[Senate Report 109-12]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                                        Calendar No. 23
109th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 1st Session                                                     109-12

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                  CENTRAL NEVADA RURAL CEMETERIES ACT

                                _______
                                

               February 23, 2005.--Ordered to be printed

 Filed, under authority of the order of the Senate of February 17, 2005

                                _______
                                

   Mr. Domenici, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 254]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the bill (S. 254) to direct the Secretary of 
Agriculture to convey certain land to Lander County, Nevada, 
and the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain land to 
Eureka, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon 
without amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.

                         PURPOSE OF THE MEASURE

    The purpose of S. 254 is to direct the Secretary of 
Agriculture to convey certain land to Lander County, Nevada, 
and the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain land to 
Eureka County, Nevada, for continued use as cemeteries.

                          BACKGROUND AND NEED

    The town of Kingston, Nevada, located in Lander County, 
desires approximately 8.75 acres of U.S. Forest Service (USFS) 
land to supplement the 1.25 acres of USFS land conveyed to it 
in 2000 for use as a cemetery. The additional land will ensure 
that areas of unmarked graves are included in the town's 
cemetery, and that space is available for future graves in 
Kingston Cemetery. The additional land will bring the total 
acreage to the original ten acres that the town had access to 
under a Special Use Permit. The town of Kingston wants to 
continue use of the cemetery through local public ownership 
rather than through the Federal agency permitting process. In 
addition, the bill would convey ten acres of land managed by 
the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to Eureka County, Nevada, 
for continued use for the Maiden's Grave Cemetery. The site 
continues to receive occasional burials and has been identified 
by the BLM as suitable for disposal.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    S. 254 was introduced by Senator Reid for himself and 
Senator Ensign on February 1, 2005. An identical bill (S. 1819) 
was introduced by Senators Reid and Ensign in the 108th 
Congress. The Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests held a 
hearing on S. 1819 on March 10, 2004 (S. Hrg. 108-490). S. 1819 
was attached as a stand alone title of H.R. 620 and passed the 
Senate, by unanimous consent, as amended, on December 7, 2004.

                        COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in an open 
business session on February 9, 2005, by a voice vote of a 
quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 254.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

    Section 1 provides the short title.
    Section 2 provides findings and directs the Secretary of 
Agriculture to convey, for no consideration, 10 acres of 
National Forest land to the city of Lander, Nevada, to expand 
an existing cemetery, within 90 days after passage of the Act. 
It also directs the Secretary to grant an access easement for 
persons desiring to visit the cemetery and includes reversion 
provisions if the county uses the land for any purpose other 
than a cemetery.
    Section 3 provides findings and directs the Secretary of 
Agriculture to convey, for no consideration, 10 acres of 
National Forest land to Eureka County, Nevada, to expand an 
existing cemetery. It also directs the Secretary to grant an 
access easement for persons desiring to visit the cemetery and 
includes reversion provisions if the county uses the land for 
any purpose other than a cemetery.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

    The following estimate of the costs of this measure has 
been provided the Congressional Budget Office.

S. 254--Central Nevada Rural Cemeteries Act

    CBO estimates that implementing S. 254 would not 
significantly affect the federal budget and that enacting the 
bill would not affect direct spending or revenues. S. 254 
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.
    S. 254 would direct the Secretary of Agriculture and the 
Secretary of the Interior to convey, without consideration, 
certain lands to two counties in Nevada for use as cemeteries. 
According to both the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land 
Management, the land to be conveyed currently generates no 
significant receipts and is not expected to do so over the next 
10 years; hence, CBO estimates that conveying it would not 
affect offsetting receipts (a credit against direct spending). 
We also estimate that federal spending to complete the proposed 
conveyance would be less than $50,000, subject to the 
availability of appropriated funds.
    The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Megan Carroll 
and Julie Middleton. This estimate was approved by Peter H. 
Fontaine, Deputy 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 S. 254.
    The bill is not a regulatory measure in the sense of 
imposing Government-established standards or 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 the 
enactment of S. 254, as ordered reported.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

    The views of the administration were included in testimony 
received by the Committee at a hearing on S. 1819, an identical 
bill from the 108th Congress, on March 10, 2004.

