Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation, and Development Act of 2004

Bill: 108-hr-4593
Sponsor: Rep. Gibbons, Jim [R-NV-2]
Introduced: 2004-06-16 in the House
Policy area: Public Lands and Natural Resources
Subjects: Agriculture and Food
Air routes
Aircraft
Airspace (Law)
All terrain vehicles
Animals
Aquifers
Archaeology
Armed Forces and National Security
Arts, Culture, Religion
Boundaries
Cable television
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Cultural property
Department of the Interior
Economic development
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Electric power transmission
Elementary and secondary education
Emergency Management
Endangered species
Energy
Environmental Protection
Environmental assessment
Environmental monitoring
Federal-Indian relations
Fiber optics
Fire prevention
Fishing
Flood control
Forest fires
Gas pipelines
Government Operations and Politics
Government publicity
Grazing
Groundwater
Habitat conservation
Helicopters
History
Horses
Hunting
Hydrology
Infrastructure
Intergovernmental fiscal relations
Jurisdiction
Land transfers
Land use
Law
Maps
Meteorological research
Meteorology
Military aviation
Minorities
Motor vehicles
Native Americans
Natural areas
Nature conservation
Nevada
Open space lands
Parks
Petroleum pipelines
Pipeline siting
Pipelines
Public utilities
Real estate appraisal
Relocation
Reservoirs
Right-of-way
Roads and highways
Science, Technology, Communications
Sheep
Signs and signboards
Sports and Recreation
State laws
Surveying
Traffic signs and signals
Trails
Transportation and Public Works
Trapping
Water Resources Development
Water quality
Water rights
Water supply
Wells
Wilderness areas
Wildlife conservation
Wildlife management
Wildlife refuges

Summary:
action_date: 2004-06-16
text: 
Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation, and Development Act of 2004 - Directs the Secretary of the Interior to conduct specified sales of land identified for initial or annual disposal to qualified bidders. Segregates such land, with an exception, from all forms of entry and appropriation under the public land laws (including the mining laws) and operation of the mineral geothermal leasing laws. Prescribes the disposition of gross proceeds from such sales.
 
Designates certain Federal land in Nevada as wilderness and as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System. Withdraws such land from: (1) all forms of entry, appropriation, and disposal under the public land laws; (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and (3) operation of the mineral leasing, mineral materials, and geothermal leasing laws. Provides for continued livestock grazing within such wilderness areas administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Declares that the following BLM public land in Lincoln County has been adequately studied for wilderness designation: (1) the Table Mountain Wilderness Study Area; (2) Evergreen A, B, and C Wilderness Study Areas; and (3) parts of wilderness study areas not designated as wilderness under this Act and identified as released. Makes any such land no longer subject to requirements for the status of lands during the period of review for designation as wilderness under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. Permits: (1) management activities (including occasional and temporary use of motorized vehicles) to maintain or restore fish and wildlife populations and the habitats to support them to be carried out within wilderness areas designated by this Act; and (2) Nevada to continue to use aircraft to survey, capture, and provide water for wildlife populations. Directs the Secretary to authorize structures and facilities for wildlife water development projects, including guzzlers, in such wilderness areas.
 
Directs the Secretary to establish a specified corridor for utilities in Lincoln County and Clark County (Nevada). Authorizes the Secretary to grant rights-of-way to the Southern Nevada Water Authority and Lincoln County Water District to Federal land in those counties for roads, wells, well fields, pipes, pipelines, pump stations, storage facilities, and other facilities and systems necessary for the construction and operation of a water conveyance system. Withdraws such land from: (1) all forms of entry, appropriation, and disposal under the public land laws; (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and (3) operation of the mineral leasing, mineral materials, and geothermal leasing laws. 
 
Directs the Secretary to conduct a study to investigate ground water quantity, quality, and flow characteristics in the deep carbonate and alluvial aquifers of White Pine County, Nevada.
 
Directs the Secretary to: (1) relinquish a specified right-of-way corridor and parts of specified utility corridors (the corridor) upon receipt of a payment for its fair market value; and (2) relocate a specified part that is located in the corridor to the area located west of and parallel to the centerline of U.S. Route 93.
 
