I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5742 

To provide to the Secretary of the Interior a mechanism to cancel contracts 

for the sale of materials CA–20139 and CA–22901, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 19, 2014 

Mr. MCKEON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To provide to the Secretary of the Interior a mechanism 

to cancel contracts for the sale of materials CA–20139 

and CA–22901, 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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Soledad Canyon Settle5 ment Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) CITY OF SANTA CLARITA.—The term ‘‘City 

9 of Santa Clarita’’ means the City of Santa Clarita, 

10 California. 


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1 (2) CITY OF VICTORVILLE.—The term ‘‘City of 

2 Victorville’’ means the City of Victorville, California. 

3 (3) CONTRACTS.—The term ‘‘contracts’’ means 

4 the Bureau of Land Management mineral contracts 

5 numbered CA–20139 and CA–22901. 

6 (4) CONTRACT HOLDER.—The term ‘‘contract 

7 holder’’ means the private party to the contracts, 

8 and any successors that hold legal interests in the 

9 contracts. 

10 (5) COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO.—The term 

11 ‘‘County of San Bernardino’’ means the County of 

12 San Bernardino, California. 

13 (6) MAP.—The term ‘‘Map’’ means the map en14 titled ‘‘Victorville disposal area, California’’ and 

15 dated March 2011. 

16 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

17 the Secretary of the Interior. 

18 (8) VICTORVILLE DISPOSAL AREA.—The term 

19 ‘‘Victorville disposal area’’ means the 10,206.05 

20 acres of land identified for disposal in the West Mo21 jave Land Management Plan (2006) of the Bureau 

22 of Land Management and depicted on the Map. 

23 SEC. 3. APPRAISAL; COMPENSATION TO CONTRACT HOLD24 ER. 

25 (a) APPRAISALS.— 


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1 (1) CONTRACT APPRAISAL.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 

3 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec4 retary shall determine by mineral appraisal, 

5 using the discounted cash flow method of ap6 praisal (in accordance with the appraisal guide7 lines for appraisals of large quantities of min8 eral materials contained in section IV(E) of 

9 BLM Mineral Material Appraisal Handbook H– 

10 3630)— 

11 (i) the fair market value of the con12 tracts; and 

13 (ii) the amount of royalties the Fed14 eral Government would receive under the 

15 contracts over the 10-year period begin16 ning on the date of enactment of this Act. 

17 (B) CONSIDERATIONS.—In making the de18 termination under subparagraph (A), the Sec19 retary shall assume that— 

20 (i) the contract holder has obtained 

21 all the permits and entitlements necessary 

22 to mine, produce, and sell sand and gravel 

23 under the contract; and 

24 (ii) mining operations under the con25 tract have commenced at the time of the 


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1 determination, with maximum annual pro2 duction volumes that— 

3 (I) are based on the projected 

4 supply and demand outlook at the 

5 time of determination; and 

6 (II) reflect depletion of the re7 serves that are subject to the contract 

8 within the effective periods of the con9 tract. 

10 (C) DONATION.—The Secretary shall pro11 vide to the contract holder and the City of 

12 Santa Clarita a list of approved appraisers from 

13 which the parties shall select and provide the 

14 funding to cover the costs of the appraisal 

15 under subparagraph (A). 

16 (2) LAND APPRAISAL.— 

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days 

18 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec19 retary shall determine by appraisal standards 

20 under existing laws and regulations, the fair 

21 market value of the Victorville disposal area on 

22 a net present value basis. 

23 (B) DONATION.—The Secretary shall pro24 vide to the contract holder and the City of 

25 Santa Clarita a list of approved appraisers from 


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1 which the parties shall select and provide the 

2 funding to cover the costs of the appraisal 

3 under subparagraph (A). 

4 (b) COMPENSATION.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

6 not later than 30 days after completion of the ap7 praisals under subsection (a), the Secretary shall 

8 offer the contract holder compensation for the can9 cellation of the contracts. 

10 (2) CONDITIONS ON OFFER.—An offer made by 

11 the Secretary under paragraph (1) shall be subject 

12 to the following conditions: 

13 (A) The cancellation of the contracts and 

14 the provision of compensation shall be contin15 gent on the availability of funds from the sale 

16 of the Victorville disposal area under section 4, 

17 and any additional compensation provided 

18 under subparagraph (D), as determined nec19 essary by the Secretary. 

20 (B) The amount of compensation offered 

21 by the Secretary under this subsection shall be 

22 equal to or less than the fair market value of 

23 the contracts, as determined under subsection 

24 (a)(1)(A)(i). 


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1 (C) The amount of compensation offered 

2 by the Secretary under this subsection shall be 

3 equal to or less than the projected revenues 

4 generated by the sale of the Victorville disposal 

5 area under section 4, less the projected lost roy6 alties to the Federal Government over the 10- 

7 year period beginning on the date of enactment 

8 of this Act, as determined under subsection 

9 (a)(1)(A)(ii). 

10 (D) If the amount of projected revenues 

11 described in subparagraph (C) is less than the 

12 fair market value determined under subsection 

13 (a)(1)(A)(i), the Secretary shall, not later than 

14 60 days after the date on which the Director of 

15 the Bureau of Land Management determines 

16 the projected revenues under subparagraph (C), 

17 negotiate an agreement with the contract holder 

18 and the City of Santa Clarita to provide to the 

19 Secretary amounts equal to the difference, in 

20 the form of— 

21 (i) compensation to be received by the 

22 contract holder; and 

23 (ii) compensation in a form acceptable 

24 to the Secretary to be provided by the City 

25 of Santa Clarita. 


