[Senate Report 111-269]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                       Calendar No. 539
111th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     111-269

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        PRESERVATION OF ORANGE COUNTY'S ROCKS AND SMALL ISLANDS

                                _______
                                

                 August 5, 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 H.R. 86]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the Act (H.R. 86) to eliminate an unused lighthouse 
reservation, provide management consistency by incorporating 
the rocks and small islands along the coast of Orange County, 
California, into the California Coastal National Monument 
managed by the Bureau of Land Management, and meet the original 
Congressional intent of preserving Orange County's rocks and 
small islands, and for other purposes, having considered the 
same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and 
recommends that the Act do pass.

                                Purpose

    The purpose of H.R. 86 is to incorporate several rocks and 
small islands along the coast of Orange County, California, 
into the California Coastal National Monument.

                          Background and Need

    The California Coastal National Monument was established in 
2000 to protect the rocks, small islands, and other geologic 
formations along the entire 1,100 miles of the California 
shoreline. It is managed by the Bureau of Land Management. As 
well as possessing scenic qualities and natural beauty, the 
Monument's rocks and small islands provide important habitat 
for seabirds, marine mammals, and other plant and animal life.
    During the planning process for the monument, it was 
discovered that a small number of geologic formations located 
off the coastline of Orange County in the Laguna Beach area, 
totaling approximately two acres, were not included within the 
Monument as they were covered by legislative withdrawals made 
in the 1930s. The withdrawals were intended to protect the 
area's scenic qualities and reserve three specific offshore 
rock clusters for the possibility of future lighthouses. The 
lighthouses were never built and the Coast Guard no longer 
needs the reservation.
    The Laguna Beach community wishes to include the Orange 
County coastal formations within the California Coastal 
National Monument, in part because it has a strong interest in 
developing a community initiative for the Orange County coastal 
area.
    Legislation to include these rocks and islands within the 
Monument is needed to ensure that the features remain protected 
and to allow the Bureau of Land Management to work with the 
community and local groups to provide responsible stewardship 
of this area.

                          Legislative History

    H.R. 86, sponsored by Representative Campbell, passed the 
House of Representatives by a vote of 397-4 on December 9, 
2009.
    The Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests held a hearing 
on H.R. 86 on April 28, 2010. The Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources considered the bill at its business meeting 
on June 16, 2010, and ordered H.R. 86 favorably reported 
without amendment at its business meeting on June 21, 2010.

                        Committee Recommendation

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open 
business session on June 21, 2010, by a voice vote of a quorum 
present, recommends that the Senate pass H.R. 86.

                      Section-by-Section Analysis

    Section 1(a) amends the Act of February 18, 1931, placing 
the geologic features located off the seacoast of Orange County 
within the California Coastal National Monument.
    Subsection (b) repeals a portion of a 1935 law reserving 
the sites for future lighthouse construction, which are no 
longer needed.

                   Cost and Budgetary Considerations

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

H.R. 86--An act to eliminate an unused lighthouse reservation, provide 
        management consistency by incorporating the rocks and small 
        islands along the coast of Orange County, California, into the 
        California Coastal National Monument managed by the Bureau of 
        Land Management, and meet the original congressional intent of 
        preserving Orange County's rocks and small islands

    H.R. 86 would add certain islands and large rocks located 
off the coast of California to the California Coastal National 
Monument, which was created in 2000. The act also would repeal 
statutes enacted in the 1930s that reserved two of the rocks 
for lighthouses that were never constructed.
    Based on information provided by the Bureau of Land 
Management, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 86 would have 
no significant effect on the federal budget. The affected 
properties are already administered by the federal government, 
and their inclusion in the national monument would not require 
the purchase or development of any land. Enacting H.R. 86 would 
not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-
go procedures would not apply.
    The act 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.
    On November 5, 2009, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for 
H.R. 86 as ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural 
Resources on October 28, 2009. The two versions of the 
legislation are nearly identical, and the CBO cost estimates 
are the same.
    The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Alan Eder and 
Deborah Reis. The estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, 
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

                      Regulatory Impact Evalution

    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. 86.
    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. 86, as ordered reported.

                   Congressionally Directed Spending

    H.R. 86, as ordered 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 testimony provided by the Bureau of Land Management at 
the April 28, 2010 Subcommittee hearing on H.R. 86 follows:

   Statement of Marcilynn A. Burke, Deputy Director, Bureau of Land 
                 Management, Department of the Interior

    Thank you for inviting the Department of the Interior to 
testify on H.R. 86, which would add certain rocks and small 
islands along the coast of Orange County, California, to the 
California Coastal National Monument managed by the Bureau of 
Land Management (BLM). The BLM supports H.R. 86.


