[House Report 115-768]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


115th Congress    }                                     {      Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session       }                                     {     115-768

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



 
                LAKE BISTINEAU LAND TITLE STABILITY ACT

                                _______
                                

 June 20, 2018.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

Mr. Bishop of Utah, from the Committee on Natural Resources, submitted 
                             the following

                              R E P O R T

                             together with

                            ADDITIONAL VIEWS

                        [To accompany H.R. 3392]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred 
the bill (H.R. 3392) to provide for stability of title to 
certain land in the State of Louisiana, and for other purposes, 
having considered the same, report favorably thereon with an 
amendment and recommend 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 ``Lake Bistineau Land Title Stability 
Act''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

  The purpose of this Act is to direct the Secretary of the Interior to 
issue a recordable disclaimer of interest of the United States in and 
to--
          (1) any land described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of 
        subsection (a) of section 4 that is located outside the record 
        meander lines of the Original Survey described in that 
        subsection; and
          (2) any omitted land.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

  In this Act:
          (1) Omitted land.--The term ``omitted land'' means any land 
        in S30-T16N-R10W, including adjacent islands and the meander 
        lines of the water body, that was in place during the Original 
        Survey, but that was not included in the Original Survey, 
        regardless of whether the exclusion of the land was due to 
        gross error in the Original Survey or fraud by any individual 
        conducting the Original Survey.
          (2) Original survey.--The term ``Original Survey'' means the 
        survey of land in northern Louisiana approved by the Surveyor 
        General on December 8, 1842.
          (3) Resurvey.--The term ``Resurvey'' means the document 
        entitled ``Dependent Re-Survey, Extension Survey and Survey of 
        Two Islands, Sections 17, 29, and 30'', which was completed on 
        November 24, 1967, approved on January 15, 1969, and published 
        in the Federal Register on February 27, 1969 (34 Fed. Reg. 
        2677).
          (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
        the Interior.

SEC. 4. MEANDER LINES; RECORDABLE DISCLAIMER OF INTEREST.

  (a) Meander Lines.--The meander lines in the Original Survey are 
definitive for purposes of determining title to--
          (1) the land in S30-T16N-R10W; and
          (2) the 2 islands adjacent to the land described in paragraph 
        (1).
  (b) Recordable Disclaimer of Interest.--
          (1) In general.--The Secretary shall prepare a recordable 
        disclaimer of interest in which the United States conveys and 
        disclaims any right, title, or interest of the United States in 
        and to--
                  (A) any land described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of 
                subsection (a) that is located outside the recorded 
                meander lines described in that subsection; and
                  (B) any omitted land.
          (2) Filing.--The Secretary shall record the disclaimer of 
        interest prepared under paragraph (1) in the appropriate local 
        office in the State of Louisiana in which real property 
        documents are recorded.
          (3) Inclusions.--The disclaimer of interest filed under 
        paragraph (2) shall include legal descriptions of the land 
        subject to the disclaimer of interest using the lot or tract 
        numbers included in the Resurvey.

                          PURPOSE OF THE BILL

    The purpose of H.R. 3392 is to provide for stability of 
title to certain land in the State of Louisiana.

                  BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

    The U.S. government ordered a survey of lands in Louisiana 
that included the area surrounding Lake Bistineau in 1842. In 
1901, following the results of the survey, Louisiana delineated 
its ownership of lands under the Equal Footing Doctrine and 
transferred 7,000 acres of land around Lake Bistineau to the 
Commissioners of the Bossier Levee District. Three years later, 
the Commissioners conveyed this land to private ownership.
    In 1967, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) re-surveyed 
this land and two additional islands in the Lake. The 1967 
survey presented a new boundary line which differed from what 
the federal government determined was the boundary of Lake 
Bistineau over 155 years earlier when Louisiana was admitted to 
the Union. Although BLM published a notice of the 1967 survey 
in the Federal Register in 1969, the agency did not notify all 
affected landowners of the survey's impact on land ownership or 
otherwise act to claim title to lands identified as belonging 
to the federal government.
    Almost 50 years later, in 2013, BLM notified landowners 
that their property appeared ``to be still vested in the United 
States'' based on the results of the 1967 survey.\1\ Since 
then, the federal government and over 50 landowners have been 
in a dispute over the ownership of roughly 200 acres of land.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ U.S. Department of the Interior, Letter to Mr. Davis Powell, 
Attorney for local landowners involved in the dispute, September 27, 
2013.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    H.R. 3392 would require the Secretary of the Interior to 
convey and disclaim any right, title or interest in the 
disputed lands. As a result, the bill would resolve current 
uncertainty regarding the land titles and ensure that the 
federal government has no ownership claims to any of the 
disputed land in the future.
    Similar legislation, H.R. 3342 (114th Congress) sponsored 
by Congressman John Fleming (R-LA) was favorably reported by 
the House Committee on Natural Resources on September 6, 2016. 
In this Congress, a Senate companion bill, S. 1219, was 
introduced by Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA). The Senate Committee 
on Energy and Natural Resources held a hearing on the bill on 
February 7, 2018. S. 1219 is supported by Louisiana's Attorney 
General and the Louisiana Landowners Association.

