[Senate Report 111-138]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 288
111th Congress Report
SENATE
2d Session 111-138
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WALLOWA FOREST SERVICE COMPOUND CONVEYANCE ACT
_______
March 2, 2010.--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. 1139]
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was
referred the bill (S. 1139) to require the Secretary of
Agriculture to enter into a property conveyance with the city
of Wallowa, Oregon, and for other purposes, having considered
the same, reports favorably thereon with an amendment and
recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass.
The amendment is as follows:
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the
following:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Wallowa Forest Service Compound
Conveyance Act''.
SEC. 2. CONVEYANCE TO CITY OF WALLOWA, OREGON.
(a) Definitions.--In this Act:
(1) City.--The term ``City'' means the city of Wallowa,
Oregon.
(2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of
Agriculture.
(3) Wallowa forest service compound.--The term ``Wallowa
Forest Service Compound'' means the approximately 1.11 acres of
National Forest System land that--
(A) was donated by the City to the Forest Service on
March 18, 1936; and
(B) is located at 602 First Street, Wallowa, Oregon.
(b) Conveyance.--On the request of the City submitted to the
Secretary by the date that is not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this Act and subject to the provisions of this Act, the
Secretary shall convey to the City all right, title, and interest of
the United States in and to the Wallowa Forest Service Compound.
(c) Conditions.--The conveyance under subsection (b) shall be--
(1) by quitclaim deed;
(2) for no consideration; and
(3) subject to--
(A) valid existing rights; and
(B) such terms and conditions as the Secretary may
require.
(d) Use of Wallowa Forest Service Compound.--As a condition of the
conveyance under subsection (b), the City shall--
(1) use the Wallowa Forest Service Compound as a historical
and cultural interpretation and education center;
(2) ensure that the Wallowa Forest Service Compound is
managed by a nonprofit entity; and
(3) agree to manage the Wallowa Forest Service Compound with
due consideration and protection for the historic values of the
Wallowa Forest Service Compound.
(e) Reversion.--In the quitclaim deed to the City, the Secretary
shall provide that the Wallowa Forest Service Compound shall revert to
the Secretary, at the election of the Secretary, if any of the
conditions under subsection (c) or (d) are violated.
PURPOSE
The purpose of S. 1139 is to provide for the conveyance of
a Forest Service administrative site to the city of Wallowa,
Oregon.
BACKGROUND AND NEED
In 1936, the city of Wallowa donated to the Forest Service
approximately one acre of land in downtown Wallowa where the
Forest Service sought to construct a ranger station and
associated buildings. The Civilian Conservation Corps
subsequently built a ranger station, bunkhouse, warehouse,
storage building, and gas house on the site. The Wallowa Ranger
Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
on October 28, 2009.
The site was used for many decades by the Forest Service,
but now sits vacant and has accumulated hundreds of thousands
of dollars in deferred maintenance needs. The Forest Service
recently identified the property for sale under the Forest
Service Facility Realignment and Enhancement Act, which
requires fair market value for any conveyance.
The Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center has proposed
using the compound for local historical and cultural
preservation, interpretation, and education. The Center is a
nonprofit organization whose mission is to collect, preserve,
and interpret the rich early 1900's history of the
multicultural railroad logging community of Maxville, Oregon,
and similar communities in the Pacific Northwest. However, the
Forest Service needs legislative authorization to convey the
property for anything less than its fair market value.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
S. 1139 was introduced by Senator Wyden on May 21, 2009.
The Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests held a hearing on
the bill on June 17, 2009 (S. Hrg. 111-65). At its business
meeting on December 16, 2009, the Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources ordered S. 1139 favorably reported with an
amendment in the nature of a substitute.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open
business session on December 16, 2009, by a voice vote of a
quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 1139, if
amended as described herein.
COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
During its consideration of S. 1139, the Committee adopted
an amendment in the nature of a substitute. The amendment
includes a number of technical changes and new provisions
subjecting the conveyance to various conditions. The amendment
is explained in detail in the section-by-section analysis,
below.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1 provides the short title for the bill.
Section 2(a) provides the definitions for the bill.
Subsection (b) directs the Forest Service to convey the Wallowa
Forest Service Compound to the city of Wallowa, if the city
requests the conveyance within 1 year after the date of
enactment of the bill. Subsection (c) requires the conveyance
to be made by quitclaim deed for no consideration and subject
to valid existing rights and such terms and conditions as the
Secretary may require. Subsection (d) includes a number of
conditions for the use of the compound by the city, and
subsection (e) provides the Secretary with discretion to
exercise a reversionary interest if the conditions in
subsections (c) and (d) are not followed.
COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS
The following estimate of costs of this measure has been
provided by the Congressional Budget Office:
S. 1139--Wallowa Forest Service Compound Conveyance Act
S. 1139 would direct the Forest Service to convey, without
consideration, about 1 acre of land in Oregon to the city of
Wallowa. Based on information provided by the Forest Service,
CBO estimates that implementing the bill would have no net
effect on the federal budget. Because the affected land (and
related structures) would probably have been sold under
existing authority, enacting the bill would reduce offsetting
receipts, but the loss in receipts would be offset by lower
direct spending of a similar amount. (CBO estimates that the
value of the land would be less than $500,000.) Enacting the
bill would not affect revenues.
