Buffalo Tract Protection Act

Subjects: Public Lands and Natural Resources, Land transfers, Mining, New Mexico

Summary:  <p><b>Buffalo Tract Protection Act</b></p> <p>This bill withdraws specified Bureau of Land Management lands in Placitas, New Mexico, from (1) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and (2) disposition under the mineral leasing, mineral materials, and geothermal leasing laws.</p> <p>Any conveyance of the surface estate of such federal land shall require a reservation of the mineral estate to the United States.</p>

<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 534 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 534

    To withdraw certain Bureau of Land Management land from mineral 
                              development.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 27, 2023

Mr. Heinrich (for himself and Mr. Lujan) introduced the following bill; 
   which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To withdraw certain Bureau of Land Management land from mineral 
                              development.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Buffalo Tract Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. WITHDRAWAL.

    (a) In General.--Subject to valid existing rights, the Federal land 
described in subsection (b) is withdrawn from all forms of--
            (1) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and
            (2) disposition under the mineral leasing, mineral 
        materials, and geothermal leasing laws.
    (b) Description.--The Federal land referred to in subsections (a) 
and (c) is the approximately 4,288 acres of land administered by the 
Director of the Bureau of Land Management and generally depicted as 
``Tract A'', ``Tract B'', ``Tract C'', and ``Tract D'' on the map 
entitled ``Placitas, New Mexico Area Map'' and dated November 13, 2019.
    (c) Surface Estate.--
            (1) In general.--Subject to the reservation of the mineral 
        estate under paragraph (2), nothing in this Act prohibits the 
        Secretary of the Interior from conveying the surface estate of 
        the Federal land described in subsection (b) in accordance 
        with--
                    (A) the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 
                1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.); or
                    (B) the Act of June 14, 1926 (commonly known as the 
                ``Recreation and Public Purposes Act'') (43 U.S.C. 869 
                et seq.).
            (2) Mineral estate.--Any conveyance of the surface estate 
        of the Federal land described in subsection (b) shall require a 
        reservation of the mineral estate to the United States.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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