                            COMMITTEE ACTION

    H.R. 3392 was introduced on July 25, 2017, by Congressman 
Mike Johnson (R-LA). The bill was referred to the Committee on 
Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee 
on Federal Lands. On April 11, 2018, the Natural Resources 
Committee met to consider the bill. The Subcommittee was 
discharged by unanimous consent. Congressman Mike Johnson 
offered an amendment designated #1; it was adopted by voice 
vote. No further amendments were offered, and the bill, as 
amended, was ordered favorably reported to the House of 
Representatives by voice vote.

            COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

    Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of 
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and 
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.

      COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII AND CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT

    1. Cost of Legislation and the Congressional Budget Act. 
With respect to the requirements of clause 3(c)(2) and (3) of 
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 
sections 308(a) and 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 
1974, the Committee has received the following estimate for the 
bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget Office:

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                     Washington, DC, June 13, 2018.
Hon. Rob Bishop,
Chairman, Committee on Natural Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 3392, the Lake 
Bistineau Land Title Stability Act.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Jeff LaFave.
            Sincerely,
                                                Keith Hall,
                                                          Director.
    Enclosure.

H.R. 3392--Lake Bistineau Land Title Stability Act

    H.R. 3392 would require the Secretary of the Interior to 
disclaim interest in roughly 230 acres of land and associated 
minerals near Lake Bistineau in northwest Louisiana. Based on 
an analysis of information provided by the Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM), the Energy Information Administration (EIA), 
the oil and gas industry, the State of Louisiana, and other 
interested parties, CBO estimates that enacting the bill would 
reduce offsetting receipts, which are treated as reductions in 
direct spending, by about $1 million over the 2019-2028 period.
    Because enacting H.R. 3392 would affect direct spending, 
pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Enacting the bill would not 
affect revenues.
    CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 3392 would not increase 
net direct spending by more than $2.5 billion or on-budget 
deficits by more than $5 billion in any of the four consecutive 
10-year periods beginning in 2029.
    H.R. 3392 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.

Background

    The affected lands were omitted from a federal land survey 
in 1842. The State of Louisiana subsequently deeded those lands 
to the Bossier Levee District, which transferred them to 
private individuals. Following a resurvey of the area published 
in 1969, BLM determined that the lands, which were then held 
privately, fell under federal jurisdiction. In recent years, 
BLM and private titleholders have each claimed ownership of the 
affected lands and the subsurface mineral estate; however, the 
private titleholders are not currently pursuing any remedy 
other than legislation similar to H.R. 3392.

Royalties from ongoing gas production

    The affected lands contain one active natural gas well. The 
well's operator has suspended royalty payments because of the 
perceived uncertainty about ownership of the royalty interest. 
Based on information from Louisiana, CBO estimates that the 
royalties due to the federal government for gas produced from 
that land total less than $500,000. In addition, CBO estimates 
that any royalties generated from future production of gas from 
the existing well would total less than $10,000 over the next 
10 years. Under the Mineral Leasing Act, 49 percent of those 
amounts would be paid to Louisiana. Because of the uncertainty 
regarding when the lease operator will deem the ownership of 
the affected minerals resolved and make royalty payments to the 
federal government, CBO estimates that there is a 50 percent 
probability that those payments will be made over the next 10 
years. Thus, enacting H.R. 3392, which would result in BLM's 
disclaiming ownership of the royalty interest, would reduce 
expected offsetting receipts by less than $125,000 over the 
2019-2028 period.

Royalties from new gas production

    The affected lands make up about one-third of a production 
unit, which consists of one square mile of land and the 
associated minerals. Based on information regarding the average 
number of wells drilled on production units in northwest 
Louisiana, CBO expects that between three and five additional 
wells could be drilled on the unit and that each would produce 
about 4 billion cubic feet of gas, nearly all within the first 
10 years. That additional production would only occur if gas 
prices are high enough to make new production economical.
    Using information provided by EIA and individuals working 
in the oil and gas industry, CBO expects that new drilling will 
not occur on the affected lands unless gas prices at the 
wellhead exceed $3.50 per thousand cubic feet (mcf). Under 
CBO's April 2018 baseline, gas prices are not expected to 
exceed that amount at any point over the next 10 years. 
However, CBO's baseline projections of gas prices in each year 
represent the midpoint of a range of possible prices. CBO 
estimates that the probability that prices will be high enough 
to spur new production on the affected lands over the next 10 
years ranges from 18 percent to 27 percent in each year and 
that the average wellhead price under those scenarios would 
range from $5/mcf to $6/mcf.
    Because of the perceived uncertainty concerning the 
ownership of associated resources, CBO estimates that there is 
a 50 percent probability that the federal government will 
receive no royalty payments from new wells over the next 10 
years, either because operators would choose not to drill new 
wells or because they would suspend royalty payments on new 
production. After accounting for a range of scenarios with 
different prices and production volumes, CBO estimates that the 
expected gross federal royalties from new wells on the affected 
lands would range from $1 million to $2 million over the next 
10 years. Of those amounts, 49 percent would be paid to 
Louisiana. On that basis, CBO estimates that, on net, enacting 
H.R. 3392 would reduce offsetting receipts from royalties paid 
on production from new wells by between $500,000 and $1 million 
over the 2019-2028 period.