     Statement of Mark Rey, Under Secretary, Natural Resources and 
Environment, Department of Agriculture

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S. 1819 Central Nevada Rural Cemeteries Act

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

    In summary, Section 1 of S. 1819 requires the Secretary 
through the Chief of the Forest Service to convey to Lander 
County, Nevada, for no consideration, all right, title, and 
interest of the United States in and to the 8.75 acres of 
National Forest System land known as Kingston Cemetery.
    In accordance with Public Law 85-569, the Townsite Act, we 
have already conveyed 1.25 acres of land (on which the cemetery 
is located) to the Town of Kingston for $500 on August 1, 2000. 
At the time of conveyance, the Town of Kingston indicated the 
1.25 acres encompassed all known marked and unmarked 
gravesites. The Town of Kingtson indicated that the 1.25 acres 
was adequate to accommodate their future expansion needs. 
Specifically, all of the gravesites were accounted for within a 
half acre fenced area that the 1.25 acres encompassed. The 
additional 0.75 acres were intended for parking and anticipated 
expansion of the current cemetery.
    If new unmarked gravesites have been discovered or the 
needs of the Kingston Cemetery have changed and are in the 
public interest, we would be supportive of making additional 
Federal lands available to the county or city for fair market 
value and granting the county an easement to maintain the 
access road to the cemetery as a county road.
    If Lander County is not willing to pay fair market value to 
purchase this land, we would be willing to consider authorizing 
its current and future use of this land under a special-use 
permit authorization.
    The Department does not object to making additional Federal 
lands available to Lander County, Nevada in S. 1819, but the 
Department believes that the Forest Service can meet the 
objectives of Section 1 of this legislation under its current 
statutory authorities that would allow it to convey National 
Forest System lands to Lander, County for fair-market value in 
cash.
    For example, under the Townsite Act, the Secretary of 
Agriculture may convey, for fair market value, up to 640 acres 
of land to established communities located adjacent to National 
Forests in Alaska or the contiguous western states. Within 
certain limits, the Sisk Act authorizes the Secretary of 
Agriculture to exchange lands with states, counties, or 
municipal governments or public school districts for land or 
money.
    Moreover, under the General Exchange Act, the Secretary of 
Agriculture can exchange National Forest System lands with 
State and local governments. These laws require the Secretary 
of Agriculture to obtain fair market value for exchanges or 
sales of National Forest lands. Indeed, the Federal policy, in 
recent decades, has moved toward obtaining a fair return to the 
public for the value of lands conveyed out of Federal 
ownership.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


   Statement of Tom Lonnie, Assistant Director, Minerals, Realty and 
Resource Protection, Department of the Interior

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


    ``The Maiden's Grave'' is the final resting place of 
Lucinda Duncan who on August 15, 1863, died on her way to the 
gold and silver fields of Nevada. Mrs. Duncan at 71 was ``the 
mother of the wagon train'' which consisted largely of her 
seven surviving children, their spouses and a multitude of 
grandchildren. Following her death, the wagon train held a 
ceremony and their leaving was memorialized by a member of the 
party: ``* * * we paid our last debt & respect to the remains 
of the departed mother. There upon that wild & lonely spot, we 
left her, until Gabriel shall sound his trumpet in the last 
day. The scene was truly a sad one to leave a beloved mother on 
the wild and desolate plains. A board with the name of the 
deceased was put up at the head & boulder was laid over the 
grave to keep wolves from scratching in it. After this the 
train moved on.''
    Today, the site continues to receive occasional burials. 
Therefore, it is considered a ``modern cemetery'' and does not 
qualify for the National Register of Historic Places. The BLM, 
through its planning process, has identified the cemetery as 
suitable for disposal and the county has indicated a strong 
interest in taking responsibility for this parcel.
    While we would typically expect to receive market value for 
such a transfer, we understand the unique circumstances in this 
case, and the unique needs of Eureka County. Under other 
circumstances, we might have considered a Recreation and Public 
Purposes (R&PP) Act conveyance to lower the cost to the county, 
but the need for permanency in this transfer prevents this from 
being a viable option, thus the need for legislative 
intervention. We appreciate this opportunity to work 
cooperatively with local interests to the betterment of the 
community.
    During consideration of H.R. 272 by the House of 
Representatives, amendments were made to address the BLM's 
concerns which were primarily of a technical nature and we 
support both H.R. 272 and its identical companion S. 1819.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no 
changes in existing law are made by the bill S. 254, as ordered 
reported.

                                  
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