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Union Calendar No. 89 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1691 

[Report No. 113–124, Part I] 

To provide for the transfer of certain public land currently administered 

by the Bureau of Land Management to the administrative jurisdiction 

of the Secretary of the Navy for inclusion in the Chocolate Mountain 

Aerial Gunnery Range, California, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 23, 2013 

Mr. VARGAS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Armed 

Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

JUNE 24, 2013 

Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

JUNE 24, 2013 

The Committee on Armed Services discharged; committed to the Committee 

of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 

[For text of the introduced bill, see bill as introduced on April 23, 2013] 


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A BILL 

To provide for the transfer of certain public land currently 

administered by the Bureau of Land Management to 

the administrative jurisdiction of the Secretary of the 

Navy for inclusion in the Chocolate Mountain Aerial 

Gunnery Range, California, and for other purposes. 


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1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Chocolate Mountain Aer5 ial Gunnery Range Transfer Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TRANSFER OF ADMINISTRATIVE JURISDICTION, 

7 CHOCOLATE MOUNTAIN AERIAL GUNNERY 

8 RANGE, CALIFORNIA. 

9 (a) TRANSFER REQUIRED.—The Secretary of the Inte10 rior shall transfer to the administrative jurisdiction of the 

11 Secretary of the Navy certain public land administered by 

12 the Bureau of Land Management in Imperial and Riverside 

13 Counties, California, consisting of approximately 226,711 

14 acres, as generally depicted on the map titled ‘‘Chocolate 

15 Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range Proposed–Withdrawal’’ 

16 dated 1987 (revised July 1993), and identified as 

17 WESTDIV Drawing No. C–102370, which was prepared by 

18 the Naval Facilities Engineering Command of the Depart19 ment of the Navy and is on file with the California State 

20 Office of the Bureau of Land Management. 

21 (b) VALID EXISTING RIGHTS.—The transfer of admin22 istrative jurisdiction under subsection (a) shall be subject 

23 to any valid existing rights, including any property, ease24 ments, or improvements held by the Bureau of Reclamation 

25 and appurtenant to the Coachella Canal. The Secretary of 


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1 the Navy shall provide for reasonable access by the Bureau 

2 of Reclamation for inspection and maintenance purposes 

3 not inconsistent with military training. 

4 (c) TIME FOR CONVEYANCE.—The transfer of adminis5 trative jurisdiction under subsection (a) shall occur pursu6 ant to a schedule agreed to by the Secretary of the Interior 

7 and the Secretary of the Navy, but in no case later than 

8 the date of the completion of the boundary realignment re9 quired by section 4. 

10 (d) MAP AND LEGAL DESCRIPTION.— 

11 (1) PREPARATION AND PUBLICATION.—The Sec12 retary of the Interior shall publish in the Federal 

13 Register a legal description of the public land to be 

14 transferred under subsection (a). 

15 (2) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—The Secretary 

16 of the Interior shall file with the Committee on En17 ergy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the 

18 Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Rep19 resentatives— 

20 (A) a copy of the legal description prepared 

21 under paragraph (1); and 

22 (B) a map depicting the legal description of 

23 the transferred public land. 

24 (3) AVAILABILITY FOR PUBLIC INSPECTION.— 

25 Copies of the legal description and map filed under 


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1 paragraph (2) shall be available for public inspection 

2 in the appropriate offices of— 

3 (A) the Bureau of Land Management; 

4 (B) the Office of the Commanding Officer, 

5 Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona; 

6 (C) the Office of the Commander, Navy Re7 gion Southwest; and 

8 (D) the Office of the Secretary of the Navy. 

9 (4) FORCE OF LAW.—The legal description and 

10 map filed under paragraph (2) shall have the same 

11 force and effect as if included in this Act, except that 

12 the Secretary of the Interior may correct clerical and 

13 typographical errors in the legal description or map. 

14 (5) REIMBURSEMENT OF COSTS.—The transfer 

15 required by subsection (a) shall be made without re16 imbursement, except that the Secretary of the Navy 

17 shall reimburse the Secretary of the Interior for any 

18 costs incurred by the Secretary of the Interior to pre19 pare the legal description and map under this sub20 section. 

21 SEC. 3. MANAGEMENT AND USE OF TRANSFERRED LAND. 

22 (a) USE OF TRANSFERRED LAND.—Upon the receipt 

23 of the land under section 2, the Secretary of the Navy shall 

24 administer the land as the Chocolate Mountain Aerial GunVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:14 Jun 24, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H1691.RH H1691

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1 nery Range, California, and continue to authorize use of 

2 the land for military purposes. 

3 (b) PROTECTION OF DESERT TORTOISE.—Nothing in 

4 the transfer required by section 2 shall affect the prior des5 ignation of certain lands within the Chocolate Mountain 

6 Aerial Gunnery Range as critical habitat for the desert tor7 toise (Gopherus Agassizii). 

8 (c) WITHDRAWAL OF MINERAL ESTATE.—Subject to 

9 valid existing rights, the mineral estate of the land to be 

10 transferred under section 2 are withdrawn from all forms 

11 of appropriation under the public land laws, including the 

12 mining laws and the mineral and geothermal leasing laws, 

13 for as long as the land is under the administrative jurisdic14 tion of the Secretary of the Navy. 