Uncertainty

    CBO aims to produce estimates that generally reflect the 
middle of a range of the most likely budgetary outcomes that 
would result if the legislation was enacted. In estimating the 
effects of H.R. 3392, CBO had to account for two major sources 
of uncertainty. CBO cannot predict if or when the leaseholder 
on the affected lands will deem the dispute over ownership of 
those lands settled, which will determine whether any payments 
are made to the federal government. CBO also cannot foresee 
future gas prices with certainty. The price of gas will 
determine whether additional gas is produced from the affected 
lands and when that production may occur, which will affect the 
amount and timing of any royalty payments the leaseholder would 
make to the federal government. Because of those uncertainties, 
the budgetary effects of enacting H.R. 3392 could differ from 
those provided in CBO's analysis.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. The 
estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant 
Director for Budget Analysis.
    2. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by 
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or 
objective of this bill is to provide for stability of title to 
certain land in the State of Louisiana.

                           EARMARK STATEMENT

    This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks, 
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined 
under clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives.

                    COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4

    This bill contains no unfunded mandates.

                       COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5

    Directed Rule Making. This bill does not contain any 
directed rule makings.
    Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not 
establish or reauthorize a program of the federal government 
known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was 
not included in any report from the Government Accountability 
Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139 
or identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic 
Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program 
Information Act (Public Law 95-220, as amended by Public Law 
98-169) as relating to other programs.

                PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW

    This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or 
tribal law.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    If enacted, this bill would make no changes to existing 
law.

                            ADDITIONAL VIEWS

    H.R. 3392 would void the results of a 1967 Bureau of Land 
Management (BLM) resurvey of lands in the Bossier Levee 
District of Northern Louisiana and restrict future federal 
surveys. In effect, this bill transfers public land that 
belongs to the American taxpayers to private interests.
    The land at issue was originally surveyed in 1842, 
transferred to the Bossier Levee District in 1892, and conveyed 
to private owners in 1904,. However, BLM conducted a resurvey 
in 1967 after realizing that certain lands were omitted from 
previous federal surveys. The re-survey put more than 200 acres 
of land previously thought to belong to Louisiana and private 
interests, back into federal ownership.
    Until recently, and despite BLM's outreach efforts to 
notify landowners, the results of this re-survey were largely 
ignored or forgotten. Today, approximately 50 homes may be 
impacted, and BLM is currently working to evaluate ownership 
and authorize conveyance, where appropriate, under the Color of 
Title Act. The Color of Title Act authorizes the BLM to convey 
public lands that have been acquired by peaceful adverse 
possession, often caused by historical surveying anomalies, 
such as in this case.
    However, conveyances authorized under the Color of Title 
Act do not necessarily include the subsurface mineral estate. 
Pursuant to section 209 of the Federal Land and Policy 
Management Act of the 19676 (FLPMA), the United States 
generally retains mineral interests when dispensing of land 
managed by the BLM.
    The FLMPA also states that the federal government reserves 
the right to ``prospect for, mine and remove the minerals under 
applicable law.''\1\ The Secretary of the Interior is 
authorized to forfeit the mineral interests of the subsurface 
estate as part of a conveyance if the value of the subsurface 
estate is deemed to be negligible or the withholding of the 
rights to mineral interests hinder non-mineral development of 
the land--neither condition has been met by the purposed 
conveyance in H.R. 3392.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\Bureau of Land Management. Washington, D.C. ``Federal Land 
Policy Management Act of 1976, as amended.'' Web:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    H.R. 3392 ignores the results of the resurvey, potentially 
authorizing the conveyance of the federally owned subsurface 
mineral estate with an estimated value of $10 million.
    There has not been a hearing H.R. 3392 in the 115th 
Congress, through a similar bill--S. 1219--was the subject of a 
Senate Committee on energy and Natural Resources hearing on 
February 7, 2018 during which Brian Steed, Deputy Directory of 
Policy and Programs for the Bureau of Land Management, 
expressed his concern that the bill ``transfer Federal lands 
and mineral estate out of Federal ownership without equitable 
compensation to U.S. taxpayers.''
    BLM has the tools to resolve this situation and is 
committed to working with the affected landowners; Congress 
should not revoke its survey or convey a substantial mineral 
estate without fair compensation to the American taxpayers.

                                  Raul M. Grijalva,
                                            Ranking Member,
                              House Committee on Natural Resources.

                                  [all]