zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
Supporting Transparent Regulatory and Environmental Actions in Mining Act or the STREAM Act

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 to direct the Department of the Interior to make publicly available online and in the Federal Register, 90 days before publication, any draft, proposed, supplemental, final, or emergency rule, or any environmental analysis, economic assessment, policy, or guidance, and each scientific product upon which Interior has relied in developing the rule, the analysis, or the assessment.

A scientific product is any product that:

 employs the scientific method for inventorying, monitoring, experimenting, studying, researching, or modeling purposes; is relied upon by Interior in developing any rule, environmental analysis, economic assessment, policy, or guidance; and is not protected under copyright laws. For scientific products receiving federal funds Interior must also make publicly available the raw data used for them (any computational process or quantitative or qualitative data not protected by copyright or containing personally identifiable information, sensitive intellectual property, trade secrets, or business-sensitive information).

If Interior fails to make publicly available any scientific product for longer than six months, it must withdraw the rule, environmental analysis, or economic assessment policy or guidance. This requirement shall not apply if a delay in the publication of a rule will pose an imminent and severe threat to human life.

(Sec. 3) Interior shall arrange with the National Academy of Sciences for its Board on Earth Sciences and Resources to conduct a detailed, comprehensive study of the effectiveness of the "Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Operations Permanent Regulatory Program; Stream Buffer Zones and Fish, Wildlife, and Related Environmental Values" Final Rule in protecting perennial and intermittent streams through the use of stream buffer zones. The study shall include suggestions and recommendations for increasing the effectiveness of the rule if it finds regulatory inefficiencies.

Appropriations for the study are authorized for FY2016-FY2017.

 Until one year after publication of the Board's report to Congress, Interior may not issue any proposed or final regulations under the Act that relate either to stream buffer zones or to stream protection.

(Sec. 4) The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 is further amended to declare that nothing in it authorizes Interior to take any action that duplicates, implements, interprets, enforces, or determines compliance with specified mining, environmental, or fish and wildlife law.

Date: 2015-03-26
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Energy
Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act Reauthorization of 2015

 Amends the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA) to reauthorize, until July 25, 2020, the program for the completion of appraisals and satisfaction of other legal requirements for the sale or exchange of public land identified for disposal under approved land use plans under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976. 

Directs the Department of the Interior to: (1) establish and maintain a database containing a comprehensive list of all of the public land identified for disposal under such plans, and (2) make such database available to the public on the website of Interior.

Allows a state to use any funds made available from the Federal Land Disposal Account for same-state purchases that are not obligated or expended by the end of the fourth fiscal year after the sale or exchange of the land that generated such funds.

Instructs Interior and the Department of Agriculture, in prioritizing the acquisition of inholdings and non-federal lands with exceptional resources, to consider the extent to which the acquisition of the land or interest therein will increase public availability of resources for, and facilitate public access to, hunting, fishing, and other recreational activities.

Requires any remaining balance in the Federal Land Disposal Account to be deposited into the Treasury and used for deficit reduction, except that in the case of a fiscal year for which there is no federal budget deficit, such amounts shall be used to reduce the federal debt.

Makes the FLTFA inapplicable to land eligible for sale under specified public land laws.

Date: 2015-03-26
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
State Grazing Management Authority Act

Amends the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to require the Bureau of Land Management, upon the request of a state governor, to enter into 20-year cooperative agreements providing for a state to manage grazing allotments on eligible federal land in that state. Defines "eligible federal land" as public land that is subject to a grazing permit or lease issued by the Bureau, excluding a unit of the National Wilderness Preservation System or an area of critical environmental concern.

Prohibits any state from managing more than two allotments at any one time unless waived by the Bureau.

Requires such a cooperative agreement to assign to the state the Bureau's responsibilities with respect to the grazing allotments managed under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, including the responsibility for determining whether the following actions for those allotments qualify for a categorical exclusion under such Act:

 the conduct of vegetation projects; the conduct of pinyon or juniper treatments; and determinations with respect to the number of permitted animal unit months. Requires a cooperative agreement to provide for the state to develop a process to resolve disputes relating to a decision by the state with respect to management of an allotment.

Date: 2015-04-14
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
National Park and Wilderness Waters Protection Act

Withdraws federal lands within the Rainy River Drainage Basin in Minnesota from all forms of: (1) entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws; (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and (3) operation under the mineral leasing and mineral material laws.

