II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 3245

To provide for the transfer of the Coast Guard Station Scituate to the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 26 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2000

Mr. KERRY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

A BILL

To provide for the transfer of the Coast Guard Station

Scituate to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 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. TRANSFER OF COAST GUARD STATION

4 SCITUATE TO THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND

5 ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION.

6 (a) AUTHORITY TO TRANSFER.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the

8 General Services Administration, in consultation

9 with the Commandant, United States Coast Guard,

10 may transfer without consideration administrative
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1 jurisdiction, custody, and control over the Federal

2 property known as Coast Guard Station Scituate to

3 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra4 tion (hereinafter referred to as ‘‘NOAA’’).

5 (2) IDENTIFICATION OF PROPERTY.—The Ad6 ministrator, in consultation with the Commandant,

7 may identify, describe, and determine the property

8 to be transferred under this section.

9 (b) TERMS OF TRANSFER.—

10 (1) The transfer of the property shall be made

11 subject to any conditions and reservations the Com12 mandant considers necessary to ensure that—

13 (A) the transfer of the property to NOAA

14 is contingent upon the relocation of Coast

15 Guard Station Scituate to a suitable site;

16 (B) there is reserved to the Coast Guard

17 the right to remove, relocate, or replace any aid

18 to navigation located upon, or install any aid to

19 navigation upon, the property transferred under

20 this section as may be necessary for naviga21 tional purposes; and

22 (C) the Coast Guard shall have the right

23 to enter the property transferred under this sec24 tion at any time, without notice, for purposes of
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1 operating, maintaining, and inspecting any aid

2 to navigation.

3 (2) The transfer of the property shall be made

4 subject to the review and acceptance of the property

5 by NOAA.

6 (c) RELOCATION OF STATION SCITUATE.—The Coast

7 Guard may—

8 (1) lease land, including unimproved or vacant

9 land, for a term not to exceed 20 years, for the pur10 pose of relocating Coast Guard Station Scituate; and

11 (2) improve the land leased under this sub12 section.

13 SEC. 2. COAST GUARD STATION NANTUCKET; PLUM ISLAND

14 PROPERTY.

15 (a) AUTHORITY TO CONVEY.—

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Transpor17 tation may convey, by an appropriate means of con18 veyance, all right, title, and interest of the United

19 States in and to each of the following properties:

20 (A) Coast Guard LORAN Station Nan21 tucket, located in Nantucket, Massachusetts, to

22 the Town of Nantucket, Massachusetts.

23 (B) Two parcels of land on which are situ24 ated the Plum Island Boathouse and the Plum

25 Island Lighthouse (also known as the Newbury-
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1 port Harbor Light), located in Essex County,

2 Massachusetts, to the city of Newburyport,

3 Massachusetts.

4 (2) IDENTIFICATION OF PROPERTY.—The Sec5 retary may identify, describe, and determine the

6 property to be conveyed under this section.

7 (3) LIMITATION.—The Secretary may not

8 under this section convey—

9 (A) any historical artifact, including any

10 lens or lantern, located on the property at or

11 before the time of the conveyance; or

12 (B) any interest in submerged land.

13 (b) GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each conveyance of property

15 under this section shall be made—

16 (A) without payment of consideration; and

17 (B) subject to the conditions required by

18 this section and other terms and conditions the

19 Secretary may consider appropriate, including

20 the reservation of easements and other rights

21 on behalf of the United States.

22 (2) REVERSIONARY INTEREST.—In addition to

23 any term or condition established under this section,

24 each conveyance of property under this section shall

25 be subject to the condition that all right, title, and
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1 interest in the property conveyed shall immediately

2 revert to the United States if—

3 (A) the property, or any part of the

4 property—

5 (i) ceases to be available and acces6 sible to the public, on a reasonable basis,

7 for educational, park, recreational, cul8 tural, historic preservation, or other simi9 lar purposes specified for the property in

10 the terms of conveyance;

11 (ii) ceases to be maintained in a man12 ner that is consistent with its present or