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1 (3) ACCEPTANCE OF OFFER.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—The contract holder 

3 shall have 60 days from the later of the date on 

4 which the Secretary makes the offer under 

5 paragraph (1) or an agreement is negotiated 

6 under paragraph (2)(D) to accept the offer or 

7 agreement. 

8 (B) FAILURE TO ACCEPT OFFER.—If the 

9 contract holder does not accept the offer under 

10 paragraph (1) or if an agreement is not nego11 tiated under paragraph (2)(D) within the time 

12 period described in subparagraph (A), the con13 tracts shall remain in effect and no further ac14 tions shall taken be taken pursuant to this Act. 

15 SEC. 4. SALE OF LAND NEAR VICTORVILLE, CALIFORNIA. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding sections 202 and 

17 203 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 

18 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1712, 1713) and subject to subsections 

19 (b) through (f), not later than 2 years after the date of 

20 enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall place on the 

21 market and offer for sale by competitive bidding and in 

22 a manner designed to obtain the highest price possible, 

23 all right, title, and interest of the United States in and 

24 to the Victorville disposal area. 


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1 (b) AVAILABILITY OF MAP.—The Secretary shall 

2 keep the Map on file and available for public inspection 

3 in— 

4 (1) the office of the Director of the Bureau of 

5 Land Management; and 

6 (2) the district office of the Bureau of Land 

7 Management located in Barstow, California. 

8 (c) RIGHT OF LOCAL LAND USE AUTHORITY TO

9 PURCHASE CERTAIN LAND.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Before a sale of land under 

11 subsection (a), the Secretary shall provide to the ap12 plicable local land use authority an exclusive pre13 emptive right, as determined under State law, to 

14 purchase any right, title, or interest of the United 

15 States in and to any portion of the parcels of land 

16 identified as ‘‘Area A’’ and ‘‘Area B’’ on the Map 

17 that is located within the jurisdiction of the local 

18 land use authority. 

19 (2) TIMING.—A preemptive right under para20 graph (1) shall be in effect for a period of 30 days 

21 before the land is sold under subsection (a). 

22 (3) AUTHORITY.—During the period described 

23 in paragraph (2), the local land use authority may 

24 purchase some or all of the right, title, and interest 

25 of the United States, as provided in subsection (a), 


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1 in and to the land to be offered for sale at fair mar2 ket value, as determined by an appraisal conducted 

3 by the Secretary. 

4 (4) EXERCISING RIGHT.—If the local land use 

5 authority exercises the preemptive right under para6 graph (1), the Secretary shall convey the land to the 

7 local land use authority immediately on payment by 

8 the local land use authority of the entire purchase 

9 price of the applicable parcel of land. 

10 (5) FAILURE TO PAY.—Failure by the local 

11 land use authority to purchase and pay for the right, 

12 title, and interest of the United States in and to the 

13 land described in paragraph (1) within the time pe14 riod described in paragraph (2) and to comply with 

15 any other terms and conditions as the Secretary may 

16 require shall terminate the preemptive right of the 

17 local land use authority with respect to the right, 

18 title, and interest offered for sale. 

19 (d) WITHDRAWAL AND RESERVATION.— 

20 (1) WITHDRAWAL.—Subject to valid existing 

21 rights, the land described in subsection (a) is with22 drawn from— 

23 (A) entry, appropriation, or disposal under 

24 the public land laws; 


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1 (B) location, entry, and patent under the 

2 mining laws; and 

3 (C) operation of the mineral leasing, min4 eral materials, and geothermal leasing laws. 

5 (2) RESERVATION.—In any sale or other dis6 posal of land under this section, there shall be re7 served by the United States the right of the United 

8 States to prospect for, mine, and remove minerals 

9 from the conveyed land. 

10 (e) CONSULTATION.—In addition to any consultation 

11 otherwise required by law, before initiating efforts to dis12 pose of land under this section, the Secretary shall consult 

13 with the City of Victorville, the County of San Bernardino, 

14 and surface owners in the jurisdiction in which the land 

15 is located regarding the potential impact of the disposal 

16 and other appropriate aspects of the disposal. 

17 (f) ACCOUNT.—The gross proceeds of a sale of land 

18 under subsection (a) shall be deposited in an account ac19 ceptable to the Secretary and available only for the pur20 poses of carrying out this Act. 

21 SEC. 5. CANCELLATION OF CONTRACTS. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—On completion of the compensa23 tion to the contract holder for the value of each contract 

24 in accordance with subsection (b), the Secretary shall can25 cel the contracts and withdraw those areas that were subVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:22 Nov 21, 2014 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5742.IH H5742

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1 ject to the contracts from further mineral entry under all 

2 mineral leasing and sales authorities available to the Sec3 retary. 

4 (b) COMPENSATION; CANCELLATION; RETENTION OF

5 FUNDS.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (3), 

7 the Secretary shall provide to the contract holder the 

8 compensation agreed to under section 3(b) by dis9 bursement of amounts from the account, in 4 equal 

10 payments, as funds are available; 

11 (2) CANCELLATION.— 

12 (A) CONTRACT CA–20139.—On completion 

13 of the first 2 payments to the contract holder 

14 under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall cancel 

15 contract CA–20139. 

16 (B) CONTRACT CA–22901.—On completion 

17 of the remaining 2 payments to the contract 

18 holder under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 

19 cancel contract CA–22901. 

20 (3) RETENTION OF FUNDS.—The Secretary 

21 shall retain sufficient funds to cover the projected 

22 lost royalties determined under section 

23 3(a)(1)(A)(ii). 

24 (c) RELEASE AND WAIVER.—Upon acceptance and 

25 receipt of compensation under subsection (b), the contract 


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1 holder shall waive all claims against the United States 

2 arising out of, or relating to, the cancellation of the con3 tracts. 

Æ 


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