Deems the approval of any lease or permit in the Basin involving activities related to mineral production to be a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment. Requires an environmental impact statement conducted for such an action to include consideration of any potential impacts to units of the National Park System (NPS) or land in the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) located in the Basin. Conditions the issuance or renewal of any such lease or permit on a requirement that the permittee or lessee seasonally monitor water quality throughout the Basin. Requires all mining activities to be suspended if any mining related contamination is detected in any NPS unit or NWPS land in the Basin until all contamination has been remediated.

Bars a federal agency from approving any mining related activities in the Basin until the entity holding a lease or permit for that activity has submitted: (1) an acceptable contamination remediation plan, and (2) a full reclamation and performance bond sufficient to return the affected area to its original condition and treat any potential contamination for 50 years following the conclusion of any mining activities.

Exempts existing sand, gravel, and granite operations in the Basin.

Date: 2015-04-15
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on April 25, 2016. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Eastern Nevada Land Implementation Improvement Act

 (Sec. 2) This bill amends the Lincoln County Land Act of 2000 (LCLA) to require implementation of a multispecies habitat conservation plan in Lincoln County, Nevada.

Both the LCLA and the Lincoln County Conservation, Recreation, and Development Act of 2004 (LCCRDA) are amended to make certain amounts available for comprehensive, cost-effective, and multijurisdictional hazardous fuels reduction projects and wildfire prevention planning activities (particularly for pinyon-juniper dominated landscapes) and other rangeland and woodland restoration projects within the county, consistent with the Ely Resource Management Plan or a subsequent amendment to it.

 The bill requires cooperative agreements between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Lincoln County for certain county-provided law enforcement and planning related activities approved by the Department of the Interior.

 Certain portions of land sale proceeds returned to the County under the LCLA and the LCCRDA shall be used in part for the Lincoln County Regional Development Authority.

Under the LCCRDA Interior shall realign a specified portion of a 2,640-foot wide utility corridor.

The bill:

 affirms and validates patent number 27-2005-0081 issued by the BLM on February 18, 2005, as having been issued pursuant to and in compliance with specified law for the benefit of the desert tortoise, other species, and their habitat to increase the likelihood of their recovery; and ratifies the processes used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the BLM in reconfiguring the land covered by the patent. Interior may issue a corrective patent for 7,548 specified acres of land in Lincoln County.

(Sec. 3) The bill amends the Pam White Wilderness Act to adjust the boundary of the Mt. Moriah Wilderness to include specified lands, and the boundary of the High Schells Wilderness to include and exclude specified lands.

The bill amends the Nevada Wilderness Protection Act of 1989 to adjust the boundary of the Arc Dome Wilderness to exclude specified land.

(Sec. 4) The bill amends the Mesquite Lands Act of 1988 to require the proceeds of the sales of certain parcels of land by Interior to the city of Mesquite, Nevada, to be made available for use for the development and implementation of a conservation plan to benefit fish and wildlife species of the Virgin River in Clark County (rather than, as currently, for development of a multispecies habitat conservation plan).

Date: 2015-04-15
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Central Coast Heritage Protection Act

 This bill designates specified Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and National Forest System lands in California as wilderness areas and as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System.

It also designates certain land in Los Padres National Forest in California, comprising approximately 2,174 acres, as the Machesna Mountain Potential Wilderness Area, which shall be incorporated into the Machesna Mountain Wilderness Area.

Specified segments of the Indian, Mono, Matilija, Sespe, and Piru Creeks and Sisquoc River in California are designated as components of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

Certain land in the Los Padres National Forest in California, comprising approximately 41,617 acres, is designated as the Fox Mountain Potential Wilderness Area, which shall be incorporated into the San Rafael Wilderness.

This bill designates specified land: (1) in Los Padres National Forest, comprising approximately 18,666 acres, as the Condor Ridge Scenic Area; and (2) in Los Padres National Forest and in the BLM Bakersfield Field Office, comprising approximately 15,846 acres, as the Black Mountain Scenic Area.

The Condor Trail in Monterey County, California, is designated as the Condor National Recreation Trail.