13 future use as a site for Coast Guard aids

14 to navigation or compliance with this sec15 tion; or

16 (iii) ceases to be maintained in a man17 ner consistent with the provisions in para18 graph (4) established by the Secretary pur19 suant to the National Historic Preserva20 tion Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 470 et seq.);

21 or

22 (B) at least 30 days before that reversion,

23 the Secretary provides written notice to the

24 owner that the property is needed for national

25 security purposes.
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1 (3) MAINTENANCE OF NAVIGATION FUNC2 TIONS.—Each conveyance of property under this

3 section shall be made subject to the conditions that

4 the Secretary considers to be necessary to assure

5 that—

6 (A) the lights, antennas, and associated

7 equipment located on the property conveyed,

8 which are active aids to navigation, shall con9 tinue to be operated and maintained by the

10 United States for as long as they are needed for

11 this purpose;

12 (B) the owner of the property may not

13 interfere or allow interference in any manner

14 with aids to navigation without express written

15 permission from the Commandant of the Coast

16 Guard;

17 (C) there is reserved to the United States

18 the right to relocate, replace, or add any aid to

19 navigation or make any changes to the property

20 conveyed as may be necessary for navigational

21 purposes;

22 (D) the United States shall have the right,

23 at any time, to enter the property without no24 tice for the purpose of maintaining aids to navi-
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1 gation and for the purpose of enforcing compli2 ance with this section; and

3 (E) the United States shall have an ease4 ment of access to and across the property for

5 the purpose of maintaining the aids to naviga6 tion in use on the property.

7 (4) MAINTENANCE OF PROPERTY.—

8 (A) Subject to subparagraph (B), the

9 owner of a property conveyed under this section

10 shall maintain the property in a proper, sub11 stantial, and workmanlike manner, and in ac12 cordance with any conditions established by the

13 conveying authority pursuant to the National

14 Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C.

15 470 et seq.), and other applicable laws.

16 (B) The owner of a property conveyed

17 under this section is not required to maintain

18 any active aid to navigation equipment on the

19 property, except private aids to navigation per20 mitted under section 83 of title 14, United

21 States Code.

22 (c) SPECIAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS.—

23 (1) COAST GUARD LORAN STATION NAN24 TUCKET.—
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1 (A) The Secretary may not convey under

2 this section any interest in the property re3 ferred to in subsection (a)(1)(A) before the date

4 on which the Town of Nantucket enters into an

5 agreement with the Secretary to relocate the

6 Coast Guard receiving antenna and associated

7 equipment (as determined by the Commandant,

8 at the Town’s sole expense and in accordance

9 with design specification, project schedules, and

10 final project approval by the Commandant.

11 (B) The Commandant may, at any time

12 before the date of the conveyance under this

13 section of an interest in the property referred to

14 in subsection (a)(1)(A), grant to the Town of

15 Nantucket a real property license for the pur16 pose of allowing the Town to enter the property

17 to commence construction of a waste water

18 treatment facility and for other site preparation

19 activities.

20 (C) Paragraphs (2)(A)(iii) and (4)(A) of

21 subsection (b) do not apply to the property re22 ferred to in subsection (a)(1)(A).

23 (2) PLUM ISLAND PROPERTY.—The Secretary

24 shall retain all right, title, and interest of the United

25 States in and to any portion of any parcel referred
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1 to in subsection (a)(1)(B) that the Secretary con2 siders appropriate.

3 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

4 (1) AIDS TO NAVIGATION.—The term ‘‘aids to

5 navigation’’ means equipment used for navigation

6 purposes, including lights, antennae, radio, sound

7 signals, electronic navigation equipment, or other as8 sociated equipment operated or maintained by the

9 United States.

10 (2) COMMANDANT.—The term ‘‘Commandant’’

11 means the Commandant of the Coast Guard.

12 (3) OWNER.—The term ‘‘owner’’ means, for a

13 property conveyed under this section, the person

14 identified in subsection (a)(1) to whom the property

15 is conveyed, including any successor or assign of

16 that person.

17 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

18 the Secretary of Transportation.

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