[Senate Report 110-378]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                                       Calendar No. 810
110th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     110-378

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             DOUGLAS COUNTY, WASHINGTON, PUD CONVEYANCE ACT

                                _______
                                

                 June 16, 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 H.R. 523]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the Act (H.R. 523) to require the Secretary of the 
Interior to convey certain public land located wholly or 
partially within the boundaries of the Wells Hydroelectric 
Project of Public Utility District No. 1 of Douglas County, 
Washington, to the utility district, having considered the 
same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and 
recommends that the Act do pass.

                                PURPOSE

    The purpose of H.R. 523 is to require the Secretary of the 
Interior to convey certain public land within the boundaries of 
the Wells Hydroelectric Project of Public Utility District No. 
1 of Douglas County, Washington, to the utility district.

                          BACKGROUND AND NEED

    The Wells Hydroelectric Project, operated by Public Utility 
District (PUD) #1 of Douglas County, Washington, provides 
electricity to approximately 17,000 customers in Washington 
State. The central feature of the project is a dam on the 
Columbia River.
    The PUD is in the early stages of the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission (FERC) hydroelectric dam relicensing 
process. The project was first licensed for 50 years in 1962. 
That license expires May 31, 2012 and an application for 
relicensing must be submitted by 2010. According to the PUD, 
consolidation of ownership of several federal parcels located 
within the project's boundaries would assist in the 
relicensing.
    H.R. 523 directs the Secretary of the Interior to convey, 
for fair market value, approximately 622 acres of federal land 
to the PUD. The bill requires the PUD to pay for any 
administrative costs of the conveyance.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    H.R. 523, sponsored by Rep. Hastings, passed the House on 
October 22, 2007 by a vote of 377-0. The Subcommittee on Public 
Lands and Forests held a hearing on H.R. 523 on February 27, 
2008. The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources ordered the 
bill favorably reported on May 7, 2008.

                        COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open 
business session on May 7, 2008, by a voice vote of a quorum 
present, recommends that the Senate pass H.R. 523.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

    Section 1 contains the short title.
    Section 2 defines several key terms used in the 
legislation.
    Section 3(a) requires the Secretary of the Interior to 
convey all right, title, and interest of the United States in 
the land identified in the bill to the PUD. This section states 
that the PUD has 45 days after completion of an appraisal to 
make an offer to purchase the land. The Secretary is then 
required to make the conveyance within 30 days of receiving the 
offer.
    Subsection (b) requires the Secretary, not later than 60 
days after the date of enactment of this Act, to complete an 
appraisal of the public land. This subsection states that the 
appraisal must be conducted in accordance with the ``Uniform 
Appraisal Standards for Federal Land Acquisitions'' and the 
``Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice.''
    Subsection (c) requires the PUD to pay the Secretary an 
amount equal to the appraised value of the public land as 
determined under subsection (b).
    Subsection (d) requires the Secretary to finalize legal 
descriptions of the public land to be conveyed. This subsection 
also states that the map and legal descriptions shall be on 
file and available for public inspection in appropriate offices 
of the Bureau of Land Management.
    Subsection (e) requires that the PUD pay any costs related 
to the conveyance.
    Subsection (f) requires the Secretary to deposit the 
proceeds from the sale in the Federal Land Disposal account.
    Section 4(a) withdraws, subject to valid existing rights, 
the public land from all forms of entry, appropriation, or 
disposal under the public land laws; location, entry, and 
patenting under the mining laws; and operation of the mineral 
leasing, mineral materials, and geothermal leasing laws.
    Subsection (b) states that this section expires two years 
after the date of enactment of this Act or on the date of the 
completion of the conveyance under section 3, whichever is 
earlier.
    Section 5 states that the Secretary shall retain the 
authority to place conditions on the license to insure adequate 
protection and utilization of the public land granted to the 
Secretary in section 4(e) of the Federal Power Act until the 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued a new license 
for the Wells Hydroelectric Project.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