The Department of Agriculture shall study: (1) connecting the northern and southern parts of the Los Padres National Forest using a trail corridor across parts of the Northern and Southern Santa Lucia Mountains of the Southern California Coastal Range; and (2) nonmotorized recreation trail opportunities (including mountain bicycling) on land not designated as wilderness by this Act within the Santa Barbara, Ojai, and Mt. Pinos ranger districts.

The Forest Service shall study the feasibility of opening a new trail, for vehicles measuring 50 inches or less, connecting Forest Service Highway 95 to the existing off-highway vehicle trail system in the Ballinger Canyon off-highway vehicle area.

Indian tribes shall be assured access to the wilderness areas, scenic areas, and potential wilderness areas designated by this Act for traditional cultural and religious purposes.

Date: 2015-04-16
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Amends the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 to apply certain requirements for permits and leases for domestic livestock grazing on National Forest System lands issued by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) regardless of where located.

Requires the terms and conditions in a grazing permit or lease that has been waived to be continued under a new permit or lease until the Department of the Interior (respecting public lands) or USDA completes any environmental analysis and documentation for an allotment management plan required under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and other applicable laws.

Allows the categorical exclusion of an allotment management plan by Interior or USDA from the requirement to prepare an Environmental Assessment or an Environmental Impact Statement under NEPA if: (1) the issued allotment management plan continues the current grazing management of the allotment, and (2) the Department concerned has assessed and evaluated the grazing allotment associated with such management plan.

(A "categorical exclusion" under NEPA is a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and which have been found to have no such effect in procedures adopted by a federal agency in implementing environmental regulations and for which, therefore, neither an Environmental Assessment nor an Environmental Impact Statement is required.)

Date: 2015-04-21
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
American Land Act

 Authorizes the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture, for each of FY2016-FY2021, to offer for competitive sale by auction to eligible entities 8% of the federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management and 8% of the National Forest System land. Includes as an "eligible entity": (1) a U.S. citizen, or (2) a corporation or partnership created or organized in or under the laws of the United States.

Requires the land to be sold to: (1) be configured to maximize marketability or achieve management objectives, and (2) include the mineral rights for not more than 50% of the total acreage if such inclusion is likely to maximize marketability.

Requires proceeds to be deposited into the Highway Trust Fund.

Date: 2015-04-22
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act Extension Act of 2015 

(Sec. 2) This bill extends the authority of the Department of the Interior, with respect to federal land management agencies, and the Department of Agriculture, with respect to the Forest Service, to carry out the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act through September 30, 2017.

Date: 2015-04-23
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

American Soda Ash Competitiveness Act

 (Sec. 2) Sets at 2%, for a five-year period, the royalty rate on the quantity or gross value of the output of sodium compounds and related products at the point of shipment to market from federal land.

Date: 2015-04-23
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
National Park and Wilderness Waters Protection Forever Act

Withdraws federal lands within the Rainy River Drainage Basin in Minnesota from all forms of: (1) entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws; (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and (3) operation under the mineral leasing and mineral material laws.

Deems the approval of any lease or permit for activities relating to mining on federal lands in the Basin to be a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment. Requires an environmental impact statement conducted for such an action to include consideration of any potential impacts to units of the National Park System (NPS) or land in the National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) located in the Basin. Conditions the issuance or renewal of any such lease or permit on a requirement that the permittee or lessee seasonally monitor water quality on such lands throughout the Basin. Requires all mining activities to be suspended if any mining related contamination is detected in any NPS unit or NWPS land in the Basin until all contamination has been remediated.

Bars a federal agency from approving any mining related activities on federal lands in the Basin until the entity holding a lease or permit for that activity has submitted: (1) an acceptable contamination remediation plan, and (2) a full reclamation and performance bond sufficient to return the affected area to its original condition and treat any potential contamination for 50 years following the conclusion of any mining activities.

Exempts sand, gravel, and granite operations that exist on the date of enactment of this Act.

Date: 2015-04-28
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Public Lands Service Corps Act of 2015

 Amends the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 to rename: (1) the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993 as the Public Lands Service Corps Act of 1993, and (2) the Public Lands Corps as the Public Lands Service Corps (the Corps).

 Establishes the Corps in the Department of Commerce (as well as in the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior, as under current law).