Designates a specified system of trails in Lincoln County as the &quot;Silver State Off-Highway Vehicle Trail&quot;. 
 
Authorizes the Secretary to convey specified land to Lincoln County and the State of Nevada to be used for natural resources conservation or public parks. 
 
Transfers administrative jurisdiction of specified lands between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and BLM. 

action_date: 2004-11-30
text: 
(Sec. 1) Authorizes appropriations. 
 
 Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation, and Development Act of 2004 - 
Title I: Land Disposal
 - (Sec. 102) Directs the Secretary of the Interior to conduct sales of certain acreage of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) managed public land in Lincoln County, Nevada. Requires bidders for such land to certify that they have agreed to comply with county and city zoning ordinances and any master plan for the land. Requires that the sale of such land be through a competitive process and for not less than fair market value. Withdraws such land from: (1) all forms of entry, appropriation, and disposal under the public land laws, including the mining laws, with a specified exception; (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and (3) operation of the mineral leasing and geothermal leasing laws. 
 
(Sec. 103) Requires certain percentages of the proceeds from the sale of such land to be disbursed as follows: (1) to the State of Nevada for general education (five percent); (2) to Lincoln County for fire protection, law enforcement, public safety, housing, social services, and transportation (ten percent); and (3) remaining amounts to the Treasury for land management activities.
 

Title II: Wilderness Areas
 - (Sec. 203) Designates the following land in Nevada as wilderness and as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System: (1) Mormon Mountains Wilderness; (2) Meadow Valley Range Wilderness; (3) Delamar Mountains Wilderness; (4) Clover Mountains Wilderness; (5) South Pahroc Range Wilderness; (6) Worthington Mountains Wilderness; (7) Weepah Spring Wilderness; (8) Parsnip Peak Wilderness; (9) White Rock Range Wilderness; (10) Fortification Range Wilderness; (11) Far South Egans Wilderness; (12) Tunnel Spring Wilderness; (13) Big Rocks Wilderness; and (14) Mt. Irish Wilderness.
 
Directs the Secretary to file a map and legal description of each designated wilderness area with the House Committee on Resources and the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Requires each map and legal description to be on file and be made available for public inspection. 
 
Withdraws such wilderness areas from: (1) all forms of entry, appropriation, and disposal under the public land laws; (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and (3) operation of the mineral leasing and geothermal leasing laws. 
 
(Sec. 204) Requires each designated wilderness area to be administered by the Secretary in accordance with the Wilderness Act. Permits the continuation of livestock grazing in designated wilderness areas. 
 
Sets forth principles of statutory construction relating to water rights in designated wilderness areas. Requires the Secretary to follow Nevada law to obtain or hold any water rights in the designated wilderness areas not in existence as of the date of enactment of this Act. 
 
Prohibits the President or any other federal officer, agent, or employee, after the date of enactment of this Act, from developing any new water resource facility within the wilderness areas.
 
(Sec. 205) Declares that Congress does not intend for the designation of wilderness to lead to the creation of protective perimeters or buffer zones around such wilderness. Permits nonwilderness activities outside the boundary of a wilderness zone even if such activities can be seen or heard from within the wilderness zone.
 
(Sec. 206) States that nothing in this title restricts or precludes military overflights, flight testing and evaluation, or the designation or creation of new units of special use airspace, or the establishment of military flight training routes, over the wilderness areas. 
 
(Sec. 207) States that nothing in this title shall be construed to diminish the rights of any Indian tribe or access to Federal land for tribal activities. 
 
(Sec. 208) Declares that the following areas have been adequately studied for wilderness designation: (1) the Table Mountain Wilderness Study Area; (2) Evergreen A, B, and C Wilderness Study Areas; and (3) certain other lands in Lincoln County, Nevada. 
 
(Sec. 209) Permits certain Federal and State wildlife management activities in the wilderness areas under a cooperative agreement between the Department of the Interior and the State of Nevada. Authorizes the Secretary to ban hunting, fishing, and trapping in the wilderness areas for public safety reasons. 
 
