II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2754

To provide for the exchange of certain land in the State of Utah.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 20, 2000

Mr. BENNETT (for himself and Mr. HATCH) introduced the following bill;

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

A BILL

To provide for the exchange of certain land in the State

of 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 ‘‘Utah West Desert

5 Land Exchange Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

8 (1) the State of Utah owns approximately

9 95,095.19 acres of land and approximately

10 11,187.60 acres of mineral interests that are located
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1 in the West Desert region of the State and con2 tained wholly or partially within certain wilderness

3 study areas that were—

4 (A) established under section 603 of the

5 Federal Land Policy and Management Act of

6 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1782); or

7 (B) proposed by the Bureau of Land Man8 agement for designation as wilderness study

9 areas under section 202 of that Act (43 U.S.C.

10 1712);

11 (2) the land was granted by Congress to the

12 State under the Act of July 16, 1894 (commonly

13 known as the ‘‘Utah Enabling Act’’) (28 Stat. 107;

14 chapter 138), to be held in trust for the benefit of

15 the public school system and other public institu16 tions of the State;

17 (3) the land is largely scattered in checkerboard

18 fashion amid the Federal land comprising the re19 mainder of the designated and proposed wilderness

20 study areas;

21 (4) much of the State trust land within des22 ignated and proposed wilderness study areas in the

23 West Desert region may—

24 (A) contain significant economic quantities

25 of mineral resources (including gold, silver, cop-
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1 per, nickel, lead, phosphates, oil, natural gas,

2 and other energy and metalliferous minerals);

3 and

4 (B) have substantial market value for rec5 reational and agricultural uses;

6 (5) certain areas of the land, like the Federal

7 land that comprises the remainder of the designated

8 and proposed wilderness study areas, contain sub9 stantial noneconomic scientific, historical, scenic,

10 recreational, and natural resources;

11 (6) development of surface and mineral re12 sources on State trust land within designated or pro13 posed wilderness study areas, or the sale of that

14 land into private ownership, could be incompatible

15 with—

16 (A) management of the land for non17 impairment of wilderness characteristics of the

18 land under section 603(c) of the Federal Land

19 Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C.

20 1782(c)); or

21 (B) future congressional designation of the

22 land as wilderness;

23 (7) the United States owns land and interests

24 in land outside designated and proposed wilderness

25 study areas that could be transferred to the State in
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1 exchange for the West Desert wilderness inholdings

2 without jeopardizing Federal management objectives

3 or needs;

4 (8) the large presence of State trust land

5 inholdings in designated and proposed wilderness

6 study areas in the West Desert region makes land

7 and resource management in those areas difficult,

8 costly, and controversial for the State and the

9 United States;

10 (9) it is in the public interest to reach agree11 ment on exchange of the inholdings described in

12 paragraph (7) on terms that are fair to the State

13 and the United States, because such an agreement

14 would save substantial time and avoid substantial

15 delay in—

16 (A) meeting the legitimate expectations of

17 the State school and institutional trusts;

18 (B) simplifying management of Federal

19 land; and

20 (C) avoiding the significant time and ex21 pense associated with administrative land ex22 changes;

23 (10) the State and the United States have

24 reached an Agreement under which the State would

25 exchange all its State trust land within specified wil-
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1 derness study areas and areas identified as having

2 wilderness characteristics in the West Desert region

3 for various Federal land and interests in land out4 side those areas, but in the same region of the State;

5 (11) the Agreement provides for the State to

6 convey to the United States approximately 483 acres

7 of land in Washington County, Utah, that have been

8 designated as critical habitat for the Desert Tor9 toise, a threatened species under the Endangered

10 Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.), for

11 inclusion in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve;

12 (12) because the inholdings to be acquired by

13 the Federal Government include properties within

14 some of the most spectacular wild areas in the west15 ern United States, and because a mission of the

16 Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Adminis17 tration is to produce economic benefits for public

18 schools and other beneficiary institutions of the

19 State, the exchange of land called for in the Agree20 ment will—

21 (A) resolve longstanding environmental

22 conflicts with respect to the designated and pro23 posed wilderness study areas;

24 (B) place important natural land into pub25 lic ownership; and
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1 (C) further the interests of the State trust

2 land, the schoolchildren of the State, and those

3 conservation resources; and

4 (13) under the Agreement taken as a whole, the

5 State interests to be conveyed to the United States

6 by the State, and the Federal interests to be con7 veyed to the State by the United States, are approxi8 mately equal in value.

9 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to—

10 (1) incorporate into law, and direct prompt im11 plementation of, the Agreement; and

12 (2) further the public interest by consolidating

13 State and Federal land into manageable units while

14 facilitating the protection of the land (including sig15 nificant scientific, cultural, and natural resources on

16 the land).

17 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

18 In this Act:

19 (1) AGREEMENT.—The term ‘‘Agreement’’

20 means the document entitled ‘‘Agreement for Ex21 change of Lands—West Desert State-Federal Land

22 Consolidation’’, entered into between the United

23 States and the State, dated May 30, 2000.

24 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

25 the Secretary of the Interior.
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1 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the State

2 of Utah.

3 SEC. 4. RATIFICATION OF THE AGREED EXCHANGE BE4 TWEEN THE STATE OF UTAH AND THE DE5 PARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.

6 (a) RATIFICATION.—All terms, conditions, proce7 dures, covenants, reservations, and other provisions de8 scribed in the Agreement, as a matter of Federal law—

9 (1) are incorporated in this Act;

10 (2) are ratified and confirmed; and

11 (3) describe the obligations of—

12 (A) the United States;

13 (B) the State; and

14 (C) the Utah School and Institutional

15 Trust Lands Administration.

16 SEC. 5. CONVEYANCES.

17 (a) CONVEYANCES.—Not later than 70 days after the

18 date of enactment of this Act, all conveyances under sec19 tions 2 and 3 of the Agreement shall be completed.

20 (b) MAPS AND LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The maps and legal descrip22 tions referred to in the Agreement depict the land

23 subject to the conveyances under the Agreement.

24 (2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The maps and de25 scriptions referred to in the Agreement shall be on
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1 file and available for public inspection in the offices

2 of—

3 (A) the Secretary; and

4 (B) the Utah State Director of the Bureau

5 of Land Management.

6 (3) CONFLICT.—In case of any conflict between

7 a map and a legal description in the Agreement, the

8 legal description shall control.

9 SEC. 6. COSTS.

10 The United States and the State shall each bear its

11 own costs incurred in carrying out this Act.

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