Requires: (1) establishment of a department-level office within the Department of the Interior, Forest Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for the coordination of Corps activities; and (2) designation of a Corps coordinator for each agency within the Departments of the Interior, of Agriculture, and of Commerce that administers such activities. Establishes an Indian Youth Service Corps liaison.

Permits the enrollment of resource assistants and consulting interns. Sets a maximum enrollment term of two years.

Requires a recruitment program for the Corps.

Instructs the Department concerned, for purposes of training, to take into account training already received by Corps participants enrolled from qualified youth or conservation corps.

Describes the types of natural and cultural resources conservation projects that may be carried out by the Corps.

Authorizes the Corps to provide certain visitor and interpretation services.

Authorizes each Department to make: (1) arrangements for temporary housing for Corps participants in conservation centers, and (2) individual placements of consulting interns to perform management analysis activities for agencies under the Department's jurisdiction carrying out appropriate natural and cultural resources conservation projects.

Authorizes cooperative agreements and competitive grants for Indian tribes and qualified youth or conservation corps to establish Indian Youth Service Corps programs.

Requires the Secretary to issue management guidelines for programs of the Corps.

Revises requirements for: (1) participant living allowances to include certain travel costs; (2) noncompetitive hiring status to cover Indian Youth Service Corps particpants, resource assistants, and consulting interns.

Removes resource assistants from eligibility for national service educational awards.

Date: 2015-04-30
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Fostering Opportunities for Resources and Education Spending through Timber Sales Act of 2015 or the FORESTS Act of 2015

This bill directs the Department of Agriculture to establish at least one Forest Active Management Area within each unit of the National Forest System designated for sustainable forest management for the production of national forest materials (trees, portions of trees, or forest products) and forest active management revenues (derived from the sale of such materials).

The purpose of an Area is to provide a dependable source of:

 payments to states in which a national forest is situated of 25% of specified forest receipts, to be used for the benefit of public schools and public roads; and economic activity through sustainable forest management for each beneficiary county containing System land included within that Area. Forest active management revenues shall be used to make: (1) the 25% payments to states for payment to beneficiary counties for the benefit of public schools and public roads, and (2) deposits into the Knutson-Vandenburg Fund and the salvage sale fund for projects on System land.

This bill amends the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 to extend:

 through FY2018 authorities for secure payments to states and counties containing federal land, and through FY2020 the authority for special projects on federal land and certain county activities. Receipt by a county of Forest Active Management revenues or stewardship project payments shall be offset against 25% payments to the county.

The original method for calculating 25% payments is restored. Beginning October 1, 2015, a state or territorial legislature may not withhold any portion of a 25% payment from the county or counties in which a national forest is situated.

The maximum duration of a stewardship end resulting contract under the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003 may extend from 10 to 20 years.

The Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management of the Department of the Interior:

 shall pay to the county or counties in which the project site is situated 25% of the monies retained from a contract or agreement for a stewardship contracting project on federal land under its respective jurisdiction, and may procure the services of non-federal employees to perform activities necessary to ensure a project for compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

Date: 2015-04-30
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The expanded summary of the House reported version is repeated here.)

Crags, Colorado Land Exchange Act of 2015

(Sec. 4) This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA), if the Broadmoor Hotel, Inc., (BHI) offers to convey to the USDA 320 acres of specified nonfederal land in the Pike National Forest in Teller County, Colorado, and a permanent trail easement for the Barr Trail in El Paso County, Colorado, to accept the offer and convey to BHI 83 acres of specified federal land within the Forest, together with a non-exclusive perpetual access easement for BHI to and from such land on Forest Service Road 371.

The nonexclusive perpetual access easement granted to BHI shall allow: (1) BHI to fully maintain, at its own expense, and use Forest Service Road 371 from its junction with Forest Service Road 368 in accordance with historic BHI use and maintenance patterns; and (2) full and continued public and administrative access and use of FSR 371 in accordance with the existing Forest Service travel management plan, or as it may be revised by USDA.

(Sec. 5) The USDA shall determine the values of the lands to be exchanged through appraisals following specified requirements. The values shall be equal, or if they are not equal, equalized as prescribed by this Act.

The appraised value of the federal land parcel shall not reflect any increase or diminution in value due to the existing special use permit to BHI on the parcel and its improvements.

The Barr Trail easement donation shall not be appraised for purposes of this Act.

