[Senate Report 105-392]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 641
105th Congress Report
SENATE
2d Session 105-392
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CAPE COD NATIONAL SEASHORE
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October 9, (legislative day, October 2), 1998.--Ordered to be printed
_______________________________________________________________________
Mr. Murkowski, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 2411]
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was
referred the Act (H.R. 2411) to provide for a land exchange
involving the Cape Code National Seashore and to extend the
authority for the Cape Code National Seashore Advisory
Commission, having considered the same, reports favorably
thereon without amendment and recommends that the Act do pass.
Purpose of the Measure
The purposes of H.R. 2411 are to authorize a land exchange
between the town of Provincetown, Massachusetts and the
Secretary of the Interior, and to extend the authorization for
the Cape Code National Advisory Commission to the year 2008.
Background and Need
Cape Code National Seashore was established in 1961 by
Public Law 87-126. The land referred to in this legislation
became part of Cape Code National Seashore in 1962 from the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, when the State conveyed the
former Province Lands State Park. The conveyed lands came with
deed restrictions, including a requirement that the Secretary
of the Interior make available land to the town of Provincetown
for a landfill. The park provided approximately 30 acres which
was used for a landfill.
In 1992, Provincetown was ordered by the Commonwealth to
close its septic lagoons, cap its landfill and build a new
solid waste transfer station and recycling facility. In 1994,
the National Park Service issued a Special Use Permit to the
town to construct the solid waste transfer station. Under the
conditions of the permit, the town has been allowed to operate
the transfer station while pursuing the land exchange and the
necessary permits.
A land exchange agreement has been reached which would
transfer the 7.6 acre solid waste transfer site to Provincetown
in exchange for 11.6 acres of undeveloped State land to the
park. However, Public Law 104-333 established a ceiling of
$750,000 on the value of the land that could be executed by an
administrative boundary adjustment. The value of the land
exceeds this amount; therefore, the minor boundary change
authority cannot be used.
H.R. 2411 also extends the Cape Cod National Seashore
Advisory Commission which has expired, to the year 2008. The
National Park Service, Federal, State, and local officials all
support the extension. The Commission has provided valuable
guidance to the seashore and given local officials and the
surrounding communities a voice in the management of the
Seashore.
Legislative History
H.R. 2411 was passed by the House of Representatives on
June 22, 1998 and referred to the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources. The Subcommittee on National Parks, Historic
Preservation, and Recreation held a hearing on H.R. 2411 on
September 17, 1998.
At its business meeting on September 24, 1998, the
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources ordered H.R. 2411
favorably reported.
Committee Recommendation
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open
business session on September 24, 1998, by a unanimous voice
vote of a quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass H.R.
2411, as described herein.
Summary of H.R. 2411
H.R. 2411 amends section 2 of Public Law 87-126 to
authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey to the town
of Provincetown, Massachusetts,approximately 7.62 acres of
Federal land within the boundary of Cape Cod National Seashore
(Seashore) in exchange for approximately 11.157 acres of land outside
of the Seashore as depicted on the map entitled Cape Cod National
Seashore Boundary Revision Map, dated May, 1997, and numbered 609/
80,801. The exchange would allow for the establishment of a municipal
facility to serve the town of Provincetown who is restricted to solid
waste transfer and recycling facilities, and for other municipal
activities that are compatible with National Park Service laws and
regulations. Upon completion of the exchange, the Secretary of the
Interior should modify the boundary of the Cape Cod National Seashore
to include the land that has been added.
H.R. 2411 also amends section 8 of Public Law 87-126 to
extend the authorization for the Cape Cod National Seashore
Advisory Commission through 2008.
Cost and Budgetary Considerations
The following estimate of costs of this measure has been
provided by the Congressional Budget Office:
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, September 25, 1998.
Hon. Frank H. Murkowski,
Chairman, Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 2411, an act to
provide for a land exchange involving the Cape Cod National
Seashore and to extend the authority for the Cape Cod National
Seashore Advisory Commission.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Deborah Reis.
Sincerely,
June E. O'Neil, Director.
Enclosure.
Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate
H.R. 2411--An act to provide for a land exchange involving the Cape Cod
National Seashore and to extend the authority for the Cape Cod
National Seashore Advisory Commission
Based on information provided by the National Park Service,
CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 2411 would have no
significant impact on the federal budget. This legislation
would not affect direct spending or receipts; therefore, pay-
as-you-go procedures would not apply. H.R. 2411 contains no
intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on
state, local, or tribal governments.
