[Senate Report 110-286]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                                       Calendar No. 638
110th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     110-286

======================================================================



 
            KEWEENAW NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK APPROPRIATIONS

                                _______
                                

                 April 10, 2008.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

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

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 189]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the bill (S. 189) to decrease the matching funds 
requirement and authorize additional appropriations for 
Keweenaw National Historical Park in the State of Michigan, 
having considered the same, reports favorably thereon without 
amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.

                                Purpose

    The purpose of S. 189 is to amend the enabling legislation 
for the Keweenaw National Historical Park in Michigan to 
decrease the non-Federal matching fund requirement from 4:1 to 
1:1, and to increase the authorized funding level for 
development from $25 million to $50 million, and for financial 
and technical assistance from $3 million to $25 million.

                          Background and Need

    Keweenaw National Historical Park, located on Michigan's 
Upper Peninsula, was established by Congress in 1992 to 
preserve and interpret the natural and cultural resources 
related to the copper mining industry of the Keweenaw 
Peninsula. When the park was established, $25 million was 
authorized for development at the park, and $3 million was 
authorized for Federal grants to owners of property within the 
park containing significant historic or cultural resources, 
subject to a requirement that any Federal funding be matched on 
a four-to-one basis with non-Federal funds.
    This matching requirement exceeds the standard applied for 
most Federal matches, which are usually on a one-to-one basis. 
S. 189 would amend Public Law 102-543, the park's enabling 
legislation, to reduce the non-Federal match requirements from 
four-to-one to one-to-one, and to increase the authorization 
for development at the park from $25 million to $50 million, 
and to increase the authorization for financial and technical 
assistance from $3 million to $25 million.
    The legislation would also increase the annual 
authorization for the park's advisory commission from $100,000 
annually to $250,000 and eliminate a requirement that Federal 
funding for the commission be matched with non-Federal funds.

                          Legislative History

    S. 189 was introduced by Senator Levin on January 4, 2007. 
The Subcommittee on National Parks held a hearing on the bill 
on September 27, 2007. (S. Hrg. 110-266.) At its business 
meeting on September 27, 2008, the Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources ordered S. 189 favorably reported, without 
amendment.

                        Committee Recommendation

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open 
business session on January 30, 2008, by a voice vote of a 
quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 189.

                      Section-by-Section Analysis

    Section 1(a) amends section 4(d) of the enabling 
legislation for Keweenaw National Historical Park (Public Law 
102-543; 16 U.S.C. 410yy-3) to eliminate a provision that 
prohibited the Secretary of the Interior from acquiring lands 
contaminated with hazardous substances. The National Park 
Service testified at the Subcommittee hearing that existing 
agency policies ensure that any acquired lands must be 
thoroughly examined for environmental contamination, but 
eliminating this provision would give the Park Service more 
flexibility to acquire lands which do not pose environmental 
threats.
    Subsection (b) amends section 8(b) of the park's enabling 
legislation to decrease the matching requirement from four-to-
one (non-Federal funds to Federal funds) to one-to-one.
    Subsection (c) amends section 10 of the enabling 
legislation to increase the appropriation ceiling for land 
acquisition from $25 million to $50 million, and to increase 
the ceiling for the Secretary providing financial and technical 
assistance form $3 million to $25 million. The subsection also 
increases the annual authorization for the park's advisory 
commission from $100,000 to $250,000.

                   Cost and Budgetary Considerations

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

S. 189--A bill to decrease the matching funds requirement and authorize 
        additional appropriations for the Keweenaw National Historical 
        Park in the state of Michigan

