I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3190
To establish the Oil Region National Heritage Area.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 1, 1999
Mr. PETERSON of Pennsylvania introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Resources
A BILL
To establish the Oil Region National Heritage Area.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Oil Region National
Heritage Area Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
(1) The Oil Region of Northwestern Pennsyl-
vania, with numerous sites and districts listed on the
National Register of Historic Places, and designated
by the Governor of Pennsylvania as one of the State
Heritage Park Areas, is a region with tremendous
physical and natural resources and possesses a story
of State, national, and international significance.
(2) The single event of Colonel Edwin Drake’s
drilling of the world’s first successful oil well in
1859 has affected the industrial, natural, social, and
political structures of the modern world.
(3) Six national historic districts are located
within the State Heritage Park boundary, in
Emlenton, Franklin, Oil City, and Titusville, as well
as 17 separate National Register sites.
(4) The Allegheny River, which was designated
as a component of the national wild and scenic riv-
ers system in 1992 by Public Law 102–271, tra-
verses the Oil Region and connects several of its
major sites, as do some of the river’s tributaries
such as Oil Creek, French Creek, and Sandy Creek.
(5) The unspoiled rural character of the Oil Re-
gion provides many natural and recreational re-
sources, scenic vistas, and excellent water quality for
people throughout the United States to enjoy.
(6) Remnants of the oil industry, visible on the
landscape to this day, provide a direct linkage to the
past for visitors, as do the historic valley settle-
ments, riverbed settlements, plateau developments,
farmlands, and industrial landscapes.
(7) The Oil Region also represents a cross-sec-
tion of American history associated with Native
Americans, frontier settlements, the French and In-
dian War, African-Americans and the Underground
Railroad, and immigration of Swedish and Polish in-
dividuals, among others.
(8) Involvement by the Federal Government will
serve to enhance the efforts of the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, local subdivisions of the Common-
wealth of Pennsylvania, volunteer organizations, and
private businesses, to promote the cultural, national,
and recreational resources of the region in order to
fulfill their full potential.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to enhance
a cooperative management framework to assist the Com-
monwealth of Pennsylvania, its units of local government,
and area citizens in retaining, enhancing, and interpreting
the significant features of the lands, water, and structures
of the Oil Region, in a manner consistent with positive
economic impact and development for the benefit and in-
spiration of present and future generations in the Com-
monwealth of Pennsylvania and the United States.
SEC. 3. OIL REGION NATIONAL HERITAGE AREA.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby established
the Oil Region National Heritage Area (in this Act re-
ferred to as the ‘‘Heritage Area’’).
(b) BOUNDARIES.—The Heritage Area shall be com-
prised of all or parts of the counties of Venango and
Crawford in Pennsylvania, determined pursuant to the
compact under section 4.
(c) MANAGEMENT ENTITY.—The management entity
for the Heritage Area shall be the Oil Heritage Region,
Inc., the locally based private, nonprofit management cor-
poration which will oversee the development of the Oil Re-
gion National Heritage Park, as described in the ‘‘Plan
for the Oil Region Heritage Park’’, dated March 1994 (in
this Act referred to as the ‘‘management entity’’).
SEC. 4. COMPACT.
To carry out the purposes of this Act, the Secretary
of the Interior (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’)
shall enter into a compact with the management entity.
The compact shall include information relating to the ob-
jectives and management of the area, including each of
the following:
(1) A delineation of the boundaries of the Her-
itage Area.
(2) A discussion of the goals and objectives of
the Heritage Area, including an explanation of the
proposed approach to conservation and interpreta-
tion and a general outline of the protection measures
committed to by the Secretary and management en-
tity.
SEC. 5. AUTHORITIES AND DUTIES OF MANAGEMENT
ENTITY.
(a) AUTHORITIES OF THE MANAGEMENT ENTITY.—
The management entity may, for purposes of preparing
and implementing the management plan developed under
subsection (b), use funds made available through this Act
for the following:
(1) To make loans and grants to, and enter
into cooperative agreements with States and their
political subdivisions, private organizations, or any
other person.
(2) To hire and compensate staff.
(b) MANAGEMENT PLAN.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The management entity
shall develop a management plan for the Heritage
Area that—
(A) presents comprehensive recommenda-
tions for the Heritage Area’s conservation,
funding, management, and development;
(B) takes into consideration existing State,
county, and local plans and involve residents,
public agencies, and private organizations work-
ing in the Heritage Area;
(C) includes actions to be undertaken by
units of government and private organizations
to protect the resources of the Heritage Area;
and
(D) specifies the existing and potential
sources of funding to protect, manage, and de-
velop the Heritage Area.
(2) REQUIRED PROVISIONS.—The management
plan shall include the following:
(A) An inventory of the resources con-
tained in the Heritage Area, including a list of
any property in the Heritage Area that is re-
lated to the themes of the Heritage Area and
that should be preserved, restored, managed,
developed, or maintained because of its natural,
cultural, historic, recreational, or scenic signifi-
cance.
(B) A recommendation of policies for re-
source management which considers and details
application of appropriate land and water man-
agement techniques, including, but not limited
to, the development of intergovernmental and
interagency cooperative agreements to protect
the Heritage Area’s historical, cultural, rec-
reational, and natural resources in a manner
consistent with supporting appropriate and
compatible economic viability.
