II

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2182

To consolidate certain mineral interests in the National Grasslands in Billings

County, North Dakota, through the exchange of Federal and private

mineral interests to enhance land management capabilities and environmental and wildlife protection, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 30, 1996

Mr. DORGAN (for himself and Mr. CONRAD) introduced the following bill;

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

A BILL

To consolidate certain mineral interests in the National

Grasslands in Billings County, North Dakota, through

the exchange of Federal and private mineral interests

to enhance land management capabilities and environmental and wildlife protection, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. EXCHANGE OF CERTAIN MINERAL INTERESTS

4 IN BILLINGS COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA.

5 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to con6 solidate certain mineral interests in the Little Missouri

7 National Grasslands in Billings County, North Dakota,
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1 through the exchange of Federal and private mineral in2 terests in order to enhance land management capability

3 and environmental and wildlife protection.

4 (b) EXCHANGE.—Notwithstanding any other provi5 sion of law—

6 (1) if, not later than 45 days after the date of

7 enactment of this Act, Burlington Resources Oil &

8 Gas Company (referred to in this section as ‘‘Bur9 lington’’ and formerly known as Meridian Oil Inc.),

10 conveys title acceptable to the Secretary of Agri11 culture (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec12 retary’’) to rights and interests identified on the

13 map entitled ‘‘Billings County, North Dakota, Con14 solidated Mineral Exchange—November 1995’’, by

15 quitclaim deed acceptable to the Secretary, the Sec16 retary shall convey to Burlington, subject to valid

17 existing rights, by quit-claim deed, all Federal rights

18 and interests identified on that map; and

19 (2) if Burlington makes the conveyance under

20 paragraph (1) and, not later than 180 days after the

21 date of enactment of this Act, the owners of the re22 maining non-oil gas mineral interests identified on

23 that map convey title acceptable to the Secretary to

24 all rights, title, and interests in the interests held by

25 them, by quitclaim deed acceptable to the Secretary,
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1 the Secretary shall convey to those owners, subject

2 to valid existing rights, by exchange deed, all Fed3 eral rights, title, and interests in National Forest

4 System lands and National Grasslands in the State

5 of North Dakota as are agreed to by the Secretary

6 and the owners of those interests.

7 (c) LEASEHOLD INTERESTS.—As a condition prece8 dent to the conveyance of interests by the Secretary to

9 Burlington under this section, all leasehold and contrac10 tual interests in the oil and gas interests to be conveyed

11 by Burlington to the United States under this section shall

12 be released, to the satisfaction of the Secretary.

13 (d) APPROXIMATE EQUAL VALUE OF EXCHANGES

14 WITH OTHER INTEREST OWNERS.—The values of the in15 terests to be exchanged under subsection (b)(2) shall be

16 approximately equal, as determined by the Secretary.

17 (e) LAND USE.—

18 (1) EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT.—The

19 Secretary shall grant to Burlington, and its succes20 sors and assigns, the use of Federally-owned surface

21 lands to explore for and develop interests conveyed

22 to Burlington under this Act, subject to applicable

23 Federal and State laws.

24 (2) SURFACE OCCUPANCY AND USE.—Rights to

25 surface occupancy and use that Burlington would
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1 have absent the exchange under this Act on its in2 terests conveyed under this Act shall apply to the

3 same extent on the federally owned surface estate

4 overlying oil and gas rights conveyed to Burlington

5 under this Act.

6 (f) ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION FOR ENVIRON7 MENTALLY SENSITIVE LANDS.—All activities of Bur8 lington, and its successors and assigns, relating to explo9 ration and development on environmentally sensitive Na10 tional Forest System lands, as described in the ‘‘Memo11 randum of Understanding Concerning Certain Severed

12 Mineral Estates, Billings County, North Dakota’’, exe13 cuted by the Forest Service and Burlington and dated No14 vember 2, 1995, shall be subject to the terms of the memo15 randum.

16 (g) MAP.—The map referred to in subsection (b)

17 shall be provided to the Committee on Energy and Natural

18 Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Resources

19 of the House of Representatives, kept on file in the office

20 of the Chief of the Forest Service, and made available for

21 public inspection in the office of the Forest Supervisor of

22 the Custer National Forest within 45 days after the date

23 of enactment of this Act.

24 (h) OTHER LAWS.—The exchange under subsection

25 (b)(1) shall be deemed to meet the requirements of all
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1 other Federal laws, including all land exchange laws, envi2 ronmental laws, and cultural laws (such as the National

3 Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.)), and

4 no further compliance with any other law shall be required

5 in order to implement the exchanges.

6 (i) CONTINUATION OF MULTIPLE USE.—Nothing in

7 this Act, shall limit, restrict, or otherwise affect the appli8 cation of the principle of multiple use (including outdoor

9 recreation, range, timber, watershed, and fish and wildlife

10 purposes) in any area of the Little Missouri National

11 Grasslands. Federal grazing permits or privileges in areas

12 designated on the map entitled ‘‘Billings County, North

13 Dakota, Consolidated Mineral Exchange—November

14 1995’’ or those lands described in the Memorandum of

15 Understanding Concerning Certain Severed Mineral Es16 tates, Billings County, North Dakota’’, shall not be cur17 tailed or otherwise limited as a result of the exchange au18 thorized by this Act.

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