II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2146

To provide for the exchange of certain lands within the State of Utah.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 9, 1998

Mr. HATCH (for himself and Mr. BENNETT) 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 lands within 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 Schools and

5 Lands Exchange Act of 1998’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 The Congress finds the following:

8 (1) The State of Utah owns approximately

9 176,600 acres of land, as well as approximately

10 24,165 acres of mineral interests, administered by
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1 the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Ad2 ministration, within the exterior boundaries of the

3 Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, es4 tablished by Presidential proclamation on September

5 18, 1996, pursuant to section 2 of the Antiquities

6 Act of 1906 (16 U.S.C. 431). The State of Utah

7 also owns approximately 200,000 acres of land, and

8 76,000 acres of mineral interests, administered by

9 the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Ad10 ministration, within the exterior boundaries of sev11 eral units of the National Park System and the Na12 tional Forest System, and within certain Indian res13 ervations in Utah. These lands were granted by Con14 gress to the State of Utah pursuant to the Utah En15 abling Act, chap. 138, 28 Stat. 107 (1894), to be

16 held in trust for the benefit of the State’s public

17 school system and other public institutions.

18 (2) Many of the State school trust lands within

19 the monument may contain significant economic

20 quantities of mineral resources, including coal, oil,

21 and gas, tar sands, coalbed methane, titanium, ura22 nium, and other energy and metalliferous minerals.

23 Certain State school trust lands within the Monu24 ment, like the Federal lands comprising the Monu25 ment, have substantial noneconomic scientific, his-
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1 toric, cultural, scenic, recreational, and natural re2 sources, including ancient Native American archeo3 logical sites and rare plant and animal communities.

4 (3) Development of surface and mineral re5 sources on State school trust lands within the monu6 ment could be incompatible with the preservation of

7 these scientific and historic resources for which the

8 monument was established. Federal acquisition of

9 State school trust lands within the monument would

10 eliminate this potential incompatibility, and would

11 enhance management of the Grand Staircase12 Escalante National Monument.

13 (4) The United States owns lands and interest

14 in lands outside of the monument that can be trans15 ferred to the State of Utah in exchange for the

16 monument inholdings without jeopardizing Federal

17 management objectives or needs.

18 (5) In 1993, Congress passed and the President

19 signed Public Law 103–93, which contained a proc20 ess for exchanging State of Utah school trust

21 inholdings in the National Park System, the Na22 tional Forest System, and certain Indian reserva23 tions in Utah. Among other things, it identified var24 ious Federal lands and interests in land that were

25 available to exchange for these State inholdings.
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1 (6) Although Public Law 103–93 offered the

2 hope of a prompt, orderly exchange of State

3 inholdings for Federal lands elsewhere, implementa4 tion of the legislation has been very slow. Comple5 tion of this process is realistically estimated to be

6 many years away, at great expense to both the State

7 and the United States in the form of expert wit8 nesses, lawyers, appraisers, and other litigation

9 costs.

10 (7) The State also owns approximately 2,560

11 acres of land in or near the Alton coal field which

12 has been declared an area unsuitable for coal mining

13 under the terms of the Surface Mining Control and

14 Reclamation Act. This land is also administered by

15 the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Ad16 ministration, but its use is limited given this dec17 laration.

18 (8) The large presence of State school trust

19 land inholdings in the monument, national parks,

20 national forests, and Indian reservations make land

21 and resource management in these areas difficult,

22 costly, and controversial for both the State of Utah

23 and the United States.

24 (9) It is in the public interest to reach agree25 ment on exchange of inholdings, on terms fair to
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1 both the State and the United States. Agreement

2 saves much time and delay in meeting the expecta3 tions of the State school and institutional trusts, in

4 simplifying management of Federal and Indian lands

5 and resources, and in avoiding expensive, protracted

6 litigation under Public Law 103–93.

7 (10) The State of Utah and the United States

8 have reached an agreement under which the State

9 would exchange of all its State school trust lands

10 within the monument, and specified inholdings in

11 national parks, forests, and Indian reservations that

12 are subject to Public Law 103–93, for various Fed13 eral lands and interests in lands located outside the

14 monument, including Federal lands and interests

15 identified as available for exchange in Public Law

16 103–93 and additional Federal lands and interests

17 in lands.

18 (11) The State school trust lands to be con19 veyed to the Federal Government include properties

20 within units of the National Park System, the Na21 tional Forest System, and the Grand Staircase22 Escalante National Monument. The Federal assets

23 made available for exchange with the State were se24 lected with a great sensitivity to environmental con25 cerns and a belief and expectation by both parties
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1 that Federal assets to be conveyed to the State

2 would be unlikely to trigger significant environ3 mental controversy.

