SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; DEFINITIONS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Oil
Region National Heritage Area Act’’.
(b) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this Act, the
following definitions shall apply:
(1) HERITAGE
AREA.—The term ‘‘Heritage
Area’’ means the Oil Region National Heritage Area
established in section 3(a).
(2) MANAGEMENT ENTITY.—The term ‘‘manage-
ment entity’’ means the Oil Heritage Region, Inc., or
its successor entity.
(3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
the Secretary of the Interior.
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 polit-
ical 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 rivers
system in 1992 by Public Law 102–271, traverses 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 link to the
past for visitors, as do the historic valley settlements,
riverbed settlements, plateau developments, farmlands,
and industrial landscapes.
(7) The Oil Region also represents a cross section
of American history associated with Native Ameri-
cans, frontier settlements, the French and Indian
War, African Americans and the Underground Rail-
road, and immigration of Swedish and Polish indi-
viduals, among others.
(8) Involvement by the Federal Government shall
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 conserving, enhancing, and inter-
preting the significant features of the lands, water, and
structures of the Oil Region, in a manner consistent with
compatible economic development for the benefit and inspi-
ration of present and future generations in the Common-
wealth 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.
(b) BOUNDARIES.—The boundaries of the Heritage
Area shall include all of those lands depicted on a map enti-
tled ‘‘Oil Region National Heritage Area’’, numbered
OIRE/20,000 and dated October, 2000. The map shall be
on file in the appropriate offices of the National Park Serv-
ice. The Secretary of the Interior shall publish in the Fed-
eral Register, as soon as practical after the date of the en-
actment of this Act, a detailed description and map of the
boundaries established under this subsection.
(c) MANAGEMENT ENTITY.—The management entity
for the Heritage Area shall be the Oil Heritage Region, Inc.,
the locally based private, nonprofit management corpora-
tion which shall oversee the development of a management
plan in accordance with section 5(b).
SEC. 4. COMPACT.
To carry out the purposes of this Act, the Secretary
shall enter into a compact with the management entity. The
compact shall include information relating to the objectives
and management of the area, including a discussion of the
goals and objectives of the Heritage Area, including an ex-
planation of the proposed approach to conservation and in-
terpretation and a general outline of the protection meas-
ures committed to by the Secretary and management entity.
SEC. 5. AUTHORITIES AND DUTIES OF MANAGEMENT
ENTITY.
(a) AUTHORITIES OF THE MANAGEMENT ENTITY.—
The management entity may use funds made available
under this Act for purposes of preparing, updating, and
implementing the management plan developed under sub-
section (b). Such purposes may include—
(1) making grants to, and entering into coopera-
tive agreements with, States and their political sub-
divisions, private organizations, or any other person;
(2) hiring and compensating staff; and
(3) undertaking initiatives that advance the pur-
poses of the Heritage Area.
(b) MANAGEMENT PLAN.—The management entity
shall develop a management plan for the Heritage Area
that—
(1) presents comprehensive strategies and rec-
ommendations for conservation, funding, manage-
ment, and development of the Heritage Area;
(2) takes into consideration existing State, coun-
ty, and local plans and involves residents, public
agencies, and private organizations working in the
Heritage Area;
(3) includes a description of actions that units
of government and private organizations have agreed
to take to protect the resources of the Heritage Area;
(4) specifies the existing and potential sources of
funding to protect, manage, and develop the Heritage
Area;
(5) includes an inventory of the resources con-
tained in the Heritage Area, including a list of any
property in the Heritage Area that is related to the
themes of the Heritage Area and that should be pre-
served, restored, managed, developed, or maintained
because of its natural, cultural, historic, recreational,
or scenic significance;
(6) recommends policies for resource manage-
ment which consider and detail application of appro-
priate land and water management techniques, in-
cluding, but not limited to, the development of inter-
governmental and interagency cooperative agreements
to protect the Heritage Area’s historical, cultural, rec-
reational, and natural resources in a manner con-
sistent with supporting appropriate and compatible
economic viability;
(7) describes a program for implementation of
the management plan by the management entity, in-
cluding plans for restoration and construction, and
specific commitments for that implementation that
have been made by the management entity and any
other persons for the first 5 years of implementation;
(8) includes an analysis of ways in which local,
State, and Federal programs, including the role for
the National Park Service in the Heritage Area, may
best be coordinated to promote the purposes of this
Act;
(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;
(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; and
(F) carrying out other actions that the
management entity determines to be advisable to
fulfill the purposes of this Act;
(3) encourage by appropriate means economic
viability in the Heritage Area consistent with the
goals of the management plan;
(4) consider the interests of diverse governmental,
business, and nonprofit groups within the Heritage
Area; and
(5) for any year in which Federal funds have
been provided to implement the management plan
under subsection (b)—
(A) conduct public meetings at least annu-
ally regarding the implementation of the man-
agement plan;
(B) submit an annual report to the Sec-
retary setting forth accomplishments, expenses
and income, and each person to which any grant
was made by the management entity in the year
for which the report is made; and
(C) 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.
