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[Senate Report 109-246]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                       Calendar No. 408
109th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session                                                     109-246

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    STE. GENEVIEVE COUNTY NATIONAL HISTORICAL SITE STUDY ACT OF 2005

                                _______
                                

                 April 20, 2006.--Ordered to be printed

   Filed under authority of the order of the Senate of April 7, 2006

                                _______
                                

   Mr. Domenici, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 1728]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the Act (H.R. 1728) to authorize the Secretary of the 
Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of 
designating portions of Ste. Genevieve County in the State of 
Missouri as a unit of the National Park System, and for other 
purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon 
without amendment and recommends that the Act do pass.

                         PURPOSE OF THE MEASURE

    The purpose of H.R. 1728 is to authorize the Secretary of 
the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of 
designating portions of Ste. (Sainte) Genevieve County in the 
State of Missouri as a unit of the National Park System, and 
for other purposes.

                          BACKGROUND AND NEED

    Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, was once part of France's Upper 
Louisiana Territory, a vast area that encompassed the 
Mississippi and Missouri River drainage basins, and included 
much of what is now the middle third of the United States. The 
town, located along the Mississippi River in southeast 
Missouri, was settled in the 1700s by French colonists. The 
colonists came to mine lead, harvest salt from a local saline 
stream, and grow export crops along the Mississippi River 
bottomland.
    To this day, Ste. Genevieve contains an impressive share of 
the colonial French buildings remaining in North America, 
including three of five known remaining ``poteaux-en-terre'' 
houses, structures built around posts anchored in the ground. 
Similar structures in other old French towns were swept away by 
floods of the Mississippi in the 19th century.
    H.R. 1728 would authorize the Secretary to study the 
suitability and feasibility of designating the French Colonial 
structures and locations within the Ste. Genevieve County, 
Missouri, as a unit of the National Park Service. The 
structures and locations to be studied include Bequette-
Ribault, St. Gemme-Amoureaux and Wilhauk homes, as well as Le 
Grand Champ field, historic downtown Ste. Genevieve, and a 
prehistoric Native American Village.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    H.R. 1728 was introduced by Representatives Carnahan and 
Emerson on April 20, 2005 and passed by the House of 
Representatives on a voice vote, on February 28, 2005. H.R. 
1728 was referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources on March 1, 2006.
    An identical bill, S. 323, was introduced by Senators 
Talent and Bond on February 8, 2005. The Subcommittee on 
National Parks held a hearing on S. 323 on March 15, 2005. At 
its business meeting on March 8, 2006, the Committee on Energy 
and Natural Resources ordered H.R. 1728 favorably reported.
    Similar bills were introduced by Senators Bond and Talent 
(S. 1105) in the 108th Congress and by Senators Bond and 
Carnahan (S. 1638) in the 107th Congress.

                        COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open 
business session on March 8, 2006, by unanimous voice vote of a 
quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass H.R. 1728.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

    Section 1 entitles the bill the ``Ste. Genevieve County 
National Historic Site Study Act of 2005''.
    Section 2 sets forth congressional findings.
    Section 3 defines key terms.
    Section 4 directs the Secretary of the Interior to complete 
a study within three years after funds are made available and 
to report findings from the study to Congress.
    Section 5 authorizes an appropriation of funds necessary to 
carry out the act.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

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

H.R. 1728--Ste. Genevieve County National Historic Site Study Act of 
        2005

    H.R. 1728 would direct the Secretary of the Interior to 
conduct a study to determine the suitability and feasibility of 
establishing an area of historical houses in Ste. Genevieve, 
Missouri, as a unit of the National Park System. Based on 
information provided by the National Park Service and assuming 
the availability of appropriated funds, CBO estimates that 
carrying out the proposed study would cost about $200,000 over 
the next three years. Enacting H.R. 1728 would not affect 
direct spending or revenues.
    The legislation 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 22, 2005, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for 
H.R. 1728, the French Colonial Heritage National Historic Site 
Study Act of 2005, as ordered reported by the House Committee 
on Resources on November 16, 2005. The two versions of the 
legislation are similar and the cost estimates are identical.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew 
Pickford. This estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, 
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 H.R. 1728. 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. 1728, as ordered reported.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

    The views of the Administration on S. 323, a similar bill, 
were included in testimony received by the Committee at a 
hearing on the bill on March 15, 2005. This testimony follows:

  Statement of Janet Snyder Matthews, Associate Director for Cultural 
      Resources, National Park Service, Department of the Interior

    Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to present the 
Department's views on S. 323, a bill to authorize the Secretary 
of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of 
designating the French Colonial Heritage Area in the State of 
Missouri as a unit of the National Park System.
    While the Department is supportive of S. 323, with the 
minor clarification provided in this testimony, we believe that 
available funding should be first directed toward completing 
previously authorized studies. Currently, 31 studies are in 
progress, and we hope to complete and transmit 19 to Congress 
by the end of calendar year 2005.
    S. 323 would authorize the Secretary to complete a study on 
the suitability and feasibility of designating the French 
Colonial Heritage Area as a unit of the National Park System. 
The French Colonial Heritage Area (Area) includes the Bequette-
Ribault, St. Gemme-Amoureaux, and Wilhauk homes, and the 
related and supporting historical assets in Ste. Genevieve 
County, Missouri. The Area contains some of the only existing 
examples of the French Colonial Period settlement, including 
two of the five poteaux-en-terre (post-in-the-ground) vertical 
log French buildings remaining in North America, dating from 
circa 1785, in addition to several other important historical 
resources. The Area is located within the expanded boundaries 
of Ste. Genevieve National Historic District (District), a 
National Historic Landmark. No current National Park System 
unit has comparable historic features providing the cultural 
backdrop required to adequately interpret the story of the 
early French in the New World.
    In April 1980, the Midwest Regional Office of the National 
Park Service completed a brief Reconnaissance Report of Ste. 
Genevieve Historic District. The Reconnaissance Report reviewed 
the District's cultural, natural, scenic, and recreational 
resources as well as ownership patterns and possible threats to 
the District. The Reconnaissance Report will provide valuable 
background information should this legislation be enacted 
authorizing a more in-depth study of suitability and 
feasibility, which includes a review of management 
alternatives.
    The Department would like to work with the Committee to 
clarify some potentially confusing language in the bill. While 
the bill authorizes a study on the suitability and feasibility 
of designating a new unit of the National Park System, it also 
identifies the study area as the ``French Colonial Heritage 
Area.'' A national heritage area differs from a unit of the 
National Park Service in a number of different ways, most 
notably is that a national heritage area is locally driven and 
does not include management by the National Park Service, 
whereas a unit is managed wholly or in part by the National 
Park Service.
    If the intent of the bill only is to study the area for 
potential designation as a national heritage area, we recommend 
amending the bill to authorize a feasibility study to examine 
such designation. If the intent is to study the area for 
potential inclusion as a new National Park System unit, or if 
it is unclear which type of designation is desired, the bill 
should be clarified by eliminating the references to the term 
``heritage area''. A suitability and feasibility study to 
designate an Area as a unit will examine a range of 
alternatives, including whether a national heritage area 
designation is more appropriate than creating a new unit. We 
will be happy to work with the subcommittee to develop 
clarifying language prior to enactment of this legislation.
    Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared remarks. I would 
be pleased to answer any questions you or other members of the 
Subcommittee 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 Act H.R. 1728, as 
ordered reported.

                                  
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