I
104TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3907
To facilitate the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in the State of Utah at
the Snowbasin Ski Area, to provide for the acquisition of lands within
the Sterling Forest Reserve, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 26, 1996
Mr. HANSEN (for himself and Mr. MARTINI) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Resources
A BILL
To facilitate the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in the State
of Utah at the Snowbasin Ski Area, to provide for the
acquisition of lands within the Sterling Forest Reserve,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
TITLE I—SNOWBASIN SKI AREA
SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE.
This title may be cited as the ‘‘2002 Winter Olympic
Games Facilitation Act’’.
SEC. 102. FINDINGS AND DETERMINATION.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
(1) in June 1995, Salt Lake City, Utah, was
selected to host the 2002 Winter Olympic Games,
and the Snowbasin Ski Resort, which is owned by
the Sun Valley Company, was identified as the site
of six Olympic events: the men’s and women’s
downhills, men’s and women’s Super-Gs, and men’s
and women’s combined downhills;
(2) in order to adequately accommodate these
events, which are traditionally among the most pop-
ular and heavily attended at the Winter Olympic
Games, major new skiing, visitor, and support facili-
ties will have to be constructed at the Snowbasin Ski
Resort on land currently administered by the United
States Forest Service;
(3) while certain of these new facilities can be
accommodated on National Forest land under tradi-
tional Forest Service permitting authorities, the base
area facilities necessary to host visitors to the ski
area and the Winter Olympics are of such a nature
that they should logically be located on private land;
(4) land exchanges have been routinely utilized
by the Forest Service to transfer base area lands to
many other ski areas, and the Forest Service and
the Sun Valley Company have concluded that a land
exchange to transfer base area lands at the
Snowbasin Ski Resort to the Sun Valley Company is
both logical and advisable;
(5) an environmental impact statement and nu-
merous resource studies have been completed by the
Forest Service and the Sun Valley Company for the
lands proposed to be transferred to the Sun Valley
Company by this title;
(6) the Sun Valley Company has assembled
lands with outstanding environmental, recreational,
and other values to convey to the Forest Service in
return for the lands it will receive in the exchange,
and the Forest Service has identified such lands as
desirable for acquisition by the United States; and
(7) completion of a land exchange and approval
of a development plan for Olympic related facilities
at the Snowbasin Ski Resort is essential to ensure
that all necessary facilities can be constructed, test-
ed for safety and other purposes, and become fully
operational in advance of the 2002 Winter Olympics
and earlier pre-Olympic events.
(b) DETERMINATION.—The Congress has reviewed
the previous analyses and studies of the lands to be ex-
changed and developed pursuant to this title, and has
made its own review of these lands and issues involved,
and on the basis of those reviews hereby finds and deter-
mines that a legislated land exchange and development
plan approval is necessary to meet Olympic goals and
timetables.
SEC. 103. SNOWBASIN LAND EXCHANGE.
(a) PURPOSE AND INTENT.—The purpose of this sec-
tion is to authorize and direct the Secretary to exchange
1,320 acres of federally-owned land within the Cache Na-
tional Forest in the State of Utah for lands of approxi-
mately equal value owned by the Sun Valley Company. It
is the intent of Congress that this exchange be completed
without delay within the period specified by subsection (d).
(b) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:
(1) The term ‘‘Sun Valley Company’’ means the
Sun Valley Company, a division of Sinclair Oil Cor-
poration, a Wyoming Corporation, or its successors
or assigns.
(2) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary
of Agriculture.
(c) EXCHANGE.—
(1) FEDERAL SELECTED LANDS.—(A) Not later
than 45 days after the final determination of value
of the Federal selected lands, the Secretary shall,
subject to this section, transfer all right, title, and
interest of the United States in and to the lands re-
section approximately equal, and which are ac-
ceptable to the Secretary.
(3) SUBSTITUTION
OF
OFFERED
LANDS.—If
one or more of the precise offered land parcels iden-
tified in subparagraphs (A) through (D) of para-
graph (2) is unable to be conveyed to the United
States due to appraisal or other reasons, or if the
Secretary and the Sun Valley Company mutually
agree and the Secretary determines that an alter-
native offered land package would better serve long
term public needs and objectives, the Sun Valley
Company may simultaneously convey to the United
States alternative offered lands in the State of Utah
acceptable to the Secretary in lieu of any or all of
the lands identified in subparagraphs (A) through
(D) of paragraph (2).
(4) VALUATION AND APPRAISALS.—(A) Values
of the lands to be exchanged pursuant to this section
shall be equal as determined by the Secretary utiliz-
ing nationally recognized appraisal standards and in
accordance with section 206 of the Federal Land
Policy and Management Act of 1976. The appraisal
reports shall be written to Federal standards as de-
fined in the Uniform Appraisal Standards for Fed-
eral Land Acquisitions. If, due to size, location, or
use of lands exchanged under this section, the values
are not exactly equal, they shall be equalized by the
payment of cash equalization money to the Secretary
or the Sun Valley Company as appropriate in ac-
cordance with section 206(b) of the Federal Land
Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C.
