II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2938 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 18, 2014 

Mrs. BOXER (for herself and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 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: 


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

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

3 California. 

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

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

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

7 the Bureau of Land Management mineral contracts 

8 numbered CA–20139 and CA–22901. 

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

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

11 and any successors that hold legal interests in the 

12 contracts. 

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

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

15 San Bernardino, California. 

16 (6) MAP.—The term ‘‘Map’’ means the map en17 titled ‘‘Victorville disposal area, California’’ and 

18 dated March 2011. 

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

20 the Secretary of the Interior. 

21 (8) VICTORVILLE DISPOSAL AREA.—The term 

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

23 acres of land identified for disposal in the West Mo24 jave Land Management Plan (2006) of the Bureau 

25 of Land Management and depicted on the Map. 


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1 SEC. 3. APPRAISAL; COMPENSATION TO CONTRACT HOLD2 ER. 

3 (a) APPRAISALS.— 

4 (1) CONTRACT APPRAISAL.— 

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

6 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec7 retary shall determine by mineral appraisal, 

8 using the discounted cash flow method of ap9 praisal (in accordance with the appraisal guide10 lines for appraisals of large quantities of min11 eral materials contained in section IV(E) of 

12 BLM Mineral Material Appraisal Handbook H– 

13 3630)— 

14 (i) the fair market value of the con15 tracts; and 

16 (ii) the amount of royalties the Fed17 eral Government would receive under the 

18 contracts over the 10-year period begin19 ning on the date of enactment of this Act. 

20 (B) CONSIDERATIONS.—In making the de21 termination under subparagraph (A), the Sec22 retary shall assume that— 

23 (i) the contract holder has obtained 

24 all the permits and entitlements necessary 

25 to mine, produce, and sell sand and gravel 

26 under the contract; and 


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1 (ii) mining operations under the con2 tract have commenced at the time of the 

3 determination, with maximum annual pro4 duction volumes that— 

5 (I) are based on the projected 

6 supply and demand outlook at the 

7 time of determination; and 

8 (II) reflect depletion of the re9 serves that are subject to the contract 

10 within the effective periods of the con11 tract. 

12 (C) DONATION.—The Secretary shall pro13 vide to the contract holder and the City of 

14 Santa Clarita a list of approved appraisers from 

15 which the parties shall select and provide the 

16 funding to cover the costs of the appraisal 

17 under subparagraph (A). 

18 (2) LAND APPRAISAL.— 

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

20 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec21 retary shall determine by appraisal standards 

22 under existing laws and regulations, the fair 

23 market value of the Victorville disposal area on 

24 a net present value basis. 


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1 (B) DONATION.—The Secretary shall pro2 vide to the contract holder and the City of 

3 Santa Clarita a list of approved appraisers from 

4 which the parties shall select and provide the 

5 funding to cover the costs of the appraisal 

6 under subparagraph (A). 

7 (b) COMPENSATION.— 

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

9 not later than 30 days after completion of the ap10 praisals under subsection (a), the Secretary shall 

11 offer the contract holder compensation for the can12 cellation of the contracts. 

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

14 the Secretary under paragraph (1) shall be subject 

15 to the following conditions: 

16 (A) The cancellation of the contracts and 

17 the provision of compensation shall be contin18 gent on the availability of funds from the sale 

19 of the Victorville disposal area under section 4, 

20 and any additional compensation provided 

21 under subparagraph (D), as determined nec22 essary by the Secretary. 

23 (B) The amount of compensation offered 

24 by the Secretary under this subsection shall be 

25 equal to or less than the fair market value of 


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1 the contracts, as determined under subsection 

2 (a)(1)(A)(i). 

3 (C) The amount of compensation offered 

4 by the Secretary under this subsection shall be 

5 equal to or less than the projected revenues 

6 generated by the sale of the Victorville disposal 

7 area under section 4, less the projected lost roy8 alties to the Federal Government over the 10- 

9 year period beginning on the date of enactment 

10 of this Act, as determined under subsection 

11 (a)(1)(A)(ii). 

12 (D) If the amount of projected revenues 

13 described in subparagraph (C) is less than the 

14 fair market value determined under subsection 

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

16 60 days after the date on which the Director of 

17 the Bureau of Land Management determines 

18 the projected revenues under subparagraph (C), 

19 negotiate an agreement with the contract holder 

20 and the City of Santa Clarita to provide to the 

21 Secretary amounts equal to the difference, in 

22 the form of— 

23 (i) compensation to be received by the 

24 contract holder; and 


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1 (ii) compensation in a form acceptable 

2 to the Secretary to be provided by the City 

3 of Santa Clarita. 

