I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1672 

To withdraw and reserve certain public lands administered by the Bureau 

of Land Management for exclusive military use as part of the Limestone 

Hills Training Area, Montana, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 23, 2013 

Mr. DAINES (for himself and Mr. BISHOP of Utah) 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 

A BILL 

To withdraw and reserve certain public lands administered 

by the Bureau of Land Management for exclusive military use as part of the Limestone Hills Training Area, 

Montana, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Limestone Hills Train5 ing Area Withdrawal Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. WITHDRAWAL AND RESERVATION OF PUBLIC 

2 LANDS FOR LIMESTONE HILLS TRAINING 

3 AREA, MONTANA. 

4 (a) WITHDRAWAL.—The public lands and interests in 

5 lands described in subsection (c), and all other areas with6 in the boundaries of such lands as depicted on the map 

7 provided for by subsection (d) that may become subject 

8 to the operation of the public land laws, are hereby with9 drawn from all forms of appropriation under the public 

10 land laws, including the mining laws and the mineral leas11 ing and geothermal leasing laws. 

12 (b) RESERVATION; PURPOSE.—Subject to the limita13 tions and restrictions contained in section 4, the public 

14 lands withdrawn by subsection (a) are reserved for use by 

15 the Secretary of the Army for the following purposes: 

16 (1) The conduct of training for regular and re17 serve components of the Armed Forces. 

18 (2) The construction, operation, and mainte19 nance of organizational support and maintenance fa20 cilities for component units conducting training. 

21 (3) The conduct of training by the Montana 

22 Department of Military Affairs, except that any such 

23 use may not interfere with purposes specified in 

24 paragraphs (1) and (2). 

25 (4) The conduct of training by State and local 

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1 tions, and public education institutions, except that 

2 any such use may not interfere with military train3 ing activities. 

4 (5) Other defense-related purposes consistent 

5 with the purposes specified in the preceding para6 graphs. 

7 (c) LAND DESCRIPTION.—The public lands and in8 terests in lands withdrawn and reserved by this section 

9 comprise approximately 18,644 acres in Broadwater 

10 County, Montana, as generally depicted as ‘‘Proposed 

11 Land Withdrawal’’ on the map titled ‘‘Limestone Hills 

12 Training Area Land Withdrawal’’, dated April 10, 2013. 

13 (d) LEGAL DESCRIPTION AND MAP.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after 

15 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

16 of the Interior shall publish in the Federal Register 

17 a legal description of the public land withdrawn 

18 under subsection (a) and a copy of a map depicting 

19 the legal description of the withdrawn land. 

20 (2) FORCE OF LAW.—The legal description and 

21 map published under paragraph (1) shall have the 

22 same force and effect as if included in this Act, ex23 cept that the Secretary of the Interior may correct 

24 errors in the legal description. 


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1 (3) REIMBURSEMENT OF COSTS.—The Sec2 retary of the Army shall reimburse the Secretary of 

3 the Interior for any costs incurred by the Secretary 

4 of the Interior in implementing this subsection. 

5 (e) VALID EXISTING RIGHTS.—The withdrawal and 

6 reservation of public land under subsection (a) shall be 

7 subject to valid existing rights. 

8 (f) INDIAN TRIBES.—Nothing in this Act shall be 

9 construed as altering any rights reserved for an Indian 

10 tribe for tribal use of lands within the military land with11 drawal by treaty or Federal law. The Secretary of the 

12 Army shall consult with any Indian tribes in the vicinity 

13 of the military land withdrawal before taking action within 

14 the military land withdrawal affecting tribal rights or cul15 tural resources protected by treaty or Federal law. 

16 SEC. 3. MANAGEMENT OF WITHDRAWN AND RESERVED 

17 LANDS. 

18 During the period of the withdrawal and reservation 

19 specified in section 6, the Secretary of the Army shall 

20 manage the public lands withdrawn by section 2 for the 

21 purposes specified in subsection (b) of such section, sub22 ject to the limitations and restrictions contained in section 

23 4. 


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1 SEC. 4. SPECIAL RULES GOVERNING MINERALS MANAGE2 MENT. 

3 (a) INDIAN CREEK MINE.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Locatable mineral activities 

5 in the approved Indian Creek Mine plan of oper6 ations, MTM–78300, shall be regulated pursuant to 

7 subparts 3715 and 3809 of title 43, Code of Federal 

8 Regulations. The land area subject to the approved 

9 plan of operations shall permanently remain open to 

10 the amendment or relocation of mining claims (or 

11 both) under the Act of May 10, 1872 (commonly 

12 known as the General Mining Act of 1872; 30 

13 U.S.C. 22 et seq.) to the extent necessary to pre14 serve the mining operations described in the ap15 proved plan of operations. 

16 (2) RESTRICTIONS ON SECRETARY OF THE

17 ARMY.—The Secretary of the Army shall make no 

18 determination that the disposition of or exploration 

19 for minerals as provided for in the approved plan of 

20 operations is inconsistent with the defense-related 

21 uses of the lands covered by the military land with22 drawal. The coordination of such disposition of and 

23 exploration for minerals with defense-related uses of 

24 such lands shall be determined pursuant to proce25 dures in an agreement provided for under subsection 

26 (c). 


