II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 27 

To clarify authority granted under the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to define the 

exterior boundary of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation in the 

State of Utah, and for other purposes’’. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 22 (legislative day, JANUARY 3), 2013 

Mr. HATCH (for himself and Mr. LEE) introduced the following bill; which was 

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

A BILL 

To clarify authority granted under the Act entitled ‘‘An 

Act to define the exterior boundary of the Uintah and 

Ouray Indian Reservation in the State of Utah, 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 ‘‘Hill Creek Cultural 

5 Preservation and Energy Development Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF AUTHORITY. 

7 The Act entitled ‘‘An Act to define the exterior 

8 boundary of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation in 


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1 the State of Utah, and for other purposes’’, approved 

2 March 11, 1948 (62 Stat. 72), as amended by the Act 

3 entitled ‘‘An Act to amend the Act extending the exterior 

4 boundary of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation in 

5 the State of Utah so as to authorize such State to ex6 change certain mineral lands for other lands mineral in 

7 character’’ approved August 9, 1955, (69 Stat. 544), is 

8 further amended by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 5. In order to further clarify authorizations 

10 under this Act, the State of Utah is hereby authorized to 

11 relinquish to the United States, for the benefit of the Ute 

12 Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, State 

13 school trust or other State-owned subsurface mineral 

14 lands located beneath the surface estate delineated in Pub15 lic Law 440 (approved March 11, 1948) and south of the 

16 border between Grand County, Utah, and Uintah County, 

17 Utah, and select in lieu of such relinquished lands, on an 

18 acre-for-acre basis, any subsurface mineral lands of the 

19 United States located beneath the surface estate delin20 eated in Public Law 440 (approved March 11, 1948) and 

21 north of the border between Grand County, Utah, and 

22 Uintah County, Utah, subject to the following conditions: 

23 ‘‘(1) RESERVATION BY UNITED STATES.—The 

24 Secretary of the Interior shall reserve an overriding 

25 interest in that portion of the mineral estate comVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:35 Jan 24, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S27.IS S27

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1 prised of minerals subject to leasing under the Min2 eral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 171 et seq.) in any min3 eral lands conveyed to the State. 

4 ‘‘(2) EXTENT OF OVERRIDING INTEREST.—The 

5 overriding interest reserved by the United States 

6 under paragraph (1) shall consist of— 

7 ‘‘(A) 50 percent of any bonus bid or other 

8 payment received by the State as consideration 

9 for securing any lease or authorization to de10 velop such mineral resources; 

11 ‘‘(B) 50 percent of any rental or other 

12 payments received by the State as consideration 

13 for the lease or authorization to develop such 

14 mineral resources; 

15 ‘‘(C) a 6.25 percent overriding royalty on 

16 the gross proceeds of oil and gas production 

17 under any lease or authorization to develop 

18 such oil and gas resources; and 

19 ‘‘(D) an overriding royalty on the gross 

20 proceeds of production of such minerals other 

21 than oil and gas, equal to 50 percent of the roy22 alty rate established by the Secretary of the In23 terior by regulation as of October 1, 2011. 

24 ‘‘(3) RESERVATION BY STATE OF UTAH.—The 

25 State of Utah shall reserve, for the benefit of its 


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1 State school trust, an overriding interest in that por2 tion of the mineral estate comprised of minerals sub3 ject to leasing under the Mineral Leasing Act (30 

4 U.S.C. 181 et seq.) in any mineral lands relin5 quished by the State to the United States. 

6 ‘‘(4) EXTENT OF OVERRIDING INTEREST.—The 

7 overriding interest reserved by the State under para8 graph (3) shall consist of— 

9 ‘‘(A) 50 percent of any bonus bid or other 

10 payment received by the United States as con11 sideration for securing any lease or authoriza12 tion to develop such mineral resources on the 

13 relinquished lands; 

14 ‘‘(B) 50 percent of any rental or other 

15 payments received by the United States as con16 sideration for the lease or authorization to de17 velop such mineral resources; 

18 ‘‘(C) a 6.25 percent overriding royalty on 

19 the gross proceeds of oil and gas production 

20 under any lease or authorization to develop 

21 such oil and gas resources; and 

22 ‘‘(D) an overriding royalty on the gross 

23 proceeds of production of such minerals other 

24 than oil and gas, equal to 50 percent of the royVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:35 Jan 24, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S27.IS S27

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1 alty rate established by the Secretary of the In2 terior by regulation as of October 1, 2011. 

3 ‘‘(5) NO OBLIGATION TO LEASE.—Neither the 

4 United States nor the State shall be obligated to 

5 lease or otherwise develop oil and gas resources in 

6 which the other party retains an overriding interest 

7 under this section. 

8 ‘‘(6) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.—The Sec9 retary of the Interior is authorized to enter into co10 operative agreements with the State and the Ute In11 dian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation to 

12 facilitate the relinquishment and selection of lands 

13 to be conveyed under this section, and the adminis14 tration of the overriding interests reserved here15 under.’’. 

Æ 


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