[House Report 113-412]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
113th Congress Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session 113-412
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DISPOSAL OF EXCESS FEDERAL LANDS ACT OF 2013
_______
April 10, 2014.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the
State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Hastings of Washington, from the Committee on Natural Resources,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
together with
DISSENTING VIEWS
[To accompany H.R. 2657]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Natural Resources, to whom was referred
the bill (H.R. 2657) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to
sell certain Federal lands in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho,
Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and
Wyoming, previously identified as suitable for disposal, and
for other purposes, having considered the same, report
favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill
do pass.
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of H.R. 2657 is to direct the Secretary of the
Interior to sell certain Federal lands in Arizona, Colorado,
Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and
Wyoming, previously identified as suitable for disposal.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
H.R. 2657 would authorize the disposal of the nearly 3.3
million acres of land the federal government identified in a
1997 Clinton Administration report. In the report, the Bureau
of Land Management (BLM) identified approximately 3.36 million
acres of land in 10 western states deemed suitable for sale to
non-federal entities. The 1996 Agriculture Reform Act (Public
Law 104-127) required the Secretary of the Interior to report
to Congress any unreserved and unappropriated lands or mineral
interests in lands that were suitable for sale or exchange to
benefit the Everglades Restoration effort. The inventory was
made on a county basis (totaled by state) and used the
following four criteria to determine eligibility: (1) only
lands that were identified for disposal in a land use plan were
to be considered; (2) lands withdrawn for other purposes were
not to be considered; (3) lands in Recreation and Public
Purpose applications, identified for state selection, Native
American allotments, or local government purposes were
excluded; and (4) lands segregated for other exchange or under
existing agreements for exchange were excluded. Below are the
identified acreage totals by state:
Arizona.................................................... 453,950
Colorado................................................... 93,741
Idaho...................................................... 110,022
Montana.................................................... 94,520
Nebraska................................................... 6,615
Nevada..................................................... 898,460
New Mexico................................................. 813,531
Oregon..................................................... 70,308
Utah....................................................... 132,931
Wyoming.................................................... 694,200
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Total Acres............................................ 3,368,278
H.R. 2657 will require the competitive sale of the lands,
subject to valid existing rights, identified in the 1997 DOI
report to Congress. The disposal would equate to just over 1%
of BLM land and less than one half of 1% of all federal lands.
The proceeds of the land sales will be used to reduce the
public debt. Four years after enactment, the Secretary of the
Interior will be required to provide Congress with an updated
version of the 1997 report to identify the lands that have not
been sold with an explanation of why the sale had not occurred.
COMMITTEE ACTION
H.R. 2657 was introduced on July 11, 2013, by Congressman
Jason Chaffetz (R-UT). The bill was referred to the Committee
on Natural Resources, and within the Committee to the
Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation. On
October 3, 2013, the Subcommittee held a hearing on the bill.
On January 28, 2014, the Natural Resources Committee met to
consider the bill. The Subcommittee on Public Lands and
Environmental Regulation was discharged by unanimous consent.
The bill was then adopted and ordered favorably reported to the
House of Representatives by a roll call vote of 23 yeas and 19
nays, as follows:
COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
Committee on Natural Resources' oversight findings and
recommendations are reflected in the body of this report.
COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII
1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(1) of rule XIII of the
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(2)(B)
of that rule provides that this requirement does not apply when
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Under clause 3(c)(3) of rule
XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and section
403 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee has
received the following cost estimate for this bill from the
Director of the Congressional Budget Office:
H.R. 2657--Disposal of Excess Federal Lands Act of 2013
H.R. 2657 would direct the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
to offer certain federal lands for sale. The bill would require
the agency to sell the affected lands for fair market value as
determined by an independent appraiser. Any proceeds from the
sale of those lands would be deposited in the U.S. Treasury.
The bill also would require BLM to complete a report to the
Congress identifying federal lands that are suitable for
disposal.
Based on information provided by BLM, CBO estimates that
implementing the legislation would cost $6 million over the
2015-2018 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary
amounts. Enacting the bill could increase offsetting receipts,
which are treated as reductions in direct spending; therefore,
pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that any
effect on offsetting receipts would be negligible.
H.R. 2657 would direct BLM to sell federal lands identified
as suitable for disposal in a 1997 report to the Congress. That
report identified roughly 3.4 million acres of land as suitable
for disposal; however, many of the affected lands were subject
to impediments that could prevent their sale, including high
disposal costs, the presence of critical natural or cultural
resources and habitat, mineral claims and leases, and hazardous
conditions. Over the 2000-2011 period, when the Federal Land
Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA) was in effect, CBO
estimates that BLM sold roughly 30,000 acres of the affected
lands generating more than $100 million in offsetting receipts
(a significant portion of which were spent to acquire other
lands under FLTFA).