(Sec. 6) The lands acquired by the USDA under this Act shall, without further USDA action, be permanently withdrawn from all forms of appropriation and disposal under the public land laws (including the mining and mineral leasing laws) and the Geothermal Steam Act of 1930, except to the extent necessary to permit the disposal of the federal land parcel to BHI.

The land acquired by the USDA under this Act shall become part of the Pike-San Isabel National Forest.

It is the intent of Congress that the land exchange directed by this Act be completed within one year of this Act's enactment.

Date: 2015-05-01
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on October 6, 2015. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

(Sec. 1) This bill declares that the approximately one-acre portion of specified land transferred by the United States to Rockingham County, Virginia, that is used for purposes of a child care center, shall not be subject to the use restriction imposed in the deed for the transferred land.

Eliminated is the requirement for the county to include information concerning the use of the transferred land for a child care center in biennial reports to the Department of the Interior.

Date: 2015-05-13
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Self-Sufficient Community Lands Act 

 Directs the Department of Agriculture to establish the community forest demonstration area in a state, consisting of National Forest System (NFS) land, at the request of an Advisory Committee appointed by the governor to manage such land in that state.

Conditions establishment of an area upon: (1) inclusion of at least 200,000 acres of NFS land; (2) a state forest practices law applicable to state or privately owned forest land, or established state silvicultural best forest management practices related to clean water, soil quality, wildlife, or forest health; and (3) an agreement between the governor and the county in which the land is located that requires the county, in using area revenues, to continue to meet specified obligations under applicable state law pursuant to the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000.

Excludes from a community forest demonstration area land: (1) that is a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System, (2) on which the removal of vegetation is specifically prohibited by federal statute, (3) that is a National Monument, or (4) over which administrative jurisdiction was first assumed by the Forest Service under Title III of such Act.

Date: 2015-05-14
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Small Lands Tracts Conveyance Act

 Requires the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for a state (respecting certain public lands) or the Forest Service (respecting certain National Forest System lands) to select an eligible federal lands parcel for conveyance: (1) in response to a request by an adjacent landholder (any holder of non-federal land that shares one or more boundaries with such a parcel and who requests to purchase such a parcel), or (2) upon the recommendation of the BLM District Office or System unit that exercises administration over such parcel.

Directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of the Interior to each create a process by which an adjacent landholder may request to purchase an eligible parcel. Instructs that such process be open to the public and available on the Internet.

Bars a conveyed eligible parcel from exceeding 160 acres unless the BLM or the Forest Service approves a request for additional acreage. Permits acquisition by an adjacent landholder of only one eligible parcel a year, subject to an exception.

Instructs the BLM or the Forest Service, as consideration for the sale of an eligible parcel, to require a cash payment in an amount equal to at least the fair market value of such parcel, including the mineral estate, being conveyed.

Requires the proceeds collected from such conveyances to be deposited into a special fund established by this Act and distributed annually to each state in which the federal government owns more than 33% of the land area of such state.

Requires, from amounts collected and deposited: (1) 50% of the amount collected from a conveyance to be distributed to the state in which the conveyance took place, and (2) the remaining 50% to be distributed equally between the remaining states identified pursuant to the preceding paragraph.

Requires states receiving such funds to use them only for: (1) purchasing additional eligible parcels consistent with land use management under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act; and (2) complying with requirements under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly known as the Clean Water Act), and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).

Requires the purchaser of an eligible federal lands parcel under this Act to cover the costs to be incurred, or to reimburse the BLM or the Forest Service for the costs incurred, in carrying out the conveyance.

Excludes categorically a conveyance of an eligible federal lands parcel under this Act from the requirement to prepare an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement under NEPA.

(A categorical exclusion under NEPA is a category of actions which do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and which have been found to have no such effect in procedures adopted by a federal agency in implementing environmental regulations and for which, therefore, neither an Environmental Assessment nor an Environmental Impact Statement is required.)

Date: 2015-05-14
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on June 4, 2015. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

National Forest Foundation Reauthorization Act of 2015 

This bill amends the National Forest Foundation Act to authorize the Department of Agriculture to provide during FY2016-FY2018 matching funds for certain administrative and project expenses incurred by the National Forest Foundation.

Date: 2015-05-18
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Directs the Department of the Interior, for National Park System land, and the Department of Agriculture, for land under its jurisdiction, to require any film crew of five persons or fewer to obtain a permit and pay an annual fee of $200 to conduct commercial filming activities or similar projects on such land and waterways.

