UTAH Schools and LANDS IMPROVEMENT ACT
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UTAH SCHOOlS AND LANDS IMPROVEMENT ACT HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL PARKS, FORESTS AND PUBLIC LANDS OF THE COMl\tiiTTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON H.R. 677 TO EXCHANGE LANDS WITHIN THE STATE OF UTAH, BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES, AND THE STATE OF UTAH HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC MAY 4, 1993 Serial No. 103-25 Printed for the use of the Committee on Natural Resources U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 69--<;45 WASHINGTON : 1993 For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents. Congressional Sales Otlice. Washington, DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-041120-3 COMMITIEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES GEORGE MILLER, California, Chairman PHILIP R. SHARP, Indiana DON YOUNG, Alaska, EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts Ranking Republican Member AUSTIN J. MURPHY, Pennsylvania JAMES V. HANSEN, Utah NICK JOE RAHALL II, West Virginia BARBARA F. VUCANOVICH, Nevada BRUCE F. VENTO, Minnesota ELTON GALLEGLY, California PAT WILLIAMS, Montana ROBERT F. SMITH, Oregon RON DE LUGO, Virgin Islands CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming SAM GEJDENSON, Connecticut JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee RICHARD H. LEHMAN, California JOEL HEFLEY, Colorado BILL RICHARDSON, New Mexico JOHN T. DOOLITTLE, California PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon WAYNE ALLARD, Colorado ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American RICHARD H. BAKER, Louisiana Samoa KEN CAL VERT, California TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota SCOTT MciNNIS, Colorado LARRY LAROCCO, Idaho RICHARD W. POMBO, California NEIL ABERCROMBIE, Hawaii JAY DICKEY, Arkansas CALVIN M. DOOLEY, California CARLOS ROMERO-BARCELO, Puerto Rico KARAN ENGLISH, Arizona KAREN SHEPHERD, Utah NATHAN DEAL, Georgia MAURICE D. HINCHEY, New York ROBERT A. UNDERWOOD, Guam HOWARD L. BERMAN, California LANE EVANS, Illinois PATSY T. MINK, Hawaii THOMAS J. BARLOW III, Kentucky THOMAS M. BARRETT, Wisconsin JOHN LAWRENCE, Staff Director RICHARD MELTZER, General Counsel DANIEL VAL KlsH, Republican Staff Director SUBCOMMITIEE ON NATIONAL PARKS, FORESTS AND PuBLIC LANDS BRUCE F. VENTO, Minnesota, Chairman EDWARD J . MARKEY, Massachusetts JAMES V. HANSEN, Utah, NICK JOE RAHALL II, West Virginia Ranking Republican Member PAT WILLIAMS, Montana ROBERT F. SMITH, Oregon PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee LARRY LAROCCO, Idaho JOEL HEFLEY, Colorado NEIL ABERCROMBIE, Hawaji JOHN T. DOOLITTLE, California CARLOS ROMERO-BARCELO, Puerto Rico RICHARD H. BAKER, Louisiana KARAN ENGLISH, Arizona KEN CALVERT, California KAREN SHEPHERD, Utah JAY DICKEY, Arkansas MAURICE D. HINCHEY, New York ROBERT A. UNDERWOOD, Guam AUSTIN J . MURPHY, Pennsylvania BILL RICHARDSON, New Mexico PATSY T. MINK, Hawaii RICHARD HEALY, Staff Director AMY HOLLEY, Professional Staff Member TONY A MITCHEM, Staff Assistant CHARLENE SEAMENS, Clerk STEPHEN HODAPP, Republican Consultant on National Parks (II) CONTENTS Page Hearing held: May 4, 1993 ..................................................................................... 1 Text of the bill: H.R. 677 ........................................................................................ 2 Member statements: Bruce Vento ...................................................................................................... 1 James V. Hansen ......................................... ..... .. .. .. .. ....................................... 16 Karen Shepherd .............................................................................................. .. 17 Witness statements: Panel consisting of: Hon. Orrin G. Hatch, a U.S. Senator in Congress from the State ofUtah ................................................................................................... 19 Hon. Robert F. Bennett, a U.S. Senator in Congress from the State ofUtah ................................................................................................... 21 Hon. William H. Orton, a U.S. Representative in Congress from the State of Utah .................................................................................. 22 Panel consisting of: Kemp Conn, Deputy Assistant Director for Land and Reneweable Resources, Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Inte rior, accompanied by Matthew Millenbach, Chief of Lands, Office M~~~hR~x!!~~nt~;~~;taChi~r;··F'~~~~t:-·s~~i~~;··:o:;i··o~p~~i~~~t:··~r 35 Agriculture ............................................................................................ 41 Jan Graham, Attorney General, State of Utah, on behalf of Hon. Michael 0. Leavitt, Governor of Utah, accompanied by Kevin Carter, Assistant Director, Division of Lands, and Steve Boyden, John Haija, and Gerald Jensen, Office of the Attorney General ..................................................... .. 