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1 (b) REMOVAL OF UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE ON

2 LANDS TO BE MINED.— 

3 (1) REMOVAL ACTIVITIES.—The Secretary of 

4 the Army shall request funding for and, subject to 

5 the availability of such funds, shall remove 

6 unexploded ordnance on lands withdrawn by section 

7 2 that are subject to mining under subsection (a), 

8 consistent with applicable Federal and State law. 

9 The Secretary of the Army may engage in such re10 moval of unexploded ordnance in phases to accom11 modate the development of the Indian Creek Mine 

12 pursuant to subsection (a). 

13 (2) REPORT ON REMOVAL ACTIVITIES.—The 

14 Secretary of the Army shall annually submit to the 

15 Secretary of the Interior a report regarding the 

16 unexploded ordnance removal activities for the pre17 vious fiscal year performed pursuant to this sub18 section. The report shall include— 

19 (A) the amounts of funding expended for 

20 unexploded ordnance removal on the lands with21 drawn by section 2; and 

22 (B) the identification of the lands cleared 

23 of unexploded ordnance and approved for min24 ing activities by the Secretary of the Interior. 


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1 (c) IMPLEMENTATION AGREEMENT FOR MINING AC2 TIVITIES.—The Secretary of the Interior and the Sec3 retary of the Army shall enter into an agreement to imple4 ment this section with regard to coordination of defense5 related uses and mining and the ongoing removal of 

6 unexploded ordnance. The agreement shall provide the fol7 lowing: 

8 (1) That Graymont Western US, Inc., or any 

9 successor or assign of the approved Indian Creek 

10 Mine mining plan of operations, MTM–78300, is in11 vited to be a party to the agreement. 

12 (2) Provisions regarding the day-to-day joint13 use of the Limestone Hills Training Area, which 

14 shall include the following limitations and restric15 tions: 

16 (A) Military and other authorized uses of 

17 the withdrawn lands shall only occur between 

18 the second Monday in April and November 30 

19 unless otherwise authorized by the Secretary of 

20 the Interior. 

21 (B) Military use for mortar target practice 

22 or training with respect to other weapons sys23 tems containing explosive material shall be lim24 ited to the area described on the map referred 

25 to in section 2(c) as the ‘‘high explosive active 


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1 impact area’’ and shall not include any lands 

2 within the approved Indian Creek Mine plan of 

3 operations. Immediately after any exercise dur4 ing which live rounds are fired the military unit 

5 or other organization utilizing the area will take 

6 all reasonable action to locate and remove or 

7 destroy any undetonated rounds impacting any 

8 of the withdrawn land (other than withdrawn 

9 land in the ‘‘high explosive active impact 

10 area’’). 

11 (C) Training activities conducted within 

12 the withdrawn area that restrict mining activi13 ties will be scheduled for no more than 16 

14 weeks in any year and for no longer than three 

15 successive weeks without a recess of two weeks. 

16 In order to schedule annual mining operations 

17 prior to February 1st each year the Secretary 

18 of the Army shall provide the Secretary of the 

19 Interior and Graymont Western US, Inc. with 

20 an annual schedule of training activities to take 

21 place within the withdrawn area during the 

22 year. The annual schedule shall specify the 

23 weapons systems to be used and the ‘‘surface 

24 danger zone’’ applicable to the weapon system 

25 identified in the schedule. Any proposed 


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1 changes to the schedule shall be provided to 

2 Graymont Western US, Inc. at least 90 days 

3 prior to the anticipated change and shall be 

4 subject to the approval of Graymont Western 

5 US, Inc. if the proposed change could impact 

6 mining operations. 

7 (D) The military unit or other organization 

8 utilizing lands within the approved Indian 

9 Creek Mine plan of operations for training ac10 tivities will bear full liability to the extent of the 

11 law for any injury caused to employees and 

12 guests of Graymont Western US, Inc., or a 

13 member of the public or for damage to any 

14 mining equipment or facility of Graymont West15 ern US, Inc., it successors and assigns, caused 

16 by the training activity. 

17 (3) Procedures for access through mining oper18 ations covered by this section to training areas with19 in the boundaries of the Limestone Hills Training 

20 Area. 

21 (4) Procedures for scheduling of the removal of 

22 unexploded ordnance. 

23 SEC. 5. GRAZING. 

24 (a) ISSUANCE AND ADMINISTRATION OF PERMITS

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1 ing permits and leases, including their renewal, on the 

2 public lands withdrawn by section 2 shall be managed by 

3 the Secretary of the Interior consistent with all applicable 

4 laws, regulations, and policies of the Secretary of the Inte5 rior relating to such permits and leases. 

6 (b) SAFETY REQUIREMENTS.—With respect to any 

7 grazing permit or lease issued after the date of the enact8 ment of this Act for lands withdrawn by section 2, the 

9 Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of the Army 

10 shall jointly establish procedures that are consistent with 

11 Department of the Army explosive and range safety stand12 ards and that provide for the safe use of any such lands. 

13 (c) ASSIGNMENT.—The Secretary of the Interior 

14 may, with the agreement of the Secretary of the Army, 

15 assign the authority to issue and to administer grazing 

16 permits and leases to the Secretary of the Army, except 

17 that such an assignment may not include the authority 

18 to discontinue grazing on the lands withdrawn by section 

19 2. 

20 SEC. 6. DURATION OF WITHDRAWAL AND RESERVATION. 

21 The military land withdrawal made by section 2 shall 

22 terminate on March 31, 2039. 

Æ 


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