4 (12) The parties agreed at the outset of nego5 tiations to avoid identifying Federal assets for con6 veyance to the State where any of the following was

7 known to exist or likely to be an issue as a result

8 of foreseeable future uses of the land: significant

9 wildlife resources, endangered species habitat, sig10 nificant archaeological resources, areas of critical en11 vironmental concern, coal resources requiring sur12 face mining to extract the mineral deposits, wilder13 ness study areas, significant recreational areas, or

14 any other lands known to raise significant environ15 mental concerns of any kind.

16 (13) The parties further agreed that the use of

17 any mineral interests obtained by the State of Utah

18 where the Federal Government retains surface and

19 other interest, will not conflict with established Fed20 eral land and environmental management objectives,

21 and shall be fully subject to all environmental regu22 lations applicable to development of non-Federal

23 mineral interest on Federal lands.

24 (14) Because the inholdings to be acquired by

25 the Federal Government include properties within
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1 the boundaries of some of the most renowned con2 servation land units in the United States, and be3 cause a mission of the Utah School and Institutional

4 Trust Lands Administration is to produce economic

5 benefits for Utah’s public schools and other bene6 ficiary institutions, the exchange of lands called for

7 in this agreement will resolve many longstanding en8 vironmental conflicts and further the interest of the

9 State trust lands, the school children of Utah, and

10 these conservation resources.

11 (15) The Congress finds that, under this Agree12 ment taken as a whole, the State interests to be con13 veyed to the United States by the State of Utah,

14 and the Federal interests and payments to be con15 veyed to the State of Utah by the United States, are

16 approximately equal in value.

17 (16) The purpose of this legislation is to enact

18 into law and direct prompt implementation of this

19 historic agreement.

20 SEC. 3. RATIFICATION OF AGREED EXCHANGE BETWEEN

21 THE STATE OF UTAH AND THE DEPARTMENT

22 OF THE INTERIOR.

23 (a) AGREEMENT.—The State of Utah and the De24 partment of the Interior have agreed to exchange certain

25 Federal lands, Federal mineral interests, and payment of
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1 money for lands and mineral interests managed by the

2 Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administra3 tion, lands and mineral interests of approximately equal

4 value inheld within the Grand Staircase-Escalante Na5 tional Monument the Goshute and Navajo Indian Reserva6 tions, units of the national park system, the national for7 est system, and the Alton coal fields.

8 (b) RATIFICATION.—All terms, conditions, proce9 dures, covenants, reservations, and other provisions set

10 forth in the document entitled ‘‘Agreement to Exchange

11 Utah School Trust Lands Between the State of Utah and

12 the United States of America’’ (herein referred to as ‘‘the

13 Agreement’’) are hereby incorporated in this title, are rati14 fied and confirmed, and set forth the obligations and com15 mitments of the United States, the State of Utah, and

16 Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administra17 tion (herein referred to as ‘‘SITLA’’), as a matter of Fed18 eral law.

19 SEC. 4. LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The maps and legal descriptions

21 referred to in the Agreement depict the lands subject to

22 the conveyances.

23 (b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—The maps and descrip24 tions referred to in the Agreement shall be on file and

25 available for public inspection in the offices of the Sec-
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1 retary of the Interior and the Utah State Director of the

2 Bureau of Land Management.

3 (c) CONFLICT.—In case of conflict between the maps

4 and the legal descriptions, the legal descriptions shall con5 trol.

6 SEC. 5. COSTS.

7 The United States and the State of Utah shall each

8 bear its own respective costs incurred in the implementa9 tion of this Act.

10 SEC. 6. REPEAL OF PUBLIC LAW 103–93 AND PUBLIC LAW

11 104–211.

12 The provisions of Public law 103–93 (107 Stat. 995),

13 other than section 7(b)(1), section 7(b)(3) and section

14 10(b) thereof, are hereby repealed. Public Law 104–211

15 (110 Stat. 3013) is hereby repealed.

16 SEC. 7. CASH PAYMENT PREVIOUSLY AUTHORIZED.

17 As previously authorized and made available by sec18 tion 7(b)(1) and (b)(3) of Public Law 103–93, upon com19 pletion of all conveyances described in the Agreement, the

20 United States shall pay $50,000,000 to the State of Utah

21 from funds not otherwise appropriated from the Treasury.
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1 SEC. 8. SCHEDULE FOR CONVEYANCES.

2 All conveyances under sections 2 and 3 of the agree3 ment shall be completed within 70 days after the enact4 ment of this Act.

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