I
105TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H.R. 2143
To provide that certain escrowed oil and gas revenues be available for
improving National Park System visitor facilities, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 10, 1997
Mr. MILLER of California introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Resources
A BILL
To provide that certain escrowed oil and gas revenues be
available for improving National Park System visitor fa-
cilities, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘National Park Im-
provement Act of 1997’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
(1) The National Park System consists of 374
areas which are protected and preserved by the Na-
tional Park Service, including 5 new parks which
were added by the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands
Management Act of 1996.
(2) 
National 
park 
areas 
receive 
over
260,000,000 recreation visitors annually, but the
quality of park visitor facilities and related infra-
structure is declining because of inadequate budgets,
according to the General Accounting Office.
(3) 
An 
estimated 
backlog 
of 
over
$5,000,000,000 in maintenance and repair projects
exists for national parks, including visitor facilities,
buildings, transportation systems, trails, interpretive
sites, sanitation, and other priority needs.
(4) On June 19, 1997, the Supreme Court held
in United States of America v. State of Alaska that
the United States retains title to lands underlying
tidal waters off Alaska’s North Slope.
(5) As a result of the Supreme Court decision,
approximately $1,600,000,000 in escrowed oil and
gas lease revenues are to be received by the United
States. These funds are double the amount included
by the Congressional Budget Office in revenue esti-
mates for the concurrent resolution on the budget.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to provide
that the escrowed North Slope oil and gas lease sale reve-
nues received by the United States pursuant to the Su-
preme Court decision in United States of America v. State
of Alaska are dedicated to improving visitor facilities and
other resources in the National Park System.
SEC. 3. NATIONAL PARK IMPROVEMENT ACCOUNT.
(a) SPECIAL ACCOUNT.—Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, all escrowed oil and gas revenues received
by the United States pursuant to the June 19, 1997, deci-
sion by the Supreme Court in United States of America
v. State of Alaska shall be deposited in a special account
in the Treasury of the United States, to be known as the
National Park Improvement Account, for use pursuant to
the provisions of subsection (c). Not more than 1⁄3 of the
amount available to the Secretary of the Interior shall be
expended in any 1 fiscal year.
(b) INVESTMENT OF SPECIAL ACCOUNT.—All funds
deposited as principal in the National Park Improvement
Account shall earn interest in the amount determined by
the Secretary of the Treasury. Such interest shall be
added to the principal of the account and expended ac-
cording to the provisions of subsection (c).
(c) NATIONAL
PARK
SYSTEM
IMPROVEMENT.—
Amounts in the National Park Improvement Account shall
be available without further appropriation and may be ex-
pended by the Secretary of the Interior for purposes of
improving the National Park System through mainte-
nance, repair, reconstruction, and restoration of visitor fa-
cilities, buildings, transportation systems, trails, grounds,
interpretive sites, sanitation, and other park resources.
Such funds shall be used for projects which are consistent
with the applicable General Management Plan for the park
unit involved and shall be allocated for the highest priority
projects pursuant to the project priority list maintained
by the National Park Service.
Æ