105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 1659
AN ACT
To provide for the expeditious completion of the acquisition
of private mineral interests within the Mount St. Helens
National Volcanic Monument mandated by the 1982 Act
that established the Monument, 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 ‘‘Mount St. Helens Na-
tional Volcanic Monument Completion Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:
(1) The Act entitled ‘‘An Act to designate the
Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in
the State of Washington, and for other purposes’’,
approved August 26, 1982 (96 Stat. 301; 16 U.S.C.
431 note), required the United States to acquire all
land and interests in land in the Mount St. Helens
National Volcanic Monument.
(2) The Act directed the Secretary of Agri-
culture to acquire the surface interests and the min-
eral and geothermal interests by separate exchanges
and expressed the sense of Congress that the ex-
changes be completed by November 24, 1982, and
August 26, 1983, respectively.
(3) The surface interests exchange was con-
summated timely, but the exchange of all mineral
and geothermal interests has not yet been completed
a decade and a half after the enactment of the Act.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to facili-
tate and otherwise provide for the expeditious completion
of the previously mandated Federal acquisition of private
mineral and geothermal interests within the Mount St.
Helens National Volcanic Monument.
SEC. 3. ACQUISITION OF MINERAL AND GEOTHERMAL IN-
TERESTS WITHIN MOUNT ST. HELENS NA-
TIONAL VOLCANIC MONUMENT.
Section 3 of the Act entitled ‘‘An Act to designate
the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in the
State of Washington, and for other purposes’’, approved
August 26, 1982 (Public Law 97–243; 96 Stat. 302; 16
U.S.C. 431 note), is amended by adding at the end the
following new subsections:
‘‘(g) EXCHANGES FOR MINERAL AND GEOTHERMAL
INTERESTS HELD BY CERTAIN COMPANIES.—
‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF COMPANY.—In this sub-
section, the term ‘company’ means a company re-
ferred to in subsection (c) or its assigns or succes-
sors.
‘‘(2) EXCHANGE REQUIRED.—Within 60 days
after the date of enactment of this subsection, the
Secretary of the Interior shall acquire by exchange
the mineral and geothermal interests in the Monu-
ment of each company.
‘‘(3) MONETARY CREDITS.—
‘‘(A) ISSUANCE.—In exchange for all min-
eral and geothermal interests acquired by the
Secretary of the Interior from each company
under paragraph (2), the Secretary of the Inte-
rior shall issue to each such company monetary
credits with a value of $2,100,000 that may be
used for the payment of—
‘‘(i) not more than 50 percent of the
bonus or other payments made by success-
ful bidders in any sales of mineral, oil, gas,
or geothermal leases under the Mineral
Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.), the
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43
U.S.C. 1331 et seq.), or the Geothermal
Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1001 et
seq.) in the contiguous 48 States;
‘‘(ii) not more than 10 percent of the
bonus or other payments made by success-
ful bidders in any sales of mineral, oil, gas,
or geothermal leases in Alaska under the
laws specified in clause (i);
‘‘(iii) not more than 50 percent of any
royalty, rental, or advance royalty payment
made to the United States to maintain any
mineral, oil or gas, or geothermal lease in
the contiguous 48 States issued under the
laws specified in clause (i); or
‘‘(iv) not more than 10 percent of any
royalty, rental, or advance royalty payment
made to the United States to maintain any
mineral, oil or gas, or geothermal lease in
Alaska issued under the laws specified in
clause (i).
‘‘(B) VALUE OF CREDITS.—The total cred-
its of $4,200,000 in value issued under sub-
paragraph (A) are deemed to equal the fair
market value of all mineral and geothermal in-
terests to be conveyed by exchange under para-
graph (2).
‘‘(4) ACCEPTANCE OF CREDITS.—The Secretary
of the Interior shall accept credits issued under
paragraph (3)(A) in the same manner as cash for
the payments described in such paragraph. The use
of the credits shall be subject to the laws (including
regulations) governing such payments, to the extent
the laws are consistent with this subsection.
‘‘(5) TREATMENT OF CREDITS FOR DISTRIBU-
TION TO STATES.—All amounts in the form of cred-
its accepted by the Secretary of the Interior under
paragraph (4) for the payments described in para-
graph (3)(A) shall be considered to be money re-
ceived for the purpose of section 35 of the Mineral
Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 191) and section 20 of the
Geothermal Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1019).
‘‘(6) EXCHANGE ACCOUNT.—
‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—Notwithstanding
any other provision of law, not later than 30
days after the completion of the exchange with
a company required by paragraph (2), the Sec-
retary of the Interior shall establish an ex-
change account for that company for the mone-
tary credits issued to that company under para-
graph (3). The account for a company shall be
established with the Minerals Management
Service of the Department of the Interior and
have an initial balance of credits equal to
$2,100,000.
‘‘(B) USE OF CREDITS.—The credits in a
company’s account shall be available to the
company for the purposes specified in para-
graph (3)(A). The Secretary of the Interior
shall adjust the balance of credits in the ac-
count to reflect credits accepted by the Sec-
retary of the Interior pursuant to paragraph
(4).
‘‘(C) TRANSFER OR SALE OF CREDITS.—
‘‘(i) TRANSFER
OR
SALE
AUTHOR-
IZED.—A company may transfer or sell
any credits in the company’s account to
another person.
‘‘(ii) USE
OF
TRANSFERRED
CRED-
ITS.—Credits transferred or sold under
clause (i) may be used in accordance with
this subsection only by a person that is
qualified to bid on, or that holds, a min-
eral, oil, or gas lease under the Mineral
Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.), the
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43
U.S.C. 1331 et seq.), or the Geothermal
Steam Act of 1970 (30 U.S.C. 1001 et
seq.).
‘‘(iii) NOTIFICATION.—Within 30 days
after the transfer or sale of any credits by
a company, that company shall notify the
Secretary of the Interior of the transfer or
sale. The transfer or sale of any credit
shall not be considered valid until the Sec-
retary of the Interior has received the noti-
fication required under this clause.
‘‘(D) TIME LIMIT ON USE OF CREDITS.—
On the date that is 5 years after the date on
which an account is created under subpara-
graph (A) for a company, the Secretary of the
Interior shall terminate that company’s ac-
count. Any credits that originated in the termi-
nated account and have not been used as of the
termination date, including any credits trans-
ferred or sold under subparagraph (C), shall be-
come unusable.
‘‘(7) TITLE TO INTERESTS.—On the date of the
establishment of an exchange account for a company
under paragraph (6)(A), title to any mineral and
geothermal interests that are held by the company
and are to be acquired by the Secretary of the Inte-
rior under paragraph (2) shall transfer to the
United States.
‘‘(h) OTHER MINERAL AND GEOTHERMAL INTER-
ESTS.—Within 180 days after the date of the enactment
of this subsection, the Secretary shall submit to the Com-
mittee on Resources of the House of Representatives and
the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the
Senate a report—
‘‘(1) identifying all remaining privately held
mineral interests within the boundaries of the Monu-
ment referred to in section 1(a); and
‘‘(2) setting forth a plan and a timetable by
which the Secretary would propose to complete the
acquisition of such interests.’’.
Passed the House of Representatives September 23,
1998.
Attest:
Clerk.