29–006 

113TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 1st Session 113–57 

HILL CREEK CULTURAL PRESERVATION AND ENERGY 

DEVELOPMENT ACT 

MAY 14, 2013.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of 

the Union and ordered to be printed 

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington, from the Committee on Natural 

Resources, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany H.R. 356] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred the 

bill (H.R. 356) to clarify authority granted under the Act entitled 

‘‘An Act to define the exterior boundary of the Uintah and Ouray 

Indian Reservation in the State of Utah, and for other purposes’’, 

having considered the same, report favorably thereon without 

amendment and recommend that the bill do pass. 

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The purpose of H.R. 356 is to clarify authority granted under the 

Act entitled ‘‘An Act to define the exterior boundary of the Uintah 

and Ouray Indian Reservation in the State of Utah, and for other 

purposes.’’ 

BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION

H.R. 356, the Hill Creek Cultural Preservation and Energy Development Act, authorizes an acre-for-acre land exchange to resolve 

a complex split-estate problem within an area known as the Hill 

Creek Extension of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation of 

the Ute Tribe of Utah. Specifically, H.R. 356 authorizes the State 

of Utah to exchange subsurface rights it owns beneath culturally 

and environmentally sensitive tribal lands in the southern portion 

of the Hill Creek Extension. In return for relinquishing this property, the State acquires an equal number of acres of federal subsurface administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in 

the northern part of the Hill Creek Extension. These lands are 


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within an actively developed area where the Tribe does not object 

to oil and gas leasing. The State subsurface lands concerned in 

H.R. 356 are administered by the School and Institutional Trust 

Lands Administration (SITLA), which supports K–12 education in 

Utah. 

To hold the U.S. Treasury and SITLA financially harmless, H.R. 

356 reserves to the federal government an overriding mineral interest in all lands conveyed to the State equal to the percentage of 

revenue that the United States would have retained under the 

Mineral Leasing Act had the lands remained in federal ownership. 

In a similar fashion, the bill reserves to the State an equal overriding interest in the lands conveyed to the federal government. 

A detailed historical background concerning the Uintah and 

Ouray Indian Reservation and SITLA, as well as an analysis of the 

justification for H.R. 356, may be found in House Report 112–509, 

the Committee Report accompanying H.R. 4027. H.R. 356 is nearly 

identical to H.R. 4027, which passed the House in the 112th Congress but did not move in the Senate. H.R. 356 does omit a provision that was included in H.R. 4027 to terminate the overriding 

mineral interests of the United States and the State of Utah after 

30 years. This change was made to address concerns expressed by 

the Administration in a hearing held by the Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs on March 20, 2012. The State of 

Utah and the Ute Tribe strongly support enactment of this legislation. 

COMMITTEE ACTION

H.R. 356 was introduced on January 23, 2013, by Congressman 

Rob Bishop (R–UT). The bill was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittees on 

Indian and Alaska Native Affairs and Energy and Mineral Resources. On April 24, 2013, the Full Natural Resources Committee 

met to consider the bill. The Subcommittees on Indian and Alaska 

Native Affairs and Energy and Mineral Resources were discharged 

by unanimous consent. No amendments were offered, and the bill 

was then adopted and ordered favorably reported to the House of 

Representatives by unanimous consent. 

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 

1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules of 

the House of Representatives requires an estimate and a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(2)(B) of that rule provides 

that this requirement does not apply when the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Under clause 

3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 


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section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has received the following cost estimate for this bill from the 

Director of the Congressional Budget Office: 

H.R. 356—Hill Creek Cultural Preservation and Energy Development Act 

H.R. 356 would authorize a conveyance of mineral rights within 

the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation in Utah among the state 

of Utah’s School and Institutional Trust Land Administration 

(SITLA), the federal government, and the Ute Indian Tribe. SITLA 

currently owns the subsurface mineral rights to approximately 

18,000 acres in the Hill Creek Extension of the reservation; however, the surface rights to that land are held in trust for the Ute 

Indian Tribe by the federal government. The legislation would authorize SITLA to relinquish to the Ute Indian Tribe its subsurface 

mineral rights in exchange for the subsurface rights to about 

18,000 acres of other land within the Hill Creek Extension owned 

by the federal government. 

CBO estimates that the legislation would have no significant impact on the federal budget over the 2014–2023 period. Enacting 

H.R. 356 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, 

pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. 

