89–010 

Calendar No. 539 

111TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 2d Session 111–269 

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 


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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. 


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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. 


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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 communitywide 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. 


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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) 

* * * * * * * 

[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, øtemporarily 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 


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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. 

* * * * * * * 

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 

* * * * * * * 

øSec. 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.¿ 

* * * * * * * 

Æ 


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