52 1 23, 1958, 72 Stat. 730, Public Law 85-725, 43 U.S.C. 2 270-12, is further amended to read: 3 "The coal, oil, or gas deposits reserved to the United 4 States in accordance with the Act of March 8, 1922 (42 5 Stat. 415, ch. 96, as added to by the Act of August 17, 6 1961, 75 Stat. 384, Public Law 87-147, and amended by 7 the Act of October 3, 1962, 76 Stat. 740, Public Law 878 742), shall be subject to disposal by the United States in 9 accordance with the provisions of the laws applicable to coal, 10 oil, or gas deposits or coal, oil, or gas lands in Alaska in 11 force at the time of such disposal. Any person qualified to 12 acquire coal, oil, or gas deposits, or the right to mine or 13 remove the coal or to drill for and remove the oil or gas 14 under the laws of the United States shall have the right at 15 all times to enter upon the lands patented under the Act 16 of March 8, 1922, as amended, and in accordance with the 17 provisions hereof, for the purpose of prospecting for coal, oil, 18 or gas therein, upon the approval by the Secretary of the 19 Interior of a bond or undertaking to be filed with him as 20 security for the payment of all damages to the crops and 21 improvements on such lands by reason of such prospecting. 22 Any person who has acquired from the United States the 23 coal, oil, or gas deposits in any such land, or the right to 24 mine, drill for, or remove the same, may reenter and occupy 53 1 so much of the surface thereof incident to the mining and 2 removal of the coal, oil, or gas therefrom, and mine and 3 remove the coal or drill for and remove oil and gas upon 4 payment of the damages caused thereby to the owner thereof, 5 6 or upon giving a good and sufficient bond or undertaking in an action instituted in any competent court to ascertain and 7 fix said damages: Provided, That the owner under such 8 limited patent shall have the right to mine the coal for use 9 on the land for domestic purposes at any time prior to the 10 disposal by the United States of the coal deposits: Provided 11 further, That nothing in this Act shall be construed as au12 thorizing the exploration upon or entry of any coal deposits 13 withdrawn from such exploration and purchase.". 14 (e) Section 3 of the Act of August 30, 1949, 63 Stat. 15 679, ch. 521, 43 U.S.C. 678b-2, is amended to read: 16 "Notwithstanding the provisions of any Act of Congress 17 to the contrary, any person who prospects for, mines, or 18 removes any minerals from any land disposed of under the 19 Act of August 30, 1949 (63 Stat. 679, ch. 521), shall be 20 liable for any damage that may be caused to the value of the 21 land and tangible improvements thereon by such prospecting 22 for, mining, or removal of minerals. Nothing in this section. 23 shall be construed to impair any vested right in existence on 24 August 30, 1949.". 1 54 (f) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, all 2 laws of the United States in effect on the date immediately 3 preceding the effective date of this Act relating to home 4 steading in the United States shall, on and after such effective 5 date, continue to be applicable to lands within the State of 6 Alaska classified by the Secretary as suitable for homestead 7 entry in the same manner and same extent as if this Act had 8 not been enacted until June 30, 1984. 9 SEC. 504. REPEAL OF LAWS RELATING TO ADMINIS10 TRATION OF NATIONAL RESOURCE LANDS.-The following The following words only: "Section twenty-four hundred and fifty is amended by striking out in the fourth line the words 'Secretary of the Treasury' and inserting the words 'Secretary of the Interior' ". Revised Statute. 1162. February 27, 1877. 2451. 19: 244.. The following words only: "Section twenty-four hundred and fifty-one is amended by striking out, in the first and second lines, the words 'Secretary of the Treasury' and inserting the words 'Secretary of the Interior" ". 13 OF-WAY. (a) The following statutes or parts of statutes The following words only: "and the right-of-way for the construction of ditches and canals for the purpose herein specified is acknowledged and confirmed; but whenever any person, in the construction of any ditch or canal, injures or damages the possession of any settler on the public domain, the party committing such injury or damage shall be liable to the party injured for such injury or damage." Revised Statutes 2340... Feb. 26, 1897 661. The following words only: ", or rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection with such water rights,". Mar. 3, 1899. ...1.. The following words only; "that in the form provided by existing law the Secretary of the Interior may file and approve surveys and plats of any right-of-way for a wagon road, railroad, or other highway over and across any forest reservation or reservoir site when in his judgment the public interests will not be injuriously affecte d thereby." Mar. 3, 1875.. May 14, 1898. Mar. 4, 1917. Feb. 15, 1901. Mar. 4, 1911. May 27, 1952. 