II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2056 

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain interests in 

Federal land acquired for the Scofield Project in Carbon County, Utah. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 1, 2012 

Mr. HATCH (for himself and Mr. LEE) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain 

interests in Federal land acquired for the Scofield 

Project in Carbon County, Utah. 

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 ‘‘Scofield Land Transfer 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) CLAIMANT.—The term ‘‘claimant’’ means 

9 any person or entity that, according to the records 

10 in the office of the Recorder for Carbon County, 


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1 Utah, as of the date of enactment of this Act, claims 

2 title to, or an interest in, the Federal land. 

3 (2) FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Federal land’’ 

4 means the land acquired by Price River Water Con5 servation District and transferred to the United 

6 States for use in the construction and operation of 

7 Scofield Dam and Reservoir located between the nor8 mal water surface elevation and the property bound9 ary elevation in the Scofield Reservoir basin. 

10 (3) FLOOD SURCHARGE ELEVATION.—The term 

11 ‘‘flood surcharge elevation’’ means the elevation of 

12 7640.3 in the North American Vertical Datum of 

13 1988, which corresponds to the elevation of the crest 

14 of Scofield Dam. 

15 (4) FUND.—The term ‘‘Fund’’ means the Sco16 field Reservoir Fund established by section 

17 3(b)(7)(A). 

18 (5) LIFE ESTATE.—The term ‘‘life estate’’ 

19 means an interest of the claimant in the Federal 

20 land that will revert to the United States on the 

21 date of the death of the claimant. 

22 (6) NORMAL WATER SURFACE ELEVATION.— 

23 The term ‘‘normal water surface elevation’’ means 

24 the contour elevation of 7621.8 in the North Amer25 ican Vertical Datum of 1988, which corresponds to 


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1 the elevation of the lip of the spillway of Scofield 

2 Dam. 

3 (7) PROPERTY BOUNDARY ELEVATION.—The 

4 term ‘‘property boundary elevation’’ means the con5 tour elevation 7630, as surveyed by McGonagle and 

6 Ulrich, Land Surveyors, in 1926, which was trans7 muted to the current elevation of 7638.9 in the 

8 North American Vertical Datum of 1988 and which 

9 corresponds to 1.4 vertical feet below the crest of 

10 Scofield Dam. 

11 (8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

12 the Secretary of the Interior. 

13 SEC. 3. CONVEYANCE OF SCOFIELD PROJECT LAND. 

14 (a) SURVEY; NOTIFICATION.—As soon as practicable 

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

16 shall— 

17 (1) complete a full physical and title survey of 

18 the Federal land and any other related land in and 

19 around the Scofield Reservoir Basin; and 

20 (2) attempt to notify each of the claimants of 

21 the trespass or encroachment on the Federal land by 

22 the applicable claimant, including the existence of 

23 any trespassing or encroaching structures of the 

24 claimant. 

25 (b) AUTHORIZATION TO CONVEY FEDERAL LAND.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—To resolve the issues of tres2 pass and encroachment on the Federal land by the 

3 claimants, the Secretary may, on election by the 

4 claimant in accordance with paragraph (5)— 

5 (A) convey to a claimant fee interest in the 

6 claimed portion of the Federal land that is lo7 cated above the normal water surface elevation, 

8 subject to paragraph (2); or 

9 (B) grant to a claimant a life estate per10 mitting the continued occupation of the claimed 

11 portion of the Federal land above the normal 

12 water surface elevation, subject to paragraph 

13 (3). 

14 (2) CONVEYANCE REQUIREMENTS.—A convey15 ance under paragraph (1)(A) shall be subject to— 

16 (A) the claimant paying to the Secretary 

17 the fair market value of the fee interest in the 

18 claimed portion of the Federal land, exclusive of 

19 the value of any permanent structures; 

20 (B) the United States retaining a flood 

21 easement over the entire portion of Federal 

22 land conveyed; and 

23 (C) deed restrictions requiring that— 

24 (i) to prevent any structure on the 

25 portion of the Federal land conveyed from 


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1 being displaced during a flood event, the 

2 claimant— 

3 (I) secure or tie down the struc4 ture; 

5 (II) rebuild the structure with 

6 the same footprint as the original 

7 structure; or 

8 (III) repair the structure; and 

9 (ii) all activities carried out by the 

10 claimant under clause (i) with respect to a 

11 structure be carried out in accordance 

12 with— 

13 (I) the International Building 

14 Code (as adopted by Utah Adminis15 trative Code R156–56); or 

16 (II) any other building code or 

17 engineering standard that is— 

18 (aa) similar to the Inter19 national Building Code; 

20 (bb) widely used; and 

21 (cc) nationally recognized. 