50 Panel consisting of: Hon. Peterson Zah, President, Navajo Nation, Window Rock, Arizona 78 John Kennedy, Esq., on behalf of the Goshute Indian Tribe ................ 89 K~~nE~~fit'io~a~~li~~~~ i~iu\atr~~.~~~~~~ ...~.~~~ .. ~~·... ~~ .. ~~~.~~.~ .. ~~ 91 Cindy Shogan, D.C. Representative, Southern Utah Wilderness Alli ance, also on behalf of the National Parks and Conservation Asso- ciation and the Sierra Club .................................................................. 97 APPENDIX TuESDAY, MAY 4, 1993 Additional material submitted for the hearing record from: Hon. Orrin G. Hatch: Letters and news article concerning the legislation . 105 Hon. William H. Orton: Amendment to H.R. 677 ........................................ .. 111 Kevin S. Carter, Assistant Director, Utah Division of State Lands and H!:M:1~a~IeO~rL~a~\~!~~~!~~~:··st~t~ ··~f'.ii't~;··p-~~··~~d··~~~-;;;~~t 114 including Mineral Lease Account Amendments 1993 beneral Session, H.B. No. 89, and "Preliminary investigation of the hydrocarbon poten tial of State Lands in Arches National Park,'' prepared by Utah Geo- logical Survey .............................................................................................. .. 116 (III) H.R. 677, A BILL TO EXCHANGE LANDS WITH· IN THE STATE OF UTAH, BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE STATE OF UTAH TUESDAY, MAY 4, 1993 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON NA TIONAL PARKS, FORESTS, AND PuBLIC LANDS, COMMIT TEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met at 10:04 a.m., in room 1324, Longworth House Office Building, the Honorable Bruce F. Vento (chairman of the subcommittee), presiding. STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN VENTO Mr. VENTO. The subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands will be in order. I'm pleased to convene this hearing and ask unanimous consent that all statements by members and witnesses, in their entirety, be made part of the record. Hearing no objection, so ordered. We're meeting today to consider H.R. 677, the Utah Schools and Lands Improvement Act of 1993. The measure has been introduced by my good friends and col leagues from Utah, Congressman Hansen and Congresswoman Shepherd. A similar, but not identical bill, was introduced by a former member, Congressman Owens, last year. A version was also intro duced then by Congressman Hansen. The Committee reported and the House passed the Owens bill, on which legislative action was not completed. I think there is a growing consensus with regard to resolution of this issue, as the members from Utah are aware, because the pro posed significant exchange of lands will facilitate both the goals of land management, from the perspective of the national govern ment, and serve the best interests of Utah in terms of producing income, which is obviously desperately needed for the dedicated purpose of education in the state. [Text of the bill, H.R. 677, follows:] (1) 2 103o CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H.R.677 To exchange lands within the State of Utah, between the United States and the State of Utah IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 27, 1993 Mr. HANSEN (for himself and Ms. SHEPHERD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources A BILL To exchange lands within the State of Utah, between the United States and the State of Utah 1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 4 This Act may be cited as the "Utah Schools and 5 Lands Improvement Act of 1993". 6 SEC. 2. UTAH-NAVAJO LAND EXCHANGE. 7 (a) ADDITIONS TO RESERVATION.-For the purpose 8 of securing'in trust for the Navajo Nation certain lands 9 belonging to the State of Utah, which comprise approxi- 10 mately thirty-eight thousand five hundred acres of surface 3 2 1 and subsurface estate, and approximately an additional 2 nine thousand five hundred acres of subsurface estate, as 3 generally depicted on the map entitled "Utah-Navajo 4 Land Exchange", dated May 18, 1992, such lands are 5 hereby declared to be part of the Navajo Indian Reserva- 6 tion in the State of Utah effective upon the completion 7 of conveyance from the State of Utah and acceptance of 8 title by the United States. 9 (b) AUTHORIZATION.-The Secretary of the Interior 10 is authorized to acquire through exchange those lands de ll scribed in subsection (a) which are owned by the State 12 of Utah, subject to valid existing rights. 13 SEC. 3. STATE LANDS WITHIN THE GOSHUTE INDIAN RES- 14 ERVATION. 15 (a) ADDITION TO RESERVATION.-For the purpose 16 of securing in trust for the Goshute Indian Tribe certain 17 lands belonging to the State of Utah, which comprise ap- 18 proximately nine hundred eighty acres of surface and sub- 19 surface estate, and an additional four hundred and eighty 20 acres