Date: 2015-05-18
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
America's Red Rock Wilderness Act

 Designates specified lands in the following areas of Utah as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System: (1) Great Basin, (2) Grand Staircase-Escalante, (3) Moab-La Sal Canyons, (4) Henry Mountains, (5) Glen Canyon, (6) San Juan-Anasazi, (7) Canyonlands Basin, (8) San Rafael Swell, and (9) Book Cliffs and Uinta Basin.

Sets forth administrative requirements for: (1) the exchange of state-owned lands within such areas, (2) federal reservation of water rights, (3) measurement of setbacks for roads with wilderness, (4) authorized livestock grazing, and (5) withdrawal of such lands from disposition under certain public land laws.

Date: 2015-05-19
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Continental Divide Wilderness and Recreation Act

 Amends the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993 to designate certain federal lands in the White River National Forest in Colorado as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System as follows:

 approximately 6,349 acres identified as the Proposed Ute Pass Wilderness, Proposed Acorn Creek Wilderness, and Proposed Ptarmigan Additions Wilderness; approximately 5,172 acres as the Hoosier Ridge Wilderness; approximately 7,577 acres as the Tenmile Wilderness; approximately 9,338 acres as the Williams Fork Wilderness; approximately 3,942 acres as a part of the Holy Cross Wilderness; and approximately 7,082 acres, identified as the Proposed Freeman Creek Wilderness and Proposed Spraddle Creek Wilderness, as part of the Eagles Nest Wilderness. Designates certain federal lands in such forest, comprising approximately 2,338 acres and identified as the Proposed Spraddle Creek Potential Wilderness as a potential wilderness area, and as specified, to be designated as wilderness and incorporated in and deemed to be a part of the Eagles Nest Wilderness.

Designates certain federal lands in such forest, comprising approximately 11,417 acres, as the Tenmile Recreation Management Area.

Designates certain federal lands in such forest, comprising approximately 5,204 acres, as the Porcupine Gulch Protection Area.

Date: 2015-05-21
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
National Discovery Trails Act of 2015

 Amends the National Trails System Act to establish as part of the national trails system national discovery trails, which shall be extended, continuous interstate trails located to provide for outdoor recreation and travel and to connect representative examples of America's trails and communities.

Authorizes the designation of such trails on federal lands and, with the owner's consent, on non-federal lands.

 Designates as a national discovery trail the 6,000-mile American Discovery Trail extending from Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware to Point Reyes National Seashore in California, splitting into northern and southern routes at Cincinnati, Ohio, and rejoining at Denver, Colorado.

Sets forth requirements for designation of a trail as a national discovery trail.

Requires the appropriate Department for each national discovery trail to: (1) administer the trail in cooperation with a competent trailwide volunteer-based organization; and (2) submit a comprehensive plan for the trail's protection, management, development, and use.

Date: 2015-06-04
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 2015 

 Designates certain federal land in the Olympic National Forest in the state of Washington as wilderness and components of the National Wilderness Preservation System. Designates certain other land, identified on the same map as such proposed areas, as potential wilderness.

Amends the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate as wild, scenic, or recreational rivers specified segments of the following rivers in the state of Washington:

 Elwha River; Dungeness River; Big Quilcene River; Dosewallips River; Duckabush River; Hamma Hamma River; South Fork Skokomish River; Middle Fork Satsop River; West Fork Satsop River; Wynoochee River; East Fork Humptulips River; West Fork Humptulips River; Quinault River; Queets River; Hoh River; Bogachiel River; South Fork Calawah River; Sol Duc River; and Lyre River. Authorizes the Department of Agriculture to take necessary measures to control fire, insects, and diseases in the wilderness areas designated by this Act.

Withdraws the federal land within the boundaries of the designated river segments from: (1) entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws; (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and (3) disposition under all laws relating to mineral and geothermal leasing or mineral materials.

Date: 2015-06-04
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Securing Energy Critical Elements and American Jobs Act of 2015

 Authorizes within the Department of Energy (DOE) a research, development, and commercial application program to assure the long-term, secure, and sustainable supply of energy critical elements to satisfy the national security, economic well-being, and industrial production needs of the United States.