H.R. 2411 would provide for a land exchange at the Cape Cod
National Seashore. Specifically, the legislation would convey
about eight acres of federal land to Provincetown,
Massachusetts, in exchange for approximately 11 acres of land
outside the park. The act would modify the park boundary to
include the added land. In addition, the act would extend the
life of the Cape Cod National Seashore Advisory Commission by
10 years to September 26, 2008. The commission provides
guidance to the Park Service at a current annual cost of less
than $5,000.
On May 29, 1998, CBO prepared an estimate for H.R. 2411, a
bill to provide for a land exchange involving the Cape Cod
National Seashore and to extend the authority for the Cape Cod
National Seashore Advisory Commission, as ordered reported by
the House Committee on Resources on May 21, 1998. The two
versions of the legislation and the two estimates are
identical.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Deborah Reis.
This estimate was approved by Paul N. Van de Water, Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.
Regulatory Impact Evaluation
In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in
carrying out H.R. 2411. The bill is not a regulatory measure in
the sense of imposing Government-established standards of
significant economic responsibilities on private individuals
and businesses.
No personal information would be collected in administering
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal
privacy.
Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from
enactment of H.R. 2411, as ordered reported.
Executive Communications
On September 3, 1998, the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources requested legislative report from the Department of
the Interior and the Office of Management and Budget setting
forth Executive agency recommendations on H.R. 2411. These
reports had not been received at the time the report on H.R.
2411 was filed. When these reports become available, the
Chairman will request that they be printed in the Congressional
Record for the advice of the Senate. The testimony of the
Department of the Interior at the Subcommittee hearing follows:
Statement of Destry Jarvis, Assistant Director for External Affairs,
National Park Service, Department of the Interior
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to present the
Department of the Interior's views on H.R. 2411, a bill to
authorize a land exchange between the town of Provincetown and
Cape Cod National Seashore in the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts. It would also reauthorize the Cape Code National
Seashore Advisory Commission for a ten-year period. The
Department of the Interior strongly supports this bill.
Cape Code--a slender spit of land curving some 60 miles out
into the Atlantic Ocean--is an extraordinary resource, an area
that is striking and unusual in its combination and diversity
of resources. Its unsurpassed beaches, ponds, marshes, bays,
pine barrens, inlets, and dunes combine with historic
landscapes and thriving communities to create an intricate
mosaic of significant resources. Cape Code National Seashore
was authorized in 1961 to preserve a portion of this ever-
changing landscape which boasts the largest glacial peninsula
in the world, and the longest expanse of uninterrupted sandy
shoreline on the East Coast. The fact that this area is so
close to densely populated areas makes its special character
more and more precious.
H.R. 2411 would authorize the Cape Code National Seashore
to exchange approximately 7.65 acres of land within the park's
boundary for approximately 11 acres of undeveloped land of
equivalent value outside the boundary that has been offered in
exchange by the Town of Provincetown. The purpose of the
exchange is to remove from park ownership land that has for
many years been used as an NPS-permitted solid waste facility
and to allow the town to establish a permanent solid waste
transfer station and recycling center. Upon completion of the
exchange, the Seashore's boundary would be adjusted in
accordance with a map dated May 1997 and numbered 609/80,801
entitled ``Cape Code National Seashore Boundary Revision Map''
to accommodate the added parcel.
Completion of the exchange will remove an inappropriate use
from park-owned land, and will bring the park largely back into
compliance with 36 CFR Part 6, Operation of Solid Waste Sites
in Units of the National Park System. The land occupied by the
transfer station originally came into the hands of the National
Park Service in 1962, shortly after the Seashore was
established, with the conveyance form the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts of the former Province Lands State Park. The
conveyed lands came with deed restrictions requiring the
Secretary to make available land to be used by the Town for
dumping purposes. Consistent with that restriction, the park
provided approximately 30 acres, which for many years were used
as a landfill. Approximately 7.65 of those acres are currently
in use as a transfer station. The Town of Provincetown
continues to need the transfer station and has no other viable
site alternative. Because of its long-term use as a dumping
site and transfer station and prior to that as septage lagoons,
its most suitable future use is as a transfer station or for
some other utilitarian purpose. The 11 acres the Seashore will
receive are contiguous to the park. There will be no increase
in operating costs to maintain this undeveloped land.
