II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2791 

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to grant economy-related contract 

extensions of a certain timber contracts between the Secretary of the 

Interior and timber purchasers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 18, 2009 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. BAUCUS, Mr. WYDEN, and Mr. TESTER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to grant economyrelated contract extensions of a certain timber contracts 

between the Secretary of the Interior and timber purchasers, 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 ‘‘Forest Harvest Oppor5 tunity Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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•S 2791 IS

1 (1) ECONOMY-RELATED CONTRACT EXTEN2 SION.—The term ‘‘economy-related contract exten3 sion’’ means the addition of 3 years to the expiration 

4 date of a qualifying contract for the right to cut and 

5 remove timber. 

6 (2) QUALIFYING CONTRACT.—The term ‘‘quali7 fying contract’’ means a contract, executed on or be8 fore December 31, 2008, for the sale of timber from 

9 land administered by the Bureau of Land Manage10 ment— 

11 (A) for which there is unharvested volume 

12 remaining; 

13 (B) for which, not later than 90 days after 

14 the date of enactment of this Act, the timber 

15 purchaser makes a written request to the Sec16 retary for an economy-related contract exten17 sion; and 

18 (C) that has not been terminated prior to 

19 the request for an economy-related contract ex20 tension under section 3(a). 

21 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

22 the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Di23 rector of the Bureau of Land Management. 

24 (4) TIMBER PURCHASER.—The term ‘‘timber 

25 purchaser’’ means the party to the qualifying conVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:20 Nov 19, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2791.IS S2791

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•S 2791 IS

1 tract for the sale of timber from land administered 

2 by the Bureau of Land Management. 

3 SEC. 3. ECONOMY-RELATED CONTRACT EXTENSIONS. 

4 (a) REQUEST.—Not later than 30 days after a timber 

5 purchaser requests an economy-related contract extension 

6 of a qualifying contract between the Secretary and the 

7 timber purchaser, the Secretary shall modify the quali8 fying contract to add 3 years to the contract expiration 

9 date. 

10 (b) WAIVER OF CLAIMS AS OF EXTENSION.—The 

11 timber purchaser shall waive any and all claims the timber 

12 purchaser has against the United States involving the 

13 qualifying contract that exist on the date that the Sec14 retary modifies the qualifying contract under subsection 

15 (a). 

16 (c) CLAIMS PRIOR TO DATE OF EXTENSION.—Noth17 ing in this Act affects any claim by the United States 

18 against any timber purchaser, including claims that arose 

19 under a qualifying contract before the date on which the 

20 Secretary extends the contract expiration date under sub21 section (a). 

Æ 


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