("Energy critical element" means any of a class of chemical elements that have a high risk of a supply disruption and are critical to one or more new, energy-related technologies so that a shortage of that element would significantly inhibit large-scale deployment of technologies that produce, transmit, store, or conserve energy.)

Requires the program to focus upon areas the private sector by itself is not likely to undertake because of technical and financial uncertainty.

Directs DOE to: (1) encourage multidisciplinary collaborations, including opportunities for students at institutions of higher education; (2) collaborate with agencies of foreign countries with interests relating to energy critical elements; and (3) submit biennially updated implementation plans to Congress.

Authorizes DOE to maintain a Critical Materials Energy Innovation Hub to carry out the program established by this Act.

Requires the Hub to establish and maintain a Critical Materials Information Center to collect, catalogue, disseminate, and archive information on energy critical elements in coordination with the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information.

Limits to a renewable period of five years any award made to operate the Hub.

Directs the President, acting through the Critical Material Supply Chain Subcommittee of the Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Sustainability of the National Science and Technology Council, to: (1) coordinate the actions of federal agencies to promote an adequate and stable supply of energy critical elements; (2) identify energy critical elements and establish scenario modeling systems for supply problems; (3) establish a mechanism for the coordination and evaluation of federal programs with energy critical element needs; and (4) encourage private enterprise in the development of an economically sound and stable domestic energy critical elements supply chain.

Amends the National Materials and Minerals Policy, Research and Development Act of 1980 to: (1) instruct the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to coordinate federal materials research and development through the National Science and Technology Council (instead of, as currently required, the Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology, which is now defunct); (2) modify the duties of the Secretary of Commerce regarding critical needs assessment; and (3) repeal specified duties of the Secretaries of Defense and of the Interior.

Repeals the National Critical Materials Act of 1984.

Date: 2015-06-08
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Energy
Authorizes the Department of the Army to convey all right, title, and interest of the United States in certain real property to the city of Copperas Cove, Texas, in order for the city to improve arterial transportation routes in the vicinity of Fort Hood and to promote economic development in the area.

Requires the city, in consideration for such conveyance, to convey all its right, title, and interest in real properties of equal fair market value that are acceptable to the Department.

Date: 2015-06-10
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
This bill directs the Department of the Interior, through the Bureau of Land Management, to convey to the city of Ketchum, Idaho, a total of approximately 374.5 acres of land in Blaine County, Idaho, as identified on the map "Ketchum R&PPA Proposal North & South R&PP Parcels," dated February 2012, as the North R&PP Parcel and the South R&PP Parcel.

The conveyed land shall be used to support recreation, educational, and public purposes, including river restoration, floodplain management, and municipal water storage.

Such land shall not be used for residential or commercial purposes, except for public events and activities that are permitted by the city of Ketchum.

Date: 2015-06-17
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Southern Arizona Public Lands Protection Act of 2015

Withdraws federal lands and interests located in Pima and Santa Cruz Counties, Arizona, as well as all federally owned subsurface interests under the administrative jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in lands in Pima County, 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, and the mineral materials laws.

Withdraws all federally owned interests in BLM lands in Pima County from entry, location, or patent under the general mining laws.

Date: 2015-06-25
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Arizona Sonoran Desert Heritage Act of 2015

 Establishes the Belmont-Harquahala National Conservation Area and the Gila Bend National Conservation Area in Arizona.

Requires the Department of the Interior to manage the Conservation Areas as: (1) components the National Landscape Conservation System, and (2) in a manner that conserves and enhances their resources and values.

Designates specified wilderness and wilderness additions in Maricopa County, Arizona, as wilderness areas and as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Establishes the Sentinel Plain Special Management Area and the Rainbow Valley Special Management Area in Arizona.

Requires Interior to:

 develop separate comprehensive management plans for the long-term protection and management of such Areas, and provide for the protection of the Agua Caliente Road.

Date: 2015-06-25
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Meers Point Boundary Clarification Act

 Directs the Department of the Interior, after completing a survey of Meers Point which covers those portions of lots 34, 35, 37, and 38 that are currently within the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge in Yuma County, Arizona, to convey to the current landowner or landowners of certain properties within such lots (property owners) by quitclaim deed that federal land that is within each property owner's lot.