(C) A program for implementation of the
management plan by the management entity,
including plans for restoration and construc-
tion, and specific commitments for that imple-
mentation that have been made by the manage-
ment entity and any other persons for the first
5 years of implementation.
(D) An analysis of ways in which local,
State, and Federal programs may best be co-
ordinated to promote the purposes of this Act.
(E) An interpretation plan for the Herit-
age Area.
(3) DEADLINE; TERMINATION OF FUNDING.—
(A) The management entity shall submit
the management plan to the Secretary within 1
year after the date of enactment of this Act.
(B) If a management plan is not submitted
to the Secretary in accordance with this sub-
section, the management entity shall not qualify
for Federal assistance under this Act after the
1-year period beginning on the date of enact-
ment of this Act.
(c) DUTIES OF MANAGEMENT ENTITY.—The man-
agement entity shall—
(1) give priority to implementing actions set
forth in the compact and management plan, includ-
ing actions to assist units of government, regional
planning organizations, and nonprofit organizations
in preserving the Heritage Area;
(2) assist units of government, regional plan-
ning organizations, and nonprofit organizations in—
(A) establishing and maintaining interpre-
tive exhibits in the Heritage Area;
(B) developing recreational resources in
the Heritage Area;
(C) increasing public awareness of and ap-
preciation for the natural, historical, and archi-
tectural resources and sites in the Heritage
Area;
(D) the restoration of any historic building
relating to the themes of the Heritage Area;
and
(E) ensuring that clear, consistent, and en-
vironmentally appropriate signs identifying ac-
cess points and sites of interest are put in place
throughout the Heritage Area;
(3) encourage by appropriate means economic
viability in the Heritage Area consistent with the
goals of the plan;
(4) consider the interests of diverse govern-
mental, business, and nonprofit groups within the
Heritage Area;
(5) conduct public meetings at least annually
regarding the implementation of the management
plan;
(6) submit substantial changes (including any
increase of more than 20 percent in the cost esti-
mates for implementation) to the management plan
to the Secretary for the Secretary’s approval;
(7) for any year in which Federal funds have
been provided to implement the management plan
under subsection (b)—
(A) submit an annual report to the Sec-
retary setting forth its accomplishments, its ex-
penses and income, and each person to which
any loan or grant was made by the manage-
ment entity in the year for which the report is
made; and
(B) require, for all agreements entered into
by the management entity authorizing expendi-
ture of Federal funds by any other person, that
the person making the expenditure make avail-
able to the management entity for audit all
records pertaining to the expenditure of such
funds.
(d) PROHIBITION ON THE ACQUISITION OF REAL
PROPERTY.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The management entity may
not use Federal funds received under this Act to ac-
quire real property or an interest in real property.
(2) LIMITATION.—Nothing in this Act shall
preclude the management entity from using Federal
funds from other sources for their authorized pur-
poses.
SEC. 6. DUTIES AND AUTHORITIES OF FEDERAL AGENCIES.
(a) TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may, upon re-
quest of the management entity, provide technical
and, subject to the availability of appropriations, fi-
nancial assistance to the management entity to de-
velop and implement a management plan that is
submitted under section 5(b) and approved by the
Secretary.
(2) PRIORITY.—In assisting the management
entity, the Secretary shall give priority to actions
that in general assist in—
(A) conserving the significant natural, his-
toric, and cultural resources that support the
themes of the management plan; and
(B) providing educational, interpretive, and
recreational opportunities consistent with the
resources and associated values of the Heritage
Area.
(3) DOCUMENTATION OF STRUCTURES, ETC.—
The Secretary, acting through the Historic American
Building Survey and the Historic American Engi-
neering Record, shall conduct studies necessary to
document the industrial, engineering, building, and
architectural history of the Heritage Area.
(b) APPROVAL AND DISAPPROVAL OF MANAGEMENT
PLANS.—The Secretary, in consultation with the Governor
of Pennsylvania, shall approve or disapprove a manage-
ment plan submitted under this Act not later than 90 days
after receiving such plan.
(c) ACTION FOLLOWING DISAPPROVAL.—If the Sec-
retary disapproves a management plan, the Secretary shall
advise the management entity in writing of the reasons
for the disapproval and shall make recommendations for
revisions in the plan. The Secretary shall approve or dis-
approve a proposed revision within 90 days after the date
it is submitted.
(d) APPROVING CHANGES.—The Secretary shall re-
view amendments to the management plan under section
5(b) that make substantial changes required to be sub-
mitted under section 5(c)(6). Funds appropriated under
the authority of this Act may not be expended to imple-
ment such changes until the Secretary approves the
amendments.
SEC. 7. SUNSET.
The Secretary may not make any grant or provide
any assistance under this Act after the expiration of the
10-year period beginning on the date the Secretary ap-
proves a management plan submitted under section 5(b).
SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro-
priated under this Act—
(1) not more than $1,000,000 for any fiscal
year; and
(2) Not more than a total of $10,000,000.
(b) 50 PERCENT MATCH.—Financial assistance pro-
vided under this Act may not be used to pay more than
50 percent of the total cost of any activity carried out with
that assistance.
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