4 (3) ACCEPTANCE OF OFFER.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—The contract holder 

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

7 which the Secretary makes the offer under 

8 paragraph (1) or an agreement is negotiated 

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

10 agreement. 

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

12 contract holder does not accept the offer under 

13 paragraph (1) or if an agreement is not nego14 tiated under paragraph (2)(D) within the time 

15 period described in subparagraph (A), the con16 tracts shall remain in effect and no further ac17 tions shall taken be taken pursuant to this Act. 

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

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

20 203 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 

21 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1712, 1713) and subject to subsections 

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

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

24 market and offer for sale by competitive bidding and in 

25 a manner designed to obtain the highest price possible, 


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

2 to the Victorville disposal area. 

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

4 keep the Map on file and available for public inspection 

5 in— 

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

7 Land Management; and 

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

9 Management located in Barstow, California. 

10 (c) RIGHT OF LOCAL LAND USE AUTHORITY TO

11 PURCHASE CERTAIN LAND.— 

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

13 subsection (a), the Secretary shall provide to the ap14 plicable local land use authority an exclusive pre15 emptive right, as determined under State law, to 

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

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

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

19 that is located within the jurisdiction of the local 

20 land use authority. 

21 (2) TIMING.—A preemptive right under para22 graph (1) shall be in effect for a period of 30 days 

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

24 (3) AUTHORITY.—During the period described 

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


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

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

3 in and to the land to be offered for sale at fair mar4 ket value, as determined by an appraisal conducted 

5 by the Secretary. 

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

7 authority exercises the preemptive right under para8 graph (1), the Secretary shall convey the land to the 

9 local land use authority immediately on payment by 

10 the local land use authority of the entire purchase 

11 price of the applicable parcel of land. 

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

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

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

15 land described in paragraph (1) within the time pe16 riod described in paragraph (2) and to comply with 

17 any other terms and conditions as the Secretary may 

18 require shall terminate the preemptive right of the 

19 local land use authority with respect to the right, 

20 title, and interest offered for sale. 

21 (d) WITHDRAWAL AND RESERVATION.— 

22 (1) WITHDRAWAL.—Subject to valid existing 

23 rights, the land described in subsection (a) is with24 drawn from— 


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1 (A) entry, appropriation, or disposal under 

2 the public land laws; 

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

4 mining laws; and 

5 (C) operation of the mineral leasing, min6 eral materials, and geothermal leasing laws. 

7 (2) RESERVATION.—In any sale or other dis8 posal of land under this section, there shall be re9 served by the United States the right of the United 

10 States to prospect for, mine, and remove minerals 

11 from the conveyed land. 

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

13 otherwise required by law, before initiating efforts to dis14 pose of land under this section, the Secretary shall consult 

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

16 and surface owners in the jurisdiction in which the land 

17 is located regarding the potential impact of the disposal 

18 and other appropriate aspects of the disposal. 

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

20 under subsection (a) shall be deposited in an account ac21 ceptable to the Secretary and available only for the pur22 poses of carrying out this Act. 

23 SEC. 5. CANCELLATION OF CONTRACTS. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—On completion of the compensa25 tion to the contract holder for the value of each contract 


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1 in accordance with subsection (b), the Secretary shall can2 cel the contracts and withdraw those areas that were sub3 ject to the contracts from further mineral entry under all 

4 mineral leasing and sales authorities available to the Sec5 retary. 

6 (b) COMPENSATION; CANCELLATION; RETENTION OF

7 FUNDS.— 

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

9 the Secretary shall provide to the contract holder the 

10 compensation agreed to under section 3(b) by dis11 bursement of amounts from the account, in 4 equal 

12 payments, as funds are available; 

13 (2) CANCELLATION.— 

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

15 of the first 2 payments to the contract holder 

16 under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall cancel 

17 contract CA–20139. 

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

19 of the remaining 2 payments to the contract 

20 holder under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 

21 cancel contract CA–22901. 

22 (3) RETENTION OF FUNDS.—The Secretary 

23 shall retain sufficient funds to cover the projected 

24 lost royalties determined under section 

25 3(a)(1)(A)(ii). 


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

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

3 holder shall waive all claims against the United States 

4 arising out of, or relating to, the cancellation of the con5 tracts. 

Æ 


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