Requires each property owner to pay a percentage of the total administrative costs incurred by the United States. Waives such payment respecting any conveyance of federal land to the state of Arizona.

Requires any proceeds paid to Interior to remain available for visitor services and resource protection at the Imperial National Wildlife Refuge.

Date: 2015-07-10
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Federal Land Asset Inventory Reform Act of 2015 

 This bill directs the Department of the Interior to develop and maintain a current, accurate multipurpose cadastre (inventory) of federal real property to assist with federal land management activities, including, but not limited to, resource development and conservation, agricultural use, active forest management, environmental protection, and use of real property. Interior may enter into cost-sharing agreements with states to include any non-federal lands in this cadastre. The federal share of any such agreement shall be up to 50% of the total cost to a state for the development of a cadastre of the non-federal lands.

Interior shall report on: (1) existing executive agency real property inventories or any components of any cadastre; (2) consolidation of inventories and components; (3) the use of existing inventories and components of any cadastre; (4) cost savings that will be achieved; (5) a plan for implementation of this Act, including a cost estimate and the feasibility of using revenue from any authorized transactional activity to offset such costs; and (6) recommendations for legislation.

Date: 2015-07-21
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Kisatchie National Forest Land Conveyance Act

Authorizes the Department of Agriculture to sell specified federal land in Winn Parish, Louisiana. Requires USDA to sell a portion of that land to Collins Camp Properties for the Collins Campsites.

Requires sale proceeds to be used for the acquisition of lands and interests in the Kisatchie National Forest in Louisiana.

Date: 2015-07-21
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Timber Revitalization and Economic Enhancement Act of 2015

Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the reduced tax rate on the net timber gains of corporations, to: (1) adjust the formula for calculating such rate, and (2) make such reduced rate permanent.

Date: 2015-07-22
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Taxation
Mid-Mississippi Conservation, Recreation, and Development Act of 2015

 Directs the Department of Agriculture to convey to the Pat Harrison Waterway District, without consideration, approximately 8, 307 acres of specified National Forest System land within the Bienville National Forests of Mississippi for public uses only.

Date: 2015-07-28
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Directs the Department of Agriculture to sell and quitclaim all interest of the United States in and to a parcel of real property, including improvements, located at 4500 Glenwood Drive in Riverside, California, consisting of approximately 8.75 acres and administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, to the Riverside Corona Resource Conservation District.

Date: 2015-07-29
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
Colorado Wilderness Act of 2015

 Amends the Colorado Wilderness Act of 1993 to add specified lands in Colorado managed by the Bureau of Land Management (proposed as the Powderhorn Wilderness Addition) of the Department of the Interior to the Powderhorn Wilderness.

Designates specified lands in Colorado managed by the BLM or the U.S. Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture as wilderness and as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System.

Designates specified lands in Colorado administered by the BLM, Forest Service, and Bureau of Reclamation as wilderness and as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System. Incorporates such lands into the West Elk Wilderness.

Allows Interior to continue authorizing competitive running events currently permitted in the Redcloud Peak Wilderness and Handies Peak Wilderness Areas.

Authorizes the Colorado Army National Guard, through the High-Altitude Army National Guard Aviation Training Site, to conduct aerial navigation training maneuver exercises over the wilderness areas designated by this Act.

Designates specified lands managed by the BLM as: (1) potential wilderness areas, and (2) as the Deep Creek Wilderness and the Pisgah Mountain Wilderness upon publication by Interior of a notice in the Federal Register that all nonconforming uses of such lands authorized by this Act for the conduct of such exercises and overflights of military helicopters in violation of the Wilderness Act have ceased.

Provides for the securing, adjudication, and use of U.S. water rights for certain of the wilderness areas designated by this Act.

Date: 2015-07-29
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

(Sec. 2) The document titled "Dependent Re-Survey, Extension Survey and Survey of Two Islands, Sections 17, 29, and 30" (completed on November 24, 1967; approved on January 15, 1969; and filed in the Federal Register), relating to a plat of a survey of such sections of land, including Peggys and Hog Islands, surrounding Lake Bistineau in Louisiana, shall be void and have no legal force or effect.

No future survey or re-survey of the lands that were the subject of such document undertaken by the federal government shall have any legal effect as to their title and boundaries.

Date: 2015-07-29
Topic: Public Lands (Public Lands)
Subject: Public lands and natural resources