15 (d) INTEGRATED NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

16 PLAN.—Not later than one year after the transfer of the 

17 land under section 2, the Secretary of the Navy, in coopera18 tion with the Secretary of the Interior, shall prepare an 

19 integrated natural resources management plan pursuant to 

20 the Sikes Act (16 U.S.C. 670a et seq.) for the transferred 

21 land and for land that, as of the date of the enactment of 

22 this Act, is under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the 

23 Navy underlying the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery 

24 Range. 


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1 SEC. 4. REALIGNMENT OF RANGE BOUNDARY AND RELATED 

2 TRANSFER OF TITLE. 

3 (a) REALIGNMENT; PURPOSE.—The Secretary of the 

4 Interior and the Secretary of the Navy shall realign the 

5 boundary of the Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery 

6 Range, as in effect on the date of the enactment of this Act, 

7 to improve public safety and management of the Range, 

8 consistent with the following: 

9 (1) The northwestern boundary of the Chocolate 

10 Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range shall be realigned to 

11 the edge of the Bradshaw Trail so that the Trail is 

12 entirely on public land under the jurisdiction of the 

13 Department of the Interior. 

14 (2) The centerline of the Bradshaw Trail shall be 

15 delineated by the Secretary of the Interior in con16 sultation with the Secretary of the Navy, beginning at 

17 its western terminus at Township 8 South, Range 12 

18 East, Section 6 eastward to Township 8 South, Range 

19 17 East, Section 32 where it leaves the Chocolate 

20 Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range. 

21 (b) TRANSFERS RELATED TO REALIGNMENT.—The 

22 Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of the Navy shall 

23 make such transfers of administrative jurisdiction as may 

24 be necessary to reflect the results of the boundary realign25 ment carried out pursuant to subsection (a). 


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1 (c) APPLICABILITY OF NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL

2 POLICY ACT OF 1969.—The National Environmental Pol3 icy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) shall not apply 

4 to any transfer of land made under subsection (b) or any 

5 decontamination actions undertaken in connection with 

6 such a transfer. 

7 (d) DECONTAMINATION.—The Secretary of the Navy 

8 shall maintain, to the extent funds are available for such 

9 purpose and consistent with applicable Federal and State 

10 law, a program of decontamination of any contamination 

11 caused by defense-related uses on land transferred under 

12 subsection (b). The Secretary of Defense shall include a de13 scription of such decontamination activities in the annual 

14 report required by section 2711 of title 10, United States 

15 Code. 

16 (e) TIMELINE.—The delineation of the Bradshaw Trail 

17 under subsection (a) and any transfer of land under sub18 section (b) shall occur pursuant to a schedule agreed to by 

19 the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of the Navy, 

20 but in no case later than two years after the date of the 

21 enactment of this Act. 

22 SEC. 5. EFFECT OF TERMINATION OF MILITARY USE. 

23 (a) NOTICE AND EFFECT.—Upon a determination by 

24 the Secretary of the Navy that there is no longer a military 

25 need for all or portions of the land transferred under section 


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1 2, the Secretary of the Navy shall notify the Secretary of 

2 the Interior of such determination. Subject to subsections 

3 (b), (c), and (d), the Secretary of the Navy shall transfer 

4 the land subject to such a notice back to the administrative 

5 jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior. 

6 (b) CONTAMINATION.—Before transmitting a notice 

7 under subsection (a), the Secretary of the Navy shall pre8 pare a written determination concerning whether and to 

9 what extent the land to be transferred are contaminated 

10 with explosive, toxic, or other hazardous materials. A copy 

11 of the determination shall be transmitted with the notice. 

12 Copies of the notice and the determination shall be pub13 lished in the Federal Register. 

14 (c) DECONTAMINATION.—The Secretary of the Navy 

15 shall decontaminate any contaminated land that is the sub16 ject of a notice under subsection (a) if— 

17 (1) the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation 

18 with the Secretary of the Navy, determines that— 

19 (A) decontamination is practicable and eco20 nomically feasible (taking into consideration the 

21 potential future use and value of the land); and 

22 (B) upon decontamination, the land could 

23 be opened to operation of some or all of the pub24 lic land laws, including the mining laws; and 


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1 (2) funds are appropriated for such decon2 tamination. 

3 (d) ALTERNATIVE.—The Secretary of the Interior is 

4 not required to accept land proposed for transfer under sub5 section (a) if the Secretary of the Interior is unable to make 

6 the determinations under subsection (c)(1) or if Congress 

7 does not appropriate a sufficient amount of funds for the 

8 decontamination of the land. 

9 SEC. 6. TEMPORARY EXTENSION OF EXISTING WITH10 DRAWAL PERIOD. 

11 Notwithstanding subsection (a) of section 806 of the 

12 California Military Lands Withdrawal and Overflights Act 

13 of 1994 (title VIII of Public Law 103–433; 108 Stat. 4505), 

14 the withdrawal and reservation of the land transferred 

15 under section 2 of this Act shall not terminate until the 

16 date on which the land transfer required by section 2 is 

17 executed. 

18 SEC. 7. WATER RIGHTS. 

19 (a) WATER RIGHTS.—Nothing in this Act shall be con20 strued— 

21 (1) to establish a reservation in favor of the 

22 United States with respect to any water or water 

23 right on lands transferred by this Act; or 


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1 (2) to authorize the appropriation of water on 

2 lands transferred by this Act except in accordance 

3 with applicable State law. 

4 (b) EFFECT ON PREVIOUSLY ACQUIRED OR RESERVED

5 WATER RIGHTS.—This section shall not be construed to af6 fect any water rights acquired or reserved by the United 

7 States before the date of the enactment of this Act. 


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Union Calendar No. 89 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1691 

[Report No. 113–124, Part I] 

A BILL 

To provide for the transfer of certain public land 

fornia, and for other purposes. Chocolate Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range, Calithe Secretary of the Navy for inclusion in the Management to the administrative jurisdiction of currently administered by the Bureau of Land 

JUNE 24, 2013 

Reported from the Committee on Natural Resources with 

J

an amendment 

UNE 24, 2013 

The Committee on Armed Services discharged; committed 

the Union and ordered to be printed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of 


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