    S. 189 would authorize additional appropriations for the 
Keweenaw National Historical Park in Michigan. The bill also 
would repeal an existing prohibition against acquiring 
environmentally contaminated lands for the park. Assuming 
appropriation of the authorized amounts, CBO estimates that 
implementing S. 189 would cost $24 million over the 2009-2013 
period. An additional $26 million would be spent after 2013 for 
park development, including possible environmental cleanup and 
restoration of contaminated lands if any are acquired as a 
result of this legislation. Enacting S. 189 would not affect 
revenues or direct spending.
    S. 189 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) 
and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal 
governments.
    The legislation would raise the authorization levels for 
activities carried out at Keweenaw National Historical Park, 
including:
           Increasing the cap on assistance to 
        nonfederal property owners from $3 million (all of 
        which has already been appropriated) to $25 million,
           Raising the annual authorization of 
        appropriations for the Keweenaw National Historical 
        Park Advisory Commission from $100,000 to $250,000, and
           Raising the ceiling for park development 
        from $25 million to $50 million. CBO estimates that 
        raising the park's authorizations would cost $24 
        million over the 2009-2013 period and $26 million over 
        the 2013-2018 period.
    Nearly all spending over the first five years would be for 
assistance to nonfederal entities that would use the funds to 
restore and interpret historic properties within the park's 
boundaries. A small portion of the five-year costs (less than 
$500,000 a year) would be for routine annual expenses to 
operate and maintain newly developed properties and to provide 
the advisory commission with the additional funds of $150,000 a 
year authorized by the bill. That annual cost would continue in 
subsequent years.
    We estimate that little of the additional $25 million 
authorized for development would be appropriated before 2014 
because we expect that development activities at the park would 
not exhaust the existing $25 million authorization until that 
time. (Most of the existing ceiling has not yet been 
appropriated.) Spending of the $25 million existing 
authorization could occur somewhat more quickly over the next 
year or two under the bill because the National Park Service 
(NPS) might use some of that amount to clean up or restore 
contaminated lands, which could be acquired under the bill. We 
expect that the NPS would minimize such costs, however, by 
avoiding the purchase of severely contaminated sites and by 
requiring cleanup of most sites before acquisition, resulting 
in no significant change in development costs over time.
    In addition, the federal government could be liable for 
injuries caused by contamination on lands acquired as a result 
of this bill, but CBO has no basis for estimating such costs, 
if any.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Deborah Reis. 
The estimate was reviewed by Theresa Gullo, 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. 189. 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. 189, as ordered reported.

                   Congressionally Directed Spending

    In accordance with paragraph 4(b) of rule XLIV of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee provides the 
following identification of congressionally directed spending 
items contained in the bill, as reported:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Section                   Provision             Member
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1(C)............................  Authorization of     Sen. Levin
                                   appropriations.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

                        Executive Communications

    The testimony provided by the National Park Service at the 
September 27, 2007 subcommittee hearing on S. 189 follows:

 Statement of Daniel N. Wenk, Deputy Director, National Park Service, 
                       Department of the Interior

    Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, thank you for 
the opportunity to appear before you today to present the 
Department of the Interior's views on S. 189, a bill to remove 
the restriction on land acquisition, to decrease the matching 
funds requirement and to authorize additional appropriations 
for Keweenaw National Historical Park in the State of Michigan.
    The Department supports enactment of this legislation with 
one amendment described later in this statement.
    S. 189 would amend P.L. 102-543 to remove the restriction 
on acquiring contaminated property and decrease the ratio for 
matching fund requirements. It also would increase the 
appropriation ceilings for development and for financial and 
technical assistance to owners of non-Federal property, and 
increase the ceiling for the operations of the Keweenaw 
National Historical Park Advisory Commission. These changes 
would enable Keweenaw National Historical Park to acquire land 
in a manner consistent with other national park units, to 
better preserve nationally significant resources inside as well 
as related resources outside of park boundaries, and to better 
implement the operation of the park's Advisory Commission as 
envisioned for this ground-breaking partnership park.
    The Keweenaw National Historical Park was authorized by 
Congress in 1992 through Public Law 102-543 to preserve a 
portion of the Keweenaw Peninsula in the State of Michigan 
where the prehistoric, aboriginal mining of copper occurred. 
Artifacts made from this copper were traded as far south as 
Alabama.
    The ensuing copper mining industry ``pioneered deep shaft, 
hard rock mining, milling, and smelting techniques and 
advancements in related mining technologies later used 
throughout the world.'' The picture of copper mining is best 
represented in the Village of Calumet, the former Calumet and 
Hecla Mining Company properties, and the former Quincy Mining 
Company properties. The Calumet National Historic Landmark 
District and the Quincy Mining Company National Historic 
Landmark District comprise the vast majority of the land within 
park boundaries. However, other resources outside the park 
boundary significantly contribute to ``interpret[ing] the 
historic synergism between the geological, aboriginal, 
sociological, cultural, technological, and corporate forces 
that relate the story of copper on the Keweenaw Peninsula.''
    The park has been unable to acquire key historic sites 
within the park boundaries because of the park-specific 
restriction in Section 4(d) of Public Law 102-543 on acquiring 
contaminated property. For example, the park was unable to 
pursue acquisition of the ``Coppertown'' site, which includes 
the historic Calument & Hecla (C&H) Pattern Shop, the C&H 
Pattern Storage Warehouse, and the associated lands 
contributing to the cultural landscape of Calumet's core 
industrial area, due to contamination revealed in environmental 
site assessments. This acquisition restriction stopped the 
National Park Service (NPS) from further action on these 
important sites despite the limited extent of contaminants at 
this property and the desire of the park's Advisory Commission 
and the local community to consider their acquisition.
    Existing Department of the Interior policies and procedures 
require a thorough environmental assessment and review prior to 
acquisition of real property, with an additional review and 
professional assessment of those areas found to possess 
contamination issues. Those areas are then subjected to a 
graduated approval process, beginning at the Regional Director 
level, going through the NPS Director, and on up to the 
Secretary of the Interior, depending on the projected costs of 
remediation.
    The park-specific ban from NPS ownership of contaminated 
property applies even when mitigation has been undertaken to 
meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Michigan 
Department of Environmental Quality requirements. This ban also 
prevents the park from considering alternatives such as 
acquiring preservation easements. The current restriction would 
prohibit acquisition even after a common remediation action 
such as capping contaminated soils is completed since the site 
would still contain contaminants. S. 189 would strike Section 
4(d) of Public Law 102-543, allowing the NPS to acquire or to 
enter into partnerships for the acquisition of at-risk sites 
and other historic properties within the park boundaries while 
still requiring the areas to be subject to existing Servicewide 
safeguards. Those safeguards include a requirement in the 
National Park Service acquisition regulations that a 
contaminants study be prepared before the acquisition of park 
lands. In addition, the NPS will consider requiring 
indemnification agreements from current owners before 
acquisition of previously contaminated lands for this unit.
    The Keweenaw region was built by and subsisted entirely on 
the wealth generated by the copper industry for more than 100 
years. When the industry collapsed, the companies departed, 
leaving the Copper Country economically depressed. Community 
expectations of the establishment of a national park on the 
Keweenaw Peninsula included the development of heritage tourism 
to assist in economic recovery. In the fifteen years since the 
inception of the park, even though the park was given authority 
to provide financial assistance to owners of property 
containing nationally significant resources to foster historic 
preservation and visitor services development, there has rarely 
been an opportunity for the park to provide assistance due to 
the uncommonly high 4-to-1 match requirement. Depressed 
communities are hard pressed to provide four-fifths of the cost 
of preservation projects. The park's ability to foster a 
preservation ethic of nationally significant resources through 
partnerships rather than ownership and improve visitor services 
goals would be significantly enhanced by a decrease in the 
match requirement for financial and technical assistance to the 
more common 1-to-1 ratio. The increased ability to effect 
bricks-and-mortar preservation projects will, in turn, benefit 
the economic health of these communities. S. 189 would change 
the ratio from 4-to-1 to 1-to-1, providing a greater 
opportunity for the park to work with partners and to support 
the preservation and interpretation of the rapidly 
deteriorating resources of the park.
    S. 189 also would raise the appropriations authorization 
ceiling for development from $25 million to $50 million. Since 
2000, approximately $6 million has been spent on park-owned 
facilities for administrative use, and it is anticipated that 
another $7.5 million will be spent for both administrative and 
visitor use over the next three years. The park's General 
Management Plan (GMP) called for the early development of 
partnerships and assistance programs, followed by park-owned 
visitor facilities. The park is now poised to enter into this 
facility development phase as prescribed. While the park does 
not know the total amount that would be spent on implementing 
this phase of the GMP, having an increased ceiling would allow 
the park to proceed with the plan and not be hindered by 
reaching a specific ceiling in the midst of planned activities.
    Additionally, S. 189 would authorize Congress to 
appropriate up to $250,000 annually to meet the needs of the 
Keweenaw National Historical Park Advisory Commission and would 
eliminate a required match of funds by the Commission. The 
Commission was authorized in 1992 to interface with the park's 
external partners and owners of historic properties and raise 
funds for park purposes. It has also been charged in part, to 
``carry out historical, educational, or cultural programs which 
encourage or enhance appreciation of the historic resources in 
the park, surrounding areas, and on the Keweenaw Peninsula.'' 
Although the Commission has put forth valiant efforts to meet 
its charge, it will be unable to effectively fulfill its 
mandates without recurring base funding. The present limit of 
$100,000 on appropriations for the Commission would fund only 
the most minimal staff, or allow the Commission to only 
minimally reimburse the NPS for NPS-supplied-staff as required 
in the enabling legislation. This increase in the authorization 
ceiling and the elimination of matching requirements would 
allow for the sustained and viable operation of the Commission. 
With sustained operations, the Commission would be able to 
raise funds for park purposes, including financial and 
technical assistance to partner sites, and to fulfill its 
charge to carry out historical, educational, or cultural 
programs.
    Finally, we recommend striking a provision in S. 189 
concerning the ceiling on technical and financial assistance. 
The park has provided financial and technical assistance to 
owners of historic properties nearly entirely out of park 
operating funds. It is a primary function of this partnership 
park. It is expected that such assistance will continue through 
the use of discretionary park funds rather than specific 
appropriations for such purposes. Therefore, we recommend 
striking the language from the bill that seeks to increase the 
ceiling on financial and technical assistance from $3 million 
to $25 million and inserting language that eliminates this 
ceiling. This will result in the law not identifying a specific 
amount for the park to provide for such purposes and in having 
the park continue to fund this assistance through the park's 
base budget rather than providing a separate authorization for 
it. We have attached the proposed amendment to the testimony.
    If enacted, the amendments in S. 189 would significantly 
enhance park development and operations by eliminating overly 
restrictive property acquisition criteria, by reducing 
unrealistic matching fund requirements, by increasing 
appropriation ceilings to levels that would support the 
mandates and purposes of the park, and by fulfilling the 
partnership provisions that are unique to this park unit.
    Mr. Chairman, this concludes my testimony. I would be glad 
to answer any questions that you or other members of the 
subcommittee may have.