                               background


    The California Coastal National Monument, part of the BLM's 
National Landscape Conservation System, was established by a 
Presidential Proclamation by President Clinton on January 11, 
2000, to protect: ``all unappropriated or unreserved lands and 
interest in lands owned or controlled by the United States in 
the form of islands, rocks, exposed reefs, and pinnacles . . . 
within 12 nautical miles of the shoreline of the State of 
California.''
    Covering more than 20,000 rocks and small islands spread 
along 1,100 miles of the California coastline, the Presidential 
Proclamation protects the Monument's overwhelming scenic 
quality and natural beauty. The Proclamation specifically calls 
for the protection of the geologic formations and the habitat 
that these rocks and small islands provide for seabirds, marine 
mammals, and other plant and animal life, both terrestrial and 
marine.
    Some particularly significant public rocks and islands off 
the coast of Orange County in the Laguna Beach area provide 
important habitat for a wide variety of upper rocky intertidal 
species, as well as various shorebird species. Additionally, 
four rock locations--Bird Rock and Two Rocks off the City of 
Laguna Beach, San Juan Rocks off the City of Dana Point, and 
San Marcos Rocks off the southern portion of the City of San 
Clemente--provide important roosting habitat for seabirds 
(including cormorants and the Federally-listed brown pelican) 
and haul-out areas for seals and sea lions.
    In the process of working with local communities on 
planning for the California Coastal National Monument, the BLM 
discovered that the rock features off the coastline of Orange 
County were under Congressional withdrawals dating from the 
1930s and, therefore, were not included within the Monument. 
These withdrawals include more than 40 offshore rocks, small 
islands, exposed reefs, and pinnacles located within one mile 
of the coast of Orange County, California, totaling 
approximately two acres above mean high tide. More than 70 
years old, the withdrawals were originally intended to 
temporarily reserve the Orange County offshore rocks and small 
islands for ``park, scenic, or other public purposes'' (1931 
Act), and reserve three specific offshore rock clusters for the 
possibility of future lighthouses (1935 Act), which were never 
built. These withdrawals were ultimately never utilized and are 
no longer needed.
    The Laguna Ocean Foundation has led a community-wide effort 
to include these significant areas within the California 
Coastal National Monument. The Foundation has worked with the 
City of Laguna Beach and other local groups, including the 
Audubon Society and the Surfrider Foundation, on a variety of 
city and area-wide coastal protection and monitoring projects, 
which resulted in H.R. 86.


                                h.r. 86


    H.R. 86 would eliminate the existing withdrawals on these 
public lands off the coast of Orange County and place these 
features within the existing California Coastal National 
Monument. The BLM supports the revocation of the old 
withdrawals and the inclusion of these rocks, islands, and 
exposed reefs within the Monument.
    The BLM has been working with partners along the 1,100-mile 
California coast to create a series of California Coastal 
National Monument Gateway community initiatives. These Gateway 
initiatives are a means to support organized local stewardship 
of various California coastal areas through the development of 
a consortium of the area's resource managers and advocates. The 
Laguna Beach community has expressed strong interest in 
developing a California Coastal National Monument Gateway 
initiative for the Orange County coastal area. Inclusion of 
these rocks and islands within the Monument will allow the BLM 
to work with the community to provide responsible, long-term 
stewardship of these valuable areas.


                               conclusion


    Thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of H.R. 
86. We look forward to passage of this legislation which would 
place these significant features off the coast of Orange County 
within the California Coastal National Monument, thus ensuring 
their long-term protection and preservation, and paving the way 
for an important local community stewardship initiative.

                        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 Act H.R. 3804 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):

The Act of February 18, 1931 (Chapter 226; 46 Stat. 1172)

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                              [CHAP. 226]

  AN ACT To reserve for public use rocks, pinnacles, reefs, and small 
        islands along the seacoast of Orange County, California

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all 
rocks, pinnacles, reefs, and islands having an area, at 
ordinary high tide, of less than two acres, and located in the 
Pacific Ocean within one mile of the coast of Orange County, 
California, be, and the same are hereby, [temporarily reserved, 
pending enactment of appropriate legislation by the Congress of 
the United States] part of the California Coastal National 
Monument and shall be administered as such, in the interest of 
preserving the same for park, scenic, or other public purposes, 
and no patent shall issue for any of said rocks, pinnacles, 
reefs, or islands under any law relating to the public lands 
after the passage of this Act.

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          The Act of May 28, 1935 (Chapter 155; 49 Stat. 305)


                              CHAPTER 155

  AN ACT To authorize the Secretary of Commerce to dispose of certain 
lighthouse reservations, and for other purposes

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    [Sec. 31. That the Act of February 18, 1931 (46 Stat. 
1172), entitled ``An Act to reserve for public use rocks, 
pinnacles, reefs, and small islands along the sea coast of 
Orange County, California'', is hereby amended to reserve for 
lighthouse purposes the San Juan and San Mateo Rocks and the 
two rocks in the vicinity of Laguna Beach, off the coast of 
Orange County, California.]

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