(e) PROHIBITION
ON
THE ACQUISITION
OF REAL
PROPERTY.—The management entity may not use Federal
funds received under this Act to acquire real property or
an interest in real property.
SEC. 6. DUTIES AND AUTHORITIES OF THE SECRETARY.
(a) TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—
(A) OVERALL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary
may, upon the request of the management entity,
and subject to the availability of appropriations,
provide technical and financial assistance to the
management entity to carry out its duties under
this Act, including updating and implementing
a management plan that is submitted under sec-
tion 5(b) and approved by the Secretary and,
prior to such approval, providing assistance for
initiatives.
(B) OTHER ASSISTANCE.—If the Secretary
has the resources available to provide technical
assistance to the management entity to carry out
its duties under this Act (including updating
and implementing a management plan that is
submitted under section 5(b) and approved by
the Secretary and, prior to such approval, pro-
viding assistance for initiatives), upon the re-
quest of the management entity the Secretary
shall provide such assistance on a reimbursable
basis. This subparagraph does not preclude the
Secretary from providing nonreimbursable as-
sistance under subparagraph (A).
(2) PRIORITY.—In assisting the management en-
tity, the Secretary shall give priority to actions that
assist in the—
(A) implementation of the management
plan;
(B) provision of educational assistance and
advice regarding land and water management
techniques to conserve the significant natural re-
sources of the region;
(C) development and application of tech-
niques promoting the preservation of cultural
and historic properties;
(D) preservation, restoration, and reuse of
publicly and privately owned historic buildings;
(E) design and fabrication of a wide range
of interpretive materials based on the manage-
ment plan, including guide brochures, visitor
displays, audio-visual and interactive exhibits,
and educational curriculum materials for public
education; and
(F) implementation of initiatives prior to
approval of the management plan.
(3) DOCUMENTATION OF STRUCTURES.—The Sec-
retary, acting through the Historic American Build-
ing Survey and the Historic American Engineering
Record, shall conduct studies necessary to document
the industrial, engineering, building, and architec-
tural 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. In approving the plan, the Sec-
retary shall take into consideration the following criteria:
(1) The extent to which the management plan
adequately preserves and protects the natural, cul-
tural, and historical resources of the Heritage Area.
(2) The level of public participation in the devel-
opment of the management plan.
(3) The extent to which the board of directors of
the management entity is representative of the local
government and a wide range of interested organiza-
tions and citizens.
(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 revi-
sions in the management plan. The Secretary shall approve
or disapprove a proposed revision within 90 days after the
date it is submitted.
(d) APPROVING CHANGES.—The Secretary shall review
and approve amendments to the management plan under
section 5(b) that make substantial changes. Funds appro-
priated under this Act may not be expended to implement
such changes until the Secretary approves the amendments.
(e) EFFECT OF INACTION.—If the Secretary does not
approve or disapprove a management plan, revision, or
change within 90 days after it is submitted to the Secretary,
then such management plan, revision, or change shall be
deemed to have been approved by the Secretary.
SEC. 7. DUTIES OF OTHER FEDERAL ENTITIES.
Any Federal entity conducting or supporting activities
directly affecting the Heritage Area shall—
(1) consult with the Secretary and the manage-
ment entity with respect to such activities;
(2) cooperate with the Secretary and the man-
agement entity in carrying out their duties under this
Act and, to the maximum extent practicable, coordi-
nate such activities with the carrying out of such du-
ties; and
(3) to the maximum extent practicable, conduct
or support such activities in a manner that the man-
agement entity determines shall not have an adverse
effect on the Heritage Area.
SEC. 8. SUNSET.
The Secretary may not make any grant or provide any
assistance under this Act after the expiration of the 15-year
period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 9. USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS FROM OTHER SOURCES.
Nothing in this Act shall preclude the management en-
tity from using Federal funds available under Acts other
than this Act for the purposes for which those funds were
authorized.
SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro-
priated to carry out 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.
Union Calendar No. 68
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 695
[Report No. 107–123]
A BILL
To establish the Oil Region National Heritage
Area.
JULY 10, 2001
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,
and ordered to be printed