                     SUGGESTED AMENDMENT TO S. 189

    On page 2, line 10 strike subparagraph (B) in its entirety 
and insert a new subparagraph (B):
                  ``(B) by striking `, and $3,000,000 for 
                financial and technical assistance to owners of 
                non-Federal property as provided in section 
                8'.''

                        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 S. 189 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 102-543


  AN ACT To establish the Keweenaw National Historical Park, and for 
        other purposes. (Approved Oct. 27, 1992; 106 Stat. 3569)

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

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 4. ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


    [(d) Hazardous Substances.--The Secretary shall not acquire 
any lands pursuant to this Act if the Secretary determines that 
such lands, or any portion thereof, have become contaminated 
with hazardous substances (as defined in the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (42 
U.S.C. 9601)).]

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 8. FINANCIAL AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


    (b) Matching Funds.--Funds authorized to be appropriated to 
the Secretary for the purposes of this section shall be 
expended in the ratio of $1 of Federal funds for each [$4] $1 
of funds contributed by non-Federal sources. For the purposes 
of this subsection, the Secretary is authorized to accept from 
non-Federal sources, and to utilize for purposes of this Act, 
any money so contributed. Donations of land, or interests in 
land, by the State of Michigan may be considered as a 
contribution from non-Federal sources for the purposes of this 
subsection.

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *


SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), there are 
authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to 
carry out this Act, but not to exceed $ 5,000,000 for the 
acquisition of lands and interests therein, [$25,000,000] 
$50,000,000 for development, and [$3,000,000] $25,000,000 for 
financial and technical assistance to owners of non-Federal 
property as provided in section 8.
    (b) There are authorized to be appropriated annually to the 
Commission to carry out its duties under this Act, [$100,000 
except that the Federal contribution to the Commission shall 
not exceed 50 percent of the annual costs to the Commission in 
carrying out those duties.] $250,000.

                                  
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