H.R. 356 would authorize a transfer of federally owned subsurface mineral rights for an equivalent number of acres of state 

land. However, the acres transferred may not have the same value 

because mineral deposits are not evenly spread across all areas. To 

compensate for such a potential imbalance, H.R. 356 would preserve a royalty interest in the value of any subsurface minerals 

that are developed on the transferred properties for the state and 

the federal governments. 

H.R. 356 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. Enacting 

the bill would benefit the tribe and state. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Martin von Gnechten. 

The estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis. 

2. Section 308(a) of Congressional Budget Act. As required by 

clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, 

this bill does not contain any new budget authority, spending authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in revenues or 

tax expenditures. CBO estimates that implementing this legislation 

would have no significant impact on the federal budget. 

3. 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 clarify authority granted under the Act entitled ‘‘An 

Act to define the exterior boundary of the Uintah and Ouray Indian 

Reservation in the State of Utah, and for other purposes.’’ 

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. 


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COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104–4 

This bill contains no unfunded mandates. 

COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5 

Directed Rule Making. The Chairman does not believe that this 

bill directs any executive branch official to conduct any specific 

rule-making proceedings. 

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 MADE BY THE BILL, AS REPORTED

In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of the 

House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by the bill, 

as reported, are shown as follows (new matter is printed in italic 

and existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in 

roman): 

ACT OF MARCH 11, 1948 

AN ACT To define the exterior boundary of the Uintah and Ouray Indian 

Reservation in the State of Utah, and for other purposes. 

* * * * * * * 

SEC. 5. In order to further clarify authorizations under this Act, 

the State of Utah is hereby authorized to relinquish to the United 

States, for the benefit of the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and 

Ouray Reservation, State school trust or other State-owned subsurface mineral lands located beneath the surface estate delineated 

in Public Law 440 (approved March 11, 1948) and south of the border between Grand County, Utah, and Uintah County, Utah, and 

select in lieu of such relinquished lands, on an acre-for-acre basis, 

any subsurface mineral lands of the United States located beneath 

the surface estate delineated in Public Law 440 (approved March 

11, 1948) and north of the border between Grand County, Utah, and 

Uintah County, Utah, subject to the following conditions: 

(1) RESERVATION BY UNITED STATES.—The Secretary of the 

Interior shall reserve an overriding interest in that portion of 

the mineral estate comprised of minerals subject to leasing 

under the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 171 et seq.) in any 

mineral lands conveyed to the State. 

(2) EXTENT OF OVERRIDING INTEREST.—The overriding interest reserved by the United States under paragraph (1) shall 

consist of— 


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(A) 50 percent of any bonus bid or other payment received 

by the State as consideration for securing any lease or authorization to develop such mineral resources; 

(B) 50 percent of any rental or other payments received 

by the State as consideration for the lease or authorization 

to develop such mineral resources; 

(C) a 6.25 percent overriding royalty on the gross proceeds of oil and gas production under any lease or authorization to develop such oil and gas resources; and 

(D) an overriding royalty on the gross proceeds of production of such minerals other than oil and gas, equal to 50 

percent of the royalty rate established by the Secretary of 

the Interior by regulation as of October 1, 2011. 

(3) RESERVATION BY STATE OF UTAH.—The State of Utah 

shall reserve, for the benefit of its State school trust, an overriding interest in that portion of the mineral estate comprised 

of minerals subject to leasing under the Mineral Leasing Act 

(30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) in any mineral lands relinquished by the 

State to the United States. 

(4) EXTENT OF OVERRIDING INTEREST.—The overriding interest reserved by the State under paragraph (3) shall consist of— 

(A) 50 percent of any bonus bid or other payment received 

by the United States as consideration for securing any lease 

or authorization to develop such mineral resources on the 

relinquished lands; 

(B) 50 percent of any rental or other payments received 

by the United States as consideration for the lease or authorization to develop such mineral resources; 

(C) a 6.25 percent overriding royalty on the gross proceeds of oil and gas production under any lease or authorization to develop such oil and gas resources; and 

(D) an overriding royalty on the gross proceeds of production of such minerals other than oil and gas, equal to 50 

percent of the royalty rate established by the Secretary of 

the Interior by regulation as of October 1, 2011. 

(5) NO OBLIGATION TO LEASE.—Neither the United States nor 

the State shall be obligated to lease or otherwise develop oil and 

gas resources in which the other party retains an overriding interest under this section. 

(6) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary of the Interior 

is authorized to enter into cooperative agreements with the 

State and the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation to facilitate the relinquishment and selection of lands 

to be conveyed under this section, and the administration of the 

overriding interests reserved hereunder. 

Æ 


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