1716(b)). In order to expedite the consummation of
the exchange directed by this section, the Sun Valley
Company shall arrange and pay for appraisals of the
offered and selected lands by a qualified appraiser
with experience in appraising similar properties and
who is mutually acceptable to the Sun Valley Com-
pany and the Secretary. The appraisal of the Fed-
eral selected lands shall be completed and submitted
to the Secretary for technical review and approval
no later than 120 days after the date of enactment
of this Act, and the Secretary shall make a deter-
mination of value not later than 30 days after re-
ceipt of the appraisal. In the event the Secretary
and the Sun Valley Company are unable to agree
to the appraised value of a certain tract or tracts
of land, the appraisal, appraisals, or appraisal issues
in dispute and a final determination of value shall
be resolved through a process of bargaining or sub-
mission to arbitration in accordance with section
206(d) of the Federal Land Policy and Management
Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1716(d)).
(B) In order to expedite the appraisal of the
Federal selected lands, such appraisal shall—
(i) value the land in its unimproved state,
as a single entity for its highest and best use
as if in private ownership and as of the date of
enactment of this Act;
(ii) consider the Federal lands as an inde-
pendent property as though in the private mar-
ketplace and suitable for development to its
highest and best use;
(iii) consider in the appraisal any encum-
brance on the title anticipated to be in the con-
veyance to Sun Valley Company and reflect its
effect on the fair market value of the property;
and
(iv) not reflect any enhancement in value
to the Federal selected lands based on the exist-
ence of private lands owned by the Sun Valley
Company in the vicinity of the Snowbasin Ski
Resort, and shall assume that private lands
owned by the Sun Valley Company are not
available for use in conjunction with the Fed-
eral selected lands.
(d) GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE EX-
CHANGE.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The exchange authorized by
this section shall be subject to the following terms
and conditions:
(A) RESERVED
RIGHTS-OF-WAY.—In any
deed issued pursuant to subsection (c)(1), the
Secretary shall reserve in the United States a
right of reasonable access across the conveyed
property for public access and for administra-
tive purposes of the United States necessary to
manage adjacent federally-owned lands. The
terms of such reservation shall be prescribed by
the Secretary within 30 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act.
(B) RIGHT OF RESCISSION.—This section
shall not be binding on either the United States
or the Sun Valley Company if, within 30 days
after the final determination of value of the
Federal selected lands, the Sun Valley Company
submits to the Secretary a duly authorized and
executed resolution of the Company stating its
intention not to enter into the exchange author-
ized by this section.
(2) WITHDRAWAL.—Subject to valid existing
rights, effective on the date of enactment of this Act,
the Federal selected lands described in subsection
(c)(1) and all National Forest System lands cur-
rently under special use permit to the Sun Valley
Company at the Snowbasin Ski Resort are hereby
withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the
public land laws (including the mining laws) and
from disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral
and geothermal leasing.
(3) DEED.—The conveyance of the offered
lands to the United States under this section shall
be by general warranty or other deed acceptable to
the Secretary and in conformity with applicable title
standards of the Attorney General of the United
States.
(4) STATUS OF LANDS.—Upon acceptance of
title by the Secretary, the land conveyed to the Unit-
ed States pursuant to this section shall become part
of the Wasatch or Cache National Forests as appro-
priate, and the boundaries of such National Forests
shall be adjusted to encompass such lands. Once
conveyed, such lands shall be managed in accordance
with the Act of March 1, 1911, as amended (com-
monly known as the ‘‘Weeks Act’’), and in accord-
ance with the other laws, rules and regulations ap-
plicable to National Forest System lands. This para-
graph does not limit the Secretary’s authority to ad-
just the boundaries pursuant to section 11 of the
Act of March 1, 1911 (‘‘Weeks Act’’). For the pur-
poses of section 7 of the Land and Water Conserva-
tion Fund Act of 1965 (16 U.S.C. 4601–9), the
boundaries of the Wasatch and Cache National For-
ests, as adjusted by this section, shall be considered
to be boundaries of the forests as of January 1,
1965.
(e) PHASE FACILITY CONSTRUCTION
AND OPER-
ATION.—
(1) PHASE I FACILITY FINDING AND REVIEW.—
(A) The Congress has reviewed the Snowbasin Ski
Area Master Development Plan dated October 1995
(hereinafter in this subsection referred to as the
‘‘Master Plan’’). On the basis of such review, and re-
view of previously completed environmental and
other resource studies for the Snowbasin Ski Area,
Congress hereby finds that the ‘‘Phase I’’ facilities
referred to in the Master Plan to be located on Na-
tional Forest System land after consummation of the
land exchange directed by this section are limited in
size and scope, are reasonable and necessary to ac-