This exchange is consistent with the Seashore's new general
management plan, which was adopted after extensive public
review and comment. Work was underway to effect the exchange
until passage of the Parks Omnibus Act of 1996 required
congressional approval due to the approximately $1.5 million
total value of the parcels to be exchanged.
H.R. 2411 would also reauthorize the Cape Cod National
Seashore Advisory Commission for a ten-year period. The
Commission was originally authorized in 1961 as a part of
Public Law 87-126, the Cape Cod National Seashore's enabling
legislation. Its purpose is to advise park management on
questions relating to municipal and private land ownership and
occupancy inside the Seashore, and on the management of
recreational activity. Membership consists of one
representative from each of the six Lower Cape towns, two from
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one from Barnstable County,
and one selected by the Secretary of the Interior.
Initially chartered for ten years, the Commission has since
been both legislatively and administratively reauthorized
several times, for almost continuous service during the
existence of the national seashore. It expired June 20, 1998
and has not been administratively extended.
Support on the Lower Cape for the commission is strong and
reaction to the proposal to reauthorize it has been universally
positive.
Cape Cod National Seashore was established with a pattern
of land ownership and management that is most unusual in the
National Park System. The six ``Lower Cape'' towns, from whose
lands the Cape Cod National Seashore was carved, retain
ownership and operation of numerous parcels within the Seashore
including ponds, beaches, parking lots and roads. In addition,
over 600 parcels inside the Cape Cod National Seashore are
privately owned. Under a unique landowner arrangement,
sometimes referred to as the ``Cape Cod Formula,'' these
parcels are expected to remain in private hands. Activities on
all these lands can have potentially profound effects on
protested resources, and vice versa.
The need for constructive and creative dialogue with the
local community is constant, and the potential for conflict and
misunderstanding enormous. And, although the Cape Cod National
Seashore was created over thirty years ago, there still remains
a certain amount of suspicion and resentment of federal
government activity. Because of the multiplicity of interests
and voices to which the superintendent must respond, effective
public involvement without a body such as the commission would
be nearly impossible.
The Cape Code National Seashore Advisory Commission has
established an excellent reputation as a facilitator of vital
public/private dialogue. Frequent use of subcommittees
dedicated to the exploration of specific questions allows local
opinion leaders to remain involved on a regular and recurring
basis. Also, it permits numerous parties to feel that they have
had direct access to park management through dozens of hours of
consultation.
In its recent past, the commission has addressed such
contentious issues as: the drafting of the seashore's new
general management plan, the use of off-road vehicles in the
park, and the expiration of a number of reservations of use and
occupancy that resulted from earlier purchases of improved
properties by the National Park Service.
The composition of the Commission was originally defined in
Public Law 87-126 and was specifically designed to represent
all local and regional jurisdictions. Experience has shown that
the original mix of constituencies represented was appropriate
and should be continued. There would be no new administrative
costs associated with extension of the Commission.
This concludes my prepared testimony. I would be happy to
answer any questions that you or members of the subcommittee
may have.
Changes in Existing Law
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by
the bill H.R. 2411, as ordered reported, are shown as follows
(existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black
brackets, new matter is printed in italic, existing law in
which no change is proposed is shown in roman).
(Public Law 87-126, October 31, 1998)
Sec. 2. [(d)](e) As used in this Act the term ``fair market
value'' shall mean the fair market value as determined by the
Secretary, who may in his discretion base his determination on
an independent appraisal obtained by him.
* * * * * * *
(d) The Secretary may convey to the town of Provincetown,
Massachusetts, a parcel of real property consisting of
approximately 7.62 acres of Federal land within such area in
exchange for approximately 11.157 acres of land outside of such
areas, as depicted on the map entitled Cape Code National
Seashore Boundary Revision Map, dated May, 1997, and numbered
609/80,801, to allow for the establishment of a municipal
facility to serve the town that is restricted to solid waste
transfer and recycling facilities and for other municipal
activities that are compatible with National Park Service laws
and regulations. Upon completion of the exchange, the Secretary
shall modify the boundary of the Cape Cod National Seashore to
include the land that has been added.
* * * * * * *
Sec. 8. (a) There is hereby establish a Cape Cod National
Seashore Advisory Commission (hereinafter referred to as the
``Commission''). [Said Commission shall terminate ten years
after the date the seashore is established under section 3 of
this Act.] The Commission shall terminate September 26, 2008.