Under current law, BLM has the authority to sell the
affected lands identified in the 1997 report, and CBO expects
that the agency will offer some of those lands for sale over
the 2014-2023 period. H.R. 2657 would not require the agency to
offer the affected lands for sale within a specified period of
time, and CBO expects that enacting the bill would have little
effect on the timing or quantity of future land sales under
current law; therefore, we estimate that enacting the bill
would have no significant effect on offsetting receipts.
H.R. 2657 would require BLM to prepare a report for the
Congress within four years of the bill's enactment that
includes an updated list of BLM lands identified as suitable
for disposal. That report also would explain why lands
identified as suitable for disposal in 1997 have not been sold.
The costs of preparing that report would depend on the level of
detail and accuracy included in the report. CBO expects that
BLM would produce a report similar to the 1997 report, which
contained limited details and lacked formal appraisals for
individual parcels, and we estimate that producing that report
would cost $6 million over the 2015-2018 period, assuming
appropriation of the necessary amounts. Preparing a more
detailed report with formal appraisals of property values would
significantly increase the cost of implementing this
legislation.
The bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. The
estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.
2. Section 308(a) of Congressional Budget Act. As required
by clause 3(c)(2) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives and section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget
Act of 1974, this bill does not contain any new budget
authority, spending authority, credit authority, or an increase
or decrease in revenues or tax expenditures. CBO estimates that
implementing the legislation would cost $6 million over the
2015-2018 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary
amounts. Enacting the bill could increase offsetting receipts,
which are treated as reductions in direct spending; therefore,
pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that any
effect on offsetting receipts would be negligible.
3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or
objective of this bill is to direct the Secretary of the
Interior to sell certain Federal lands in Arizona, Colorado,
Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and
Wyoming, previously identified as suitable for disposal.
EARMARK STATEMENT
This bill does not contain any Congressional earmarks,
limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined
under clause 9(e), 9(f), and 9(g) of rule XXI of the Rules of
the House of Representatives.
COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4
This bill contains no unfunded mandates.
COMPLIANCE WITH H. RES. 5
Directed Rule Making. The Chairman does not believe that
this bill directs any executive branch official to conduct any
specific rule-making proceedings.
Duplication of Existing Programs. This bill does not
establish or reauthorize a program of the federal government
known to be duplicative of another program. Such program was
not included in any report from the Government Accountability
Office to Congress pursuant to section 21 of Public Law 111-139
or identified in the most recent Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance published pursuant to the Federal Program
Information Act (Public Law 95-220, as amended by Public Law
98-169) as relating to other programs.
PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL, OR TRIBAL LAW
This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local, or
tribal law.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
If enacted, this bill would make no changes in existing
law.
DISSENTING VIEWS
H.R. 2657 would require the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
to sell off ``excess'' federal lands identified in a 1997
report, unless those lands have since been identified in a land
use plan as not suitable for disposal, have been identified for
State selection, Indian tribe allotments, or for use by local
governments.
In 1997, Congress ordered the BLM to inventory all
unreserved and unappropriated lands which might be suitable for
sale or exchange to fund Everglades Ecosystem Restoration. The
1997 law only required BLM to report on lands available for
disposal, not to assess whether selling the identified lands
would be in the Nation's interest or to prepare surveys or
appraisals of land available for disposal. Therefore, the
report did not identify individual parcels. BLM identified a
total of 3.37 million acres of ``excess'' land. However, the
1997 report is vague, outdated and was never intended for the
purposes outlined in H.R. 2657.
This bill would create more bureaucracy and more spending
by requiring the BLM to divert already strained resources to
conduct extensive reviews, including cultural resource reviews,
threatened and endangered species reviews, surveys and
appraisals, of every parcel identified in the report.
Many of the lands identified for disposal include grazing
allotments. In the past, grazing permittees have declined to
acquire federal lands when offered for sale for financial and
other reasons. As a result, H.R. 2657 could have disastrous
effects on ranching communities throughout the west by selling
the land out from under ranchers.
Finally, forcing BLM to sell land regardless of market
conditions could result in a significant decline in the value
of both the federal and non-federal land in areas with
``excess'' federal ownership.
H.R. 2657 is not well thought out and is simply another
attempt to raid our federal lands; we oppose H.R. 2657.
Peter A. DeFazio.
Raul M. Grijalva.