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

H.R. 523--Douglas County, Washington, PUD Conveyance Act

    H.R. 523 would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to 
convey, at fair market value, 622 acres of federal land to the 
Douglas County Public Utility District No. 1 (PUD). Any 
administrative costs of the conveyance would be borne by the 
PUD. CBO estimates that any net budgetary impact from enacting 
this legislation would be negligible.
    Four percent of the proceeds of the conveyance, classified 
as offsetting receipts, would be transferred to the state of 
Washington for education expenses or to build public 
infrastructure. The remaining receipts would be deposited into 
the Federal Land Deposit Account, which was created by the 
Federal and Transaction Facilities Act. Those receipts would be 
available, without further appropriation, to the Secretary of 
the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture to purchase land 
inholdings (parcels of land that are entirely surrounded by 
federally owned land).
    The sale of Federal land could result in forgone offsetting 
receipts if, under current law, those lands would generate 
income from activities such as mineral leasing and mining. 
According to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), that land 
currently generates no significant receipts and BLM does not 
anticipate any receipts from it over the next 10 years.
    H.R. 523 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. 
Enacting this act would benefit the PUD, and any costs that it 
might incur in association with the conveyance of land would be 
incurred voluntarily.
    On October 18, 2007, CBO published a cost estimate for H.R. 
523, the Douglas County, Washington, PUD Conveyance Act, as 
ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on 
October 10, 2007. The versions of the legislation are 
identical, as are the estimated costs.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Ted Kruzich. 
This estimate was approved 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 H.R. 523. The Act 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 H.R. 523, as ordered reported.

                   CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

    H.R. 523, as reported, does not contain any congressionally 
directed spending items, limited tax benefits, or limited 
tariff benefits as defined in rule XLIV of the Standing Rules 
of the Senate.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

    The views of the Administration were included in testimony 
received by the Committee at a hearing on H.R. 523 on February 
27, 2008.

 Statement of Luke Johnson, Deputy Director, Bureau of Land Management

    Thank you for the opportunity to testify on H.R. 523. This 
legislation directs the Secretary of the Interior to convey 
certain public lands located wholly or partially within the 
boundaries of the Wells Dam Hydroelectric Project [Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission Project No. 2149-19795] (Project) 
to Public Utility District No. 1 of Douglas County, WA (PUD). 
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) supports this conveyance. 
During consideration of H.R. 523 by the House Committee on 
Natural Resources in the 1st session of this Congress, the BLM 
raised several concerns. These were resolved to our 
satisfaction in the legislation passed by the House of 
Representatives on October 22, 2007, and referred to the 
Senate. The BLM therefore supports H.R. 523.
    Since 1998, the PUD has expressed a strong desire to 
purchase all BLM-managed public lands within the Project 
boundaries. Some of the public lands the PUD wishes to acquire 
are located within the boundaries of the Project. These were 
reserved for power site purposes by order of the Federal Power 
Commission (FPC Order dated July 12, 1962, for Power Project 
No. 2149). Also, the PUD has requested some public lands that 
lie outside (but contiguous to) the designated project 
boundary. The PUD's 50-year license for the project expires on 
May 31, 2012. Its application for relicensing must be filed 
with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by 2010. 
The BLM, with management responsibilities for land located 
within Project boundaries, is in the initial stages of 
preparing to participate in the section 4(e) [Federal Power 
Act, 16 U.S.C. 797(e)] relicensing process.
    In testimony on H.R. 523 before the House Natural Resources 
Subcommittee on National Parks, Public Lands, and Forests (May 
10, 2007), the BLM raised two concerns. The Subcommittee 
subsequently adopted an amendment in the nature of a substitute 
that addressed our concerns, as follows:
     Resource safeguards. BLM had encouraged the 
sponsor and the Subcommittee to provide safeguards to protect 
the known resource values on these lands, which include Bald 
Eagle roosts and approximately two miles of Columbia River 
shoreline currently open to the public. The amendment adopted 
by the Subcommittee assures this protection will be provided 
through the relicensing process. The amendment added a new 
``Retained Authority'' provision under which the Secretary of 
the Interior's role and participation in the relicensing action 
for the PUD is preserved even though the Federal government 
would no longer own land within the Project boundary. The BLM 
does not object to Section 5; as noted previously, we are 
already in the initial stages of preparing for the relicensing 
process and will fulfill that obligation.
     Disposition of Funds. BLM recommended that Section 
3(f) of the legislation be amended to direct that the proceeds 
from the sales be deposited in the ``Federal Land Disposal 
Account'' established by P.L. 106-248, the Federal Land 
Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA). This recommendation was 
adopted.
    Thank you for the opportunity to testify. I will be glad to 
answer questions.

                        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 Act, H.R. 523, as 
ordered reported.

                                  
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