I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3423
Making appropriations for the Department of the Interior and related agencies
for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2000, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 17, 1999
Mr. YOUNG of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Appropriations
A BILL
Making appropriations for the Department of the Interior
and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September
30, 2000, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That the following sums are appropriated, out of any
money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the
Department of the Interior and related agencies for the
fiscal year ending September 30, 2000, and for other pur-
poses, namely:
TITLE I—DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
MANAGEMENT OF LANDS AND RESOURCES
For expenses necessary for protection, use, improve-
ment, development, disposal, cadastral surveying, classi-
fication, acquisition of easements and other interests in
lands, and performance of other functions, including main-
tenance of facilities, as authorized by law, in the manage-
ment of lands and their resources under the jurisdiction
of the Bureau of Land Management, including the general
administration of the Bureau, and assessment of mineral
potential of public lands pursuant to Public Law 96–487
(16 U.S.C. 3150(a)), $646,218,000, to remain available
until expended, of which $2,147,000 shall be available for
assessment of the mineral potential of public lands in
Alaska pursuant to section 1010 of Public Law 96–487
(16 U.S.C. 3150); and of which not to exceed $1,000,000
shall be derived from the special receipt account estab-
lished by the Land and Water Conservation Act of 1965,
as amended (16 U.S.C. 460l–6a(i)); and of which
$2,500,000 shall be available in fiscal year 2000 subject
to a match by at least an equal amount by the National
Fish and Wildlife Foundation, to such Foundation for
cost-shared projects supporting conservation of Bureau
lands and such funds shall be advanced to the Foundation
as a lump sum grant without regard to when expenses are
incurred; in addition, $33,529,000 for Mining Law Ad-
ministration program operations, including the cost of ad-
ministering the mining claim fee program; to remain avail-
able until expended, to be reduced by amounts collected
by the Bureau and credited to this appropriation from an-
nual mining claim fees so as to result in a final appropria-
tion estimated at not more than $646,218,000, and
$2,000,000, to remain available until expended, from com-
munication site rental fees established by the Bureau for
the cost of administering communication site activities,
and of which $2,500,000, to remain available until ex-
pended, is for coalbed methane Applications for Permits
to Drill in the Powder River Basin: Provided, That unless
there is a written agreement in place between the coal
mining operator and a gas producer, the funds available
herein shall not be used to process or approve coalbed
methane Applications for Permits to Drill for well sites
that are located within an area, which as of the date of
the coalbed methane Application for Permit to Drill, are
covered by: (1) a coal lease; (2) a coal mining permit; or
(3) an application for a coal mining lease: Provided fur-
ther, That appropriations herein made shall not be avail-
able for the destruction of healthy, unadopted, wild horses
and burros in the care of the Bureau or its contractors.
WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT
For necessary expenses for fire preparedness, sup-
pression operations, emergency rehabilitation and haz-
ardous fuels reduction by the Department of the Interior,
$292,282,000, to remain available until expended, of
which not to exceed $9,300,000 shall be for the renovation
or construction of fire facilities: Provided, That such funds
are also available for repayment of advances to other ap-
propriation accounts from which funds were previously
transferred for such purposes: Provided further, That un-
obligated balances of amounts previously appropriated to
the ‘‘Fire Protection’’ and ‘‘Emergency Department of the
Interior Firefighting Fund’’ may be transferred and
merged with this appropriation: Provided further, That
persons hired pursuant to 43 U.S.C. 1469 may be fur-
nished subsistence and lodging without cost from funds
available from this appropriation: Provided further, That
notwithstanding 42 U.S.C. 1856d, sums received by a bu-
reau or office of the Department of the Interior for fire
protection rendered pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1856 et seq.,
protection of United States property, may be credited to
the appropriation from which funds were expended to pro-
vide that protection, and are available without fiscal year
limitation: Provided further, That not more than $58,000
shall be available to the Bureau of Land Management to