[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3830 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]
H.R.3830
One Hundred Fifth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the twenty-seventh day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-
eight
An Act
To provide for the exchange of certain lands within the State of Utah.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

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This Act may be cited as the ``Utah Schools and Lands Exchange Act
of 1998''.

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The Congress finds the following:
(1) The State of Utah owns approximately 176,600 acres of land,
as well as approximately 24,165 acres of mineral interests,
administered by the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands
Administration, within the exterior boundaries of the Grand
Staircase-Escalante National Monument, established by Presidential
proclamation on September 18, 1996, pursuant to section 2 of the
Antiquities Act of 1906 (16 U.S.C. 431). The State of Utah also
owns approximately 200,000 acres of land, and 76,000 acres of
mineral interests, administered by the Utah School and
Institutional Trust Lands Administration, within the exterior
boundaries of several units of the National Park System and the
National Forest System, and within certain Indian reservations in
Utah. These lands were granted by Congress to the State of Utah
pursuant to the Utah Enabling Act (chap. 138, 28 Stat. 107 (1894)),
to be held in trust for the benefit of the State's public school
system and other public institutions.
(2) Many of the State school trust lands within the monument
may contain significant economic quantities of mineral resources,
including coal, oil, and gas, tar sands, coalbed methane, titanium,
uranium, and other energy and metalliferous minerals. Certain State
school trust lands within the Monument, like the Federal lands
comprising the Monument, have substantial noneconomic scientific,
historic, cultural, scenic, recreational, and natural resources,
including ancient Native American archeological sites and rare
plant and animal communities.
(3) Development of surface and mineral resources on State
school trust lands within the Monument could be incompatible with
the preservation of these scientific and historic resources for
which the Monument was established. Federal acquisition of State
school trust lands within the Monument would eliminate this
potential incompatibility, and would enhance management of the
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
(4) The United States owns lands and interest in lands outside
of the Monument that can be transferred to the State of Utah in
exchange for the Monument inholdings without jeopardizing Federal
management objectives or needs.
(5) In 1993, Congress passed and the President signed Public
Law 103-93, which contained a process for exchanging State of Utah
school trust inholdings in the National Park System, the National
Forest System, and certain Indian reservations in Utah. Among other
things, it identified various Federal lands and interests in land
that were available to exchange for these State inholdings.
(6) Although Public Law 103-93 offered the hope of a prompt,
orderly exchange of State inholdings for Federal lands elsewhere,
implementation of the legislation has been very slow. Completion of
this process is realistically estimated to be many years away, at
great expense to both the State and the United States in the form
of expert witnesses, lawyers, appraisers, and other litigation
costs.
(7) The State also owns approximately 2,560 acres of land in or
near the Alton coal field which has been declared an area
unsuitable for coal mining under the terms of the Surface Mining
Control and Reclamation Act. This land is also administered by the
Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, but its
use is limited given this declaration.
(8) The large presence of State school trust land inholdings in
the Monument, national parks, national forests, and Indian
reservations make land and resource management in these areas
difficult, costly, and controversial for both the State of Utah and
the United States.
(9) It is in the public interest to reach agreement on exchange
of inholdings, on terms fair to both the State and the United
States. Agreement saves much time and delay in meeting the
expectations of the State school and institutional trusts, in
simplifying management of Federal and Indian lands and resources,
and in avoiding expensive, protracted litigation under Public Law
103-93.
(10) The State of Utah and the United States have reached an
agreement under which the State would exchange all its State school
trust lands within the Monument, and specified inholdings in
national parks, forests, and Indian reservations that are subject
to Public Law 103-93, for various Federal lands and interests in
lands located outside the Monument, including Federal lands and
interests identified as available for exchange in Public Law 103-93
and additional Federal lands and interests in lands.
(11) The State school trust lands to be conveyed to the Federal
Government include properties within units of the National Park
System, the National Forest System, and the Grand Staircase-
Escalante National Monument. The Federal assets made available for
exchange with the State were selected with a great sensitivity to
environmental concerns and a belief and expectation by both parties
that Federal assets to be conveyed to the State would be unlikely
to trigger significant environmental controversy.
(12) The parties agreed at the outset of negotiations to avoid
identifying Federal assets for conveyance to the State where any of
the following was known to exist or likely to be an issue as a
result of foreseeable future uses of the land: significant wildlife
resources, endangered species habitat, significant archaeological
resources, areas of critical environmental concern, coal resources
requiring surface mining to extract the mineral deposits,
wilderness study areas, significant recreational areas, or any
other lands known to raise significant environmental concerns of
any kind.
(13) The parties further agreed that the use of any mineral
interests obtained by the State of Utah where the Federal
Government retains surface and other interest, will not conflict
with established Federal land and environmental management
objectives, and shall be fully subject to all environmental
regulations applicable to development of non-Federal mineral
interest on Federal lands.
(14) Because the inholdings to be acquired by the Federal
Government include properties within the boundaries of some of the
most renowned conservation land units in the United States, and
because a mission of the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands
Administration is to produce economic benefits for Utah's public
schools and other beneficiary institutions, the exchange of lands
called for in this agreement will resolve many longstanding
environmental conflicts and further the interest of the State trust
lands, the school children of Utah, and these conservation
resources.
(15) The Congress finds that, under this Agreement taken as a
whole, the State interests to be conveyed to the United States by
the State of Utah, and the Federal interests and payments to be
conveyed to the State of Utah by the United States, are
approximately equal in value.
(16) The purpose of this legislation is to enact into law and
direct prompt implementation of this historic agreement.

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THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.
(a) Agreement.--The State of Utah and the Department of the
Interior have agreed to exchange certain Federal lands, Federal mineral
interests, and payment of money for lands and mineral interests managed
by the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, lands
and mineral interests of approximately equal value inheld within the
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument the Goshute and Navajo
Indian Reservations, units of the National Park System, the National
Forest System, and the Alton coal fields.
(b) Ratification.--All terms, conditions, procedures, covenants,
reservations, and other provisions set forth in the document entitled
``Agreement to Exchange Utah School Trust Lands Between the State of
Utah and the United States of America'' (herein referred to as ``the
Agreement'') are hereby incorporated in this title, are ratified and
confirmed, and set forth the obligations and commitments of the United
States, the State of Utah, and Utah School and Institutional Trust
Lands Administration (herein referred to as ``SITLA''), as a matter of
Federal law.

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(a) In General.--The maps and legal descriptions referred to in the
Agreement depict the lands subject to the conveyances.
(b) Public Availability.--The maps and descriptions referred to in
the Agreement shall be on file and available for public inspection in
the offices of the Secretary of the Interior and the Utah State
Director of the Bureau of Land Management.
(c) Conflict.--In case of conflict between the maps and the legal
descriptions, the legal descriptions shall control.

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The United States and the State of Utah shall each bear its own
respective costs incurred in the implementation of this Act.

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The provisions of Public Law 103-93 (107 Stat. 995), other than
section 7(b)(1), section 7(b)(3), and section 10(b) thereof, are hereby
repealed. Public Law 104-211 (110 Stat. 3013) is hereby repealed.

38d0f81ed1ac210df7584d40a5b3f028626c24d234e6f6be42bcc61ad8be23e2

As previously authorized and made available by section 7(b)(1) and
(b)(3) of Public Law 103-93, upon completion of all conveyances
described in the Agreement, the United States shall pay $50,000,000 to
the State of Utah from funds not otherwise appropriated from the
Treasury.

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All conveyances under sections 2 and 3 of the agreement shall be
completed within 70 days after the enactment of this Act.
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.

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Utah Schools and Lands Exchange Act of 1998 — HR. 3830

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