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[Senate Report 115-375]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                     Calendar No. 661
115th Congress     }                          {              Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session        }                          {               115-375

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                            AMACHE STUDY ACT

                                _______
                                

               November 26, 2018.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

  Ms. Murkowski, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 2870]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the bill (S. 2870) to authorize the Secretary of the 
Interior to conduct a special resource study of the site known 
as ``Amache'' in the State of Colorado, having considered the 
same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and 
recommends that the bill do pass.

                                PURPOSE

    The purpose of S. 2870 is to authorize the Secretary of the 
Interior (Secretary) to conduct a special resource study of the 
site known as ``Amache'' in the State of Colorado to evaluate 
the national significance of the study area and determine the 
suitability and feasibility of designating the study area as a 
unit of the National Park System.

                          BACKGROUND AND NEED

    Executive Order 9066, issued by President Roosevelt in 1942 
and enforced by law (Public Law 77-503), forcibly removed tens 
of thousands of Japanese Americans, including nearly 70,000 
American citizens, from the West Coast to internment centers 
during World War II.
    The smallest internment camp was located a mile from 
Granada, Colorado, in the southeastern part of the state. The 
camp was unofficially known as ``Amache'' after a mail mix-up 
between the town Granada and the similarly named center.
    Over 7,000 residents of Japanese ancestry, most of them 
American citizens, were imprisoned at Amache from 1942 to 1945, 
making the camp the tenth largest concentration of people in 
Colorado at the time.
    During peak occupation in 1943, Amache was a self-contained 
compound of more than 550 buildings used for quarters, 
administration buildings, businesses, a hospital, and other 
amenities. Children attended school there, and agriculture 
became the main industry.
    Amache had the highest rate of military volunteerism of the 
internment camps--10 percent of the population, or 953 men and 
women, volunteered or were drafted for military service during 
World War II. One Amache resident, Kiyoshi Muranaga, 
volunteered in 1943 and was killed in battle in Italy. He was 
posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his 
extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty.
    Amache was added to the National Register of Historic 
Places in 1994 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 
2005. The Amache site is currently owned by the town of Granada 
and maintained by a group of volunteer students, who, led by 
their high school social studies teacher, are known as the 
Amache Preservation Society.
    S. 2870 authorizes the Secretary to commence a special 
resource study of Amache, to assess the significance of the 
area and to determine the suitability and feasibility of 
designating Amache as a unit of the National Park System.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    Senators Gardner and Bennet introduced S. 2870 on May 16, 
2018. The Subcommittee on National Parks held a hearing on S. 
2870 on August 15, 2018.
    Companion legislation, H.R. 5844, was introduced in the 
House of Representatives by Representative Buck on May 16, 
2018, and referred to the Committee on Natural Resources.
    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources met in open 
business session on October 2, 2018, and ordered S. 2870 
favorably reported.

                        COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

    The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in 
open business session on October 2, 2018, by a majority voice 
vote of a quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 
2870.

                      SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1. Short title

    Section 1 provides the short title.

Section 2. Definitions

    Section 2 contains key definitions.

Section 3. Amache Special Resource Study

    Subsection (a) requires the Secretary to conduct a special 
resource study.
    Subsection (b) requires the Secretary, in conducting the 
special resource study, to evaluate the national significance 
of the study area; determine the suitability and feasibility of 
designating the study area as a National Park System unit; 
consider alternatives for the preservation, protection, and 
interpretation of the study area; consult with Federal, State 
or local government entities and other interested stakeholders; 
and identify cost estimates of alternatives.
    Subsection (c) requires the study to be conducted in 
accordance with applicable law.
    Subsection (d) requires the Secretary to submit a report on 
the study results and any conclusions and recommendations to 
the House Committee on Natural Resources and the Senate 
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources no later than three 
years after the date on which funds are first made available to 
carry out the study.

                   COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

    The following estimate of the costs of this measure has 
been provided by the Congressional Budget Office:
    S. 2870 would direct the National Park Service (NPS) to 
conduct a special resource study of Camp Amache (also known as 
the Granada Relocation Center) in Colorado, the site of a World 
War II Japanese-American internment camp. As part of that 
study, the NPS would determine the suitability and feasibility 
of designating the site as a unit of the National Park System.
    Based on the costs of similar studies, CBO estimates that 
implementing S. 2870 would cost less than $500,000; such 
spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated 
funds.
    Enacting S. 2870 would not affect direct spending or 
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
    CBO estimates that enacting S. 2870 would not increase net 
direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four 
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.
    S. 2870 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Janani 
Shankaran. The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, 
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 S. 2870. The bill 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 S. 2870, as ordered reported.

                   CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

    S. 2870, 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 Department of the Interior at 
the August 15, 2018, hearing on S. 2870 follows:

Statement of P. Daniel Smith, Deputy Director, Exercising the Authority 
of the Director, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior

    Chairman Daines, Ranking Member King, and members of the 
Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to provide the 
Department of the Interior's views on S. 2870 to authorize the 
Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study 
of the site known as ``Amache'' in the State of Colorado.
    The Department recognizes that Amache, also known as the 
Granada Relocation Center, would be an appropriate subject for 
a special resource study. However, we do not support enactment 
of S. 2870 at this time, as we are focusing resources on 
reducing the National Park Service's $11.6 billion deferred 
maintenance backlog and addressing other critical national park 
needs. In addition, the National Park Service has not yet 
completed 20 studies on other sites that Congress previously 
authorized to determine if these specific areas meet the 
appropriate criteria for designation as new park units, 
national heritage areas, national trails, or wild and scenic 
rivers.
    This study authorized by this bill would determine whether 
Amache meets the statutory criteria for inclusion in the 
National Park System of national significance, suitability, and 
feasibility, and the need for National Park Service management. 
The study would also consider other alternatives for 
preservation, protection, and interpretation of the resources 
by the Federal government, State or local government entities, 
or private and non-profit entities. Alternatives might include, 
for example, the designation of the site as an affiliated area 
of the National Park Service, where the National Park Service 
would provide technical assistance to the site but not own or 
manage it. We estimate the cost of the study to range from 
$200,000 to $400,000, based on similar types of studies 
conducted in recent years.
    Amache is located one mile outside Granada, in southeastern 
Colorado. During World War II, Amache was one of 10 major sites 
built by the War Relocation Authority to detain Japanese 
Americans forcibly removed from the West Coast of the United 
States under the terms of Executive Order 9066. Approximately 
10,000 people of Japanese descent were detained in Amache while 
it was in operation. The town of Granada owns the site, and the 
Amache Preservation Society maintains it. Visitors can observe 
extensive structural remains and artifacts from the 
incarceration period as well as archeological evidence of land 
use around the site prior to World War II. Many of the concrete 
features contain inscriptions of dates and names of people who 
were incarcerated there.
    Amache was designated as a National Historic Landmark by 
the Secretary of the Interior on February 10, 2006. Two 
organizations, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and 
Colorado Preservation, Inc., have used grants received through 
the National Park Service's Japanese American Confinement Sites 
Grant Program since 2006 to help preserve and interpret the 
resources at Amache.
    Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement. 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 bill as ordered 
reported.

                                  [all]
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