961 (16 U.S.C. 5, 420, 523). Only the last two paragraphs under the subheading "Improvement of the National Forests" under the heading "Forest Service". 3 (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) 4 of this section, the following statute is repealed in its entirety: Hon. HENRY M. JACKSON, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, D.C., March 6, 1975. Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This responds to your request for this Department's views on S. 507, a bill "To provide for the management, protection and development of the national resource lands, and for other purposes." While S. 507 would provide needed management authority to protect and regulate the use of the national resource lands, we recommend the enactment of the Administration's proposed "National Resource Lands Management Act", transmitted to the Congress on March 6, in lieu of S. 507. The national resource lands were for many years used as a means of stimulating the growth and development of the West. Consequently, little attention was given to preserving the irreplacable values of those lands. Many of the laws pertaining to the lands were designed primarily to facilitate disposal. Although there has been a growing awareness that these lands are an invaluable national asset and although our policy is now to preserve their values, to obtain authority to develop sound planning of their uses and generally to maintain them in Federal ownership, these lands have inherited an archaic and often conflicting conglomeration of laws which govern their use. The national resource lands comprise over 60 percent of all Federal lands and yet Congress has never given the Bureau of Land Management, the administering agency, a clear and comprehensive grant of authority to manage these lands as it has done for the National Forest Service and the National Park Service. S. 507, like the Administration proposal, would establish a legislative base for the management of the national resource lands. Title I of the bill declares a national policy that these lands be managed under the principles of multiple use and sustained yield in a manner which will, using all practicable means and measures, protect the quality of environment, including requiring appropriate land reclamation as a condition for use. It directs the Secretary of the Interior to inventory the national resource lands and to develop comprehensive land use plans for such lands, giving priority to "areas of critical environmental concern". Such areas are defined to include, among others, important natural systems and scenic or historic areas. The bill also directs the Secretary to identify land suitable for wilderness study within five years, and to review and make recommendations to Congress within 15 years for inclusion of eligible land within the Wilderness System. Title II would provide modern disposal authority for the Secretary to sell by competitive bidding national resource lands at not less than fair market value, when management of those lands would be significantly improved or when such disposal would serve important public objectives which cannot be prudently and feasibly achieved on land other than the national resource lands, or when the lands are not suitable for Federal purposes. Under certain circumstances it would authorize conveyance of mineral interests in lands to the surface owner if certain criteria are met. The bill would also authorize the acquisition of lands needed for proper management of national resource lands. Title III would provide modern land management tools and procedures designed to facilitate achievement of the goals and objectives established for the national resource lands. Among other things, it would establish a working capital fund that would afford a more efficient method of accounting for various programs and service operations of the Bureau of Land Management. It would significantly facilitate management of the national resource lands by making violation of laws and regulations pertaining to them a crime and by vesting enforcement authority in certain designated Departmental employees. In addition, the bill would authorize the Secretary to cooperate with State and local law enforcement agencies on national resource lands and to reimburse them for extraordinary services on national resource lands. Title IV provides uniform and comprehensive authority for the Secretary to grant rights-of-way for purposes ranging from roads, trails and canals to powerlines and pipelines other than oil and gas pipelines. Presently this authority must be gleaned from numerous, often overlapping laws. Title V contains a list of laws to be repealed or amended. These laws are generally either obsolete, duplicative or are replaced by the preceding titles. |