The bill 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.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Deborah Reis.
The 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 S. 1139.
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. 1139, as ordered reported.
CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING
S. 1139, 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 S. 1139 on June 17,
2009, which is provided below.
Statement of Joel Holtrop, Deputy Chief, National Forest System, Forest
Service, Department of Agriculture
Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for
the opportunity to appear before you today to provide the
Department of Agriculture's views on two bills that would
legislate land transactions: S.409, would provide for an
exchange of federal land containing a proposed copper mine for
non-federal land containing riparian areas in Arizona and
S.1139, would convey an administrative site in Wallowa, Oregon.
We defer to the Department of the Interior on provisions
relating to lands to be managed by the BLM.
s. 409--resolution copper exchange
S. 409 is a complex bill that directs the Secretary of
Agriculture to convey to Resolution Copper Mining, LLC
(Resolution Copper), lands on the Tonto National Forest if
certain conditions are met. The federal lands to be exchanged
may contain a sizeable copper ore body and are adjoining an
existing copper mine. In exchange the bill provides the Forest
Service certain lands in the state of Arizona. The Department
has not completed its analysis of this complex bill and the
Administration will provide its views and concerns to the
Committee upon completion of this work. Nevertheless, there are
still a number of preliminary concerns with the bill as
introduced.
The bill requires the agency to conduct an environmental
impact statement after the agency no longer owns the property
on which the mine would be located. The purpose of the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is to inform the decision maker
about potential impacts prior to making a decision. Given the
current language, we would assume that we would only be
analyzing impacts from mining activities on the surrounding
National Forest land, not the land to be conveyed. Consistent
with Administration policy, NEPA should be done before moving
forward on the land exchange.
The bill proposes to use any cash equalization payment for
multiple purposes including management. Any equalization
payment by the exchange proponent should be deposited into the
Federal Land Disposal Account.
The bill proposes that Resolution Copper replace the Oak
Flat Campground. We have been unable to locate a suitable
replacement site for a campground in the vicinity. Funding
provided in the bill to replace the campground provided to the
Tonto National Forest should instead address deferred
maintenance needs of existing recreation facilities.
The bill directs Resolution Copper to convey a parcel of
land known as ``the Pond parcel.'' We are concerned about
recreation related liability issues, access, and facilities
needed to manage this parcel. A public interest determination
analysis under NEPA should be required and provide the basis
for determining whether to proceed with the conveyance.
We understand there are concerns about management of the
Apache Leap area and in addition, the acreage that would be
added to this area. We are concerned about adding another
planning process as prescribed in the bill because it is
duplicative of an ongoing Tonto National Forest Planning
process which can analyze and provide for, if necessary and
appropriate, a special management area.
Many of the lands to be exchanged in the bill hold
significant cultural value to Indian Tribes. In particular, the
Apache Leap area, the Oak Flat Campground, and Devil's Canyon
are culturally significant to the San Carlos Apache Tribe and
the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. There are also other
neighboring Tribes with cultural interests in the area. We will
continue to work with these Tribes as we move forward with the
analysis.
The bill states that Resolution Copper will surrender the
right to commercially extract minerals under Apache Leap ``or''
the Pond parcel but not both. This language should be clarified
by changing the word ``or'' to ``and.''
The bill would provide that it is the sense of Congress
that the exchange to be completed in one year. We appreciate
the sponsors' interest in expediting this project. However, if
an environmental impact statement is required on the mining
operation on the parcel to be conveyed, prior to conveyance, we
will most likely exceed this time frame. We anticipate that
there will be considerable concern with any decision and there
is a likelihood of administrative appeal and litigation.
s. 1139--wallowa conveyance
S. 1139 would require the Secretary of Agriculture to enter
into a property conveyance with the City of Wallowa, Oregon to
convey without consideration the Wallowa Ranger Station located
at 602 West First Street, Wallowa, Oregon. The Department
appreciates the Committee's efforts to assist the City of
Wallowa, Oregon with historic, cultural and economic
development. However, we have significant concerns with
conveyance of the Compound without compensation to the taxpayer
and would ask the committee defer consideration of this
conveyance at this time.
The Forest Service has identified the Wallowa Forest
Service Compound as a site that should be sold under the Forest
Service Facility Realignment and Enhancement Act (FSFREA),
allowing the proceeds from the sale to be used to address other
administrative site needs. Therefore, conveyance without
consideration would remove the proceeds from the sale. In
addition, the Forest Service has expended funds to repair and
improve the Compound, as required by the FSFREA. The Forest
Service desires to re-invest proceeds from the sale in other
deteriorating infrastructure on the forest as provided for in
the Act.
In addition, S. 1139 includes a requirement for reversion
to the Secretary if the facility is used for other purposes or
managed by the City of Wallowa in a manner that is inconsistent
with an interpretative center or non-profit status. Further,
this bill would set a precedent for conveyance of similar
properties across the nation contrary to the intent of the
Facilities Realignment and Enhancement Act. Finally we would
request that the subcommittee defer consideration of this bill
while we continue to explore options with the City of Wallowa,
in an attempt to address their interests.
This concludes my statement and I would be happy to answer
any questions you may have.
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. 1139, as
ordered reported.