(Sec. 210) Permits certain governmental wildfire management operations in the wilderness area. 
 
(Sec. 211) Permits the installation and maintenance of essential hydrologic, meteorologic, or climatological collection devices in the wilderness areas
 

Title III: Utility Corridors
 - (Sec. 301) Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish on public land a 2,640-foot wide corridor for utilities in Lincoln and Clark Counties, Nevada; and (2) grant certain nonexclusive rights-of-way to the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the Lincoln County Water District for the construction and operation of a water conveyance system; (3) conduct a study of water resources in White Pine and Lincoln Counties, Nevada, and in adjacent areas in Utah. Authorizes funding for such water resources study.
 
Withdraws such utility corridors from: (1) all forms of entry, appropriation, and disposal under the public land laws; (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and (3) operation of the mineral leasing and geothermal leasing laws. 
 
(Sec. 302) Directs the Secretary to relinquish and relocate rights-of-way and utility corridors located in Clark and Lincoln Counties in Nevada. 
 

Title IV: Silver State Off-Highway Vehicle Trail 
- (Sec. 401) Designates certain trails in Lincoln County, Nevada, as the Silver State Off-Highway Vehicle Trail (Trail). Directs the Secretary to manage the Trail and complete a management plan for the Trail within three years after the enactment of this Act. Authorizes the Secretary to temporarily close or permanently reroute a portion of the Trail for public safety and other environmental reasons.
 

Title V: Open Space Parks
 - Directs the Secretary to convey to Lincoln County, Nevada, and the State of Nevada, certain public land for conservation of natural resources or for public parks.
 

Title VI: Jurisdiction Transfer 
- Transfers administrative jurisdiction over certain public land in Lincoln County, Nevada, from the BLM to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-11-30
text: Became Public Law No: 108-424.
action_date: 2004-11-30
text: Became Public Law No: 108-424.
action_date: 2004-11-30
text: Signed by President.
action_date: 2004-11-30
text: Signed by President.
action_date: 2004-11-20
text: Presented to President.
action_date: 2004-11-20
text: Presented to President.
action_date: 2004-11-17
text: Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
action_date: 2004-11-17
text: On motion that the House suspend the rules and agree to the Senate amendment Agreed to by voice vote.
action_date: 2004-11-17
text: Resolving differences -- House actions: On motion that the House suspend the rules and agree to the Senate amendment Agreed to by voice vote.
action_date: 2004-11-17
text: DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 4593.
action_date: 2004-11-17
text: Mr. Gibbons moved that the House suspend the rules and agree to the Senate amendment. (consideration: CR H9820-9826; text as House agreed to Senate amendment: CR H9820-9824)
action_date: 2004-11-16
text: Message on Senate action sent to the House.
action_date: 2004-10-10
text: Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
action_date: 2004-10-10
text: Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
action_date: 2004-10-10
text: Measure laid before Senate by unanimous consent. (consideration: CR S11183)
action_date: 2004-10-05
text: Received in the Senate, read twice.
action_date: 2004-10-04
text: Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
action_date: 2004-10-04
text: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H7959-7964)
action_date: 2004-10-04
text: Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.(text: CR H7959-7964)
action_date: 2004-10-04
text: DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 4593.
action_date: 2004-10-04
text: Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H7958-7965)
action_date: 2004-10-04
text: Mr. Gibbons moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
action_date: 2004-10-04
text: Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 443.
action_date: 2004-10-04
text: Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Resources. H. Rept. 108-720.
action_date: 2004-10-04
text: Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Resources. H. Rept. 108-720.
action_date: 2004-09-22
text: Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote.
action_date: 2004-09-22
text: Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
action_date: 2004-09-22
text: Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands Discharged.
action_date: 2004-07-20
text: Subcommittee Hearings Held.
action_date: 2004-06-22
text: Executive Comment Requested from Interior.
action_date: 2004-06-22
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on National Parks, Recreation and Public Lands.
action_date: 2004-06-16
text: Referred to the House Committee on Resources.
action_date: 2004-06-16
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2004-06-16
text: Introduced in House

Enacted as: number: 108-424