22 (3) LIFE ESTATE REQUIREMENTS.—A life es23 tate granted under paragraph (1)(B) shall be subject 

24 to— 


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1 (A) the claimant paying to the Secretary 

2 the fair market value of the life estate on the 

3 claimed portion of the Federal land; 

4 (B) provisions under which the claimant 

5 agrees to hold the United States harmless for 

6 all claims arising from the design, construction, 

7 operation, or replacement of Scofield Dam and 

8 Reservoir; and 

9 (C) provisions requiring the claimant to se10 cure or tie down all structures on the portion 

11 of Federal land conveyed to prevent the struc12 tures from being displaced during a flood event 

13 in accordance with a code described in clause (i) 

14 or (ii) of paragraph (2)(C). 

15 (4) COMPLIANCE WITH ENVIRONMENTAL

16 LAWS.— 

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—Before conveying the 

18 Federal land under paragraph (1)(A) or grant19 ing a life estate under paragraph (1)(B), the 

20 Secretary shall comply with all applicable re21 quirements under— 

22 (i) the National Environmental Policy 

23 Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.); 

24 (ii) the Endangered Species Act of 

25 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.); and 


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1 (iii) any other applicable law. 

2 (B) EFFECT.—Nothing in this Act modi3 fies or alters any obligations under— 

4 (i) the National Environmental Policy 

5 Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.); or 

6 (ii) the Endangered Species Act of 

7 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 

8 (5) DEADLINE FOR ELECTION.—Not later than 

9 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, each 

10 of the claimants shall notify the Secretary in writing 

11 of whether the claimant opts to receive— 

12 (A) a fee interest in the claimed portion of 

13 the Federal land, in accordance with paragraph 

14 (1)(A); or 

15 (B) a life estate in the claimed portion of 

16 the Federal land, in accordance with paragraph 

17 (1)(B). 

18 (6) FAILURE TO NOTIFY SECRETARY.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—If a claimant fails to 

20 submit to the Secretary a notice of an election 

21 in accordance with paragraph (5), any future 

22 claim by the claimant with respect to the Fed23 eral land shall be extinguished. 

24 (B) QUIET TITLE.—On extinguishment of 

25 the claim under subparagraph (A), the SecVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:53 Feb 02, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2056.IS S2056

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1 retary shall take such action as is necessary to 

2 quiet title to the applicable portion of the Fed3 eral land, including removal of persons, entities, 

4 structures, and materials encumbering the ap5 plicable portion of the Federal land. 

6 (7) TRUST FUND.— 

7 (A) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is estab8 lished in the Treasury of the United States a 

9 fund to be known as the ‘‘Scofield Reservoir 

10 Fund’’, to be administered by the Secretary and 

11 to be available, without fiscal year limitation, 

12 for providing enhanced recreation opportunities 

13 at Scofield Reservoir. 

14 (B) TRANSFERS TO FUND.—There shall be 

15 deposited in the Fund any amounts received as 

16 consideration for a conveyance under paragraph 

17 (2)(A) or a granting of a life estate under para18 graph (3)(A). 

19 SEC. 4. REPORT. 

20 Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment 

21 of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a re22 port that— 

23 (1) describes the status of any activities author24 ized under this Act; 


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1 (2) describes any obstacles to completing any 

2 outstanding transfers of title or grants of life es3 tates; 

4 (3) specifies an anticipated date for completion 

5 of any outstanding transfers of title or grants of life 

6 estates; and 

7 (4) describes efforts to quiet title to any portion 

8 of the Federal land to which a claimant did not sub9 mit an election under section 3(b)(5). 

Æ 


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