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) whereby the State 
Game and Parks Commission assumed operation of the Hatchery for 
trout production services. In April 1991, the State of Nebraska 
exercised its option by advising FWS that it intended to 
terminate the MOA when the State's new Calamus Hatchery became 
operational. On May 10, 1991, the Crawford NFH was severely 
damaged from flooding of the White River. The State of Nebraska 
terminated the MOA effective September 30, 1991. There is 
currently no operational activity at the Crawford NFH, nor is 
any anticipated in the future. In fact, it has been estimated 
that it would cost a significant amount of money to repair the 
serious damage caused by the flooding and the five years of not 
maintaining the buildings.
     The Hatchery consists of a fish production office, a 
brick-enclosed spring water supply building, a fish food 
storage building, a garage/shop/service building, and two 
residences. In addition, there were seven gravel-lined fish 
rearing ponds that were completely filled by the 1991 flood. 
The Hatchery also has a 13,846-foot long underground pipeline 
running from the spring to the fish production ponds. This 
pipeline contains asbestos material and FWS has decided to 
abandon the pipeline in place.
     While the Clinton Administration did not include the 
Crawford NFH on its list of those to be transferred to the 
States, FWS has indicated that it supports this transfer. This 
facility would not qualify for the three years of transitional 
assistance that FWS proposed in its fiscal year 1996 budget 
request.

                            committee action

     H.R. 3287 was introduced on April 23, 1996, by Congressman 
Bill Barrett (R-NE). The bill was referred to the Committee on 
Resources and within the Committee to the Subcommittee on 
Fisheries, Wildlife and Oceans.
     On June 13, 1996, the Subcommittee held a hearing on H.R. 
3287. Testifying in support of the bill were Congressman Bill 
Barrett and Mr. William Knapp, Chief, Division of Fish 
Hatcheries, FWS. In his testimony, Mr. Knapp said that ``the 
Service and the city of Crawford, Nebraska * * * mutually agree 
that all parties will benefit from the conveyance of ownership 
of [the Crawford NFH].''
     On June 27, 1996, the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife 
and Oceans met to mark up H.R. 3287. At that time, Congressman 
Gerry Studds (D-MA) offered an amendment to clarify the 
reversionary language in section 2 of the bill. The amendment 
was adopted by voice vote. The bill, as amended, was then 
ordered favorably reported to the Full Committee on Resources 
by voice vote.
     On July 17, 1996, the Committee on Resources met to 
consider H.R. 3287. There were no amendments and the Committee 
ordered the bill reported to the House of Representatives by 
voice vote, in the presence of a quorum.

                       section-by-section analysis

Section 1. Short title

     This bill may be cited as the ``Crawford National Fish 
Hatchery Conveyance Act''.

Section 2. Conveyance of Crawford National Fish Hatchery to the city of 
        Crawford, Nebraska

    Section 2(a) directs the Secretary of the Interior to 
convey to the city of Crawford, Nebraska, within 180 days and 
without reimbursement, all right, title, and interest of the 
United States in and to the Hatchery property for use by the 
city for a city park and other public recreational purposes.
    Section 2(b) states that the fish hatchery is located in 
the city of Crawford, Nebraska, consists of 5.9 acres, and 
includes buildings, structures, equipment, and all easements, 
leases, and water rights relating to that property.
    Section 2(c) mandates that the property shall revert to the 
United States if the city of Crawford decides to no longer use 
the property for public recreational purposes and requires the 
State to ensure that the property is in substantially the same 
or better condition at the time of transfer.

            COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

    With respect to the requirements of clause 2(l)(3) of rule 
XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives, and clause 
2(b)(1) of rule X of the Rules of the House of Representatives, 
the Committee on Resources' oversight findings and 
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.

                     INFLATIONARY IMPACT STATEMENT

    Pursuant to clause 2(l)(4) of rule XI of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, the Committee estimates that the 
enactment of H.R. 3287 will have no significant inflationary 
impact on prices and costs in the operation of the national 
economy.

                        COST OF THE LEGISLATION

    Clause 7(a) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives requires an estimate and a comparison by the 
Committee of the costs which would be incurred in carrying out 
H.R. 3287. However, clause 7(d) of that Rule provides that this 
requirement does not apply when the Committee has included in 
its report a timely submitted cost estimate of the bill 
prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office 
under section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

                     COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XI

    1. With respect to the requirement of clause 2(l)(3)(B) of 
rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 
section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, H.R. 
3287 does not contain any new budget authority, spending 
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in 
revenues or tax expenditures.
    2. With respect to the requirement of clause 2(l)(3)(D) of 
rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee has received no report of oversight findings and 
recommendations from the Committee on Government Reform and 
Oversight on the subject of H.R. 3287.
    3. With respect to the requirement of clause 2(l)(3)(C) of 
rule XI of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 
section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the 
Committee has received the following cost estimate for H.R. 
3287 from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office.

               CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                     Washington, DC, July 23, 1996.
Hon. Don Young,
Chairman, Committee on Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
reviewed H.R. 3287, the Crawford National Fish Hatchery 
Conveyance Act, as ordered reported by the House Committee on 
Resources on July 17, 1996. We expect that implementing this 
bill would have no significant impact on the Federal budget. 
The bill would not affect direct spending or receipts; 
therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures would not apply.
    H.R. 3287 would direct the Secretary of the Interior to 
convey to the city of Crawford, Nebraska, all land and related 
property located at the Crawford National Fish Hatchery, 
without reimbursement. The city would use the six-acre hatchery 
site, which is no longer in operation, as a park.
    H.R. 3287 contains no intergovernmental mandates as defined 
in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-4) 
and would impose no costs on State, local, or tribal 
governments. Any costs incurred by the city of Crawford to 
establish and operate a park on this site would be incurred 
voluntarily.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contacts are Deborah 
Reis (for Federal costs) and Marjorie Miller (for the State and 
local impact).
            Sincerely,
                                         June E. O'Neill, Director.

                    COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4

    H.R. 3287 contains no unfunded mandates.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    If enacted, H.R. 3287 would make no changes in existing 
law.