Cooperative Management of Mineral Rights Act of 2016

Floor Speech

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H.R. 3881 is a bill that would repeal some unnecessary, redundant parts of the U.S. Code related to private oil and gas rights of the Allegheny National Forest.

The intent, as the sponsor indicated, is to ensure that the owners of those mineral rights are allowed to exercise them and drill within the boundaries as legal. While those rights are certainly valid and should be respected, the U.S. Forest Service also has certain rights that have also been confirmed by the courts, for instance, the right to receive 60 days' advance notice before any drilling begins.

The introduced draft of this legislation initially raised the possibility that it could have inadvertently overturned the court cases and precedences guaranteeing that advance notice and other rights of the U.S. Forest Service.

Thankfully, in markup, the sponsor of the legislation and the majority on the Natural Resources Committee agreed to accept an amendment offered by my colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lowenthal), which made it completely clear that this bill does not affect the right of the Forest Service to get this advance notice or any other valid right of the Forest Service, nor does it negatively impact any other rights the Forest Service has to oversee activities in national forests and to protect forest resources pursuant to the law.

This bill, as amended, simply repeals language that some have interpreted as potentially infringing on private property rights. Passing this bill would not have an impact on how oil and gas operations are conducted in the Allegheny National Forest or in any national forest nationwide.

I thank the sponsor of this bill for working with the Democrats on the committee to craft a workable response that hopefully will pass by unanimous consent. I ask my colleagues to support the bill.

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