Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions
Floor Speech
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - January 25, 2005)
By Mr. BENNETT:
S. 163. A bill to establish the National Mormon Pioneer Heritage Area in the State of Utah, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, I rise today to re-introduce the National Mormon Pioneer Heritage Area Act.
The story behind and about the Mormon pioneers' 1,400-mile trek from Illinois to the Great Salt Lake Valley is one of the most compelling and captivating in our Nation's history. This legislation would designate as a National Heritage Area an area that spans some 250 miles along Highway 89 and encompasses outstanding examples of historical, cultural, and natural resources that demonstrate the colonization of the western United States, and the experience and influence of the Mormon pioneers in furthering that colonization.
The landscape, architecture, artisan skills, and events along Highway 89 convey in a very real way the legacy of the Mormon pioneers' achievements. The community of Panquitch for example, has an annual Quilt Day celebration to commemorate the sacrifice and fortitude of its pioneers whose efforts saved the community from starvation in 1864. The celebration is in remembrance of the Quilt Walk, a walk in which a group of men from Panquitch used quilts to form a path that would bear their weight across the snow. This quilt walk enabled these men to cross over the mountains to procure food for their community, which was facing starvation as it experienced its first winter in Utah.
Another example of the tenacity of pioneers can be seen today at the Hole-in-the-Rock. Here, in 1880, a group of 250 people, 80 wagons, and 1,000 head of cattle upon the Colorado River Gorge. Finding no pathways down to the river, the pioneers decided to use a narrow crevice leading down to the bottom of the gorge. To make the crevice big enough to accommodate wagons, the pioneers spent 6 weeks enlarging the crevice by hand, using hammers, chisels, and blasting powder. They then attached large ropes to the wagons as they began their descent down the steep incline. It is because of such tenacity and innovation on the part of pioneers that the western United States was shaped the way it was and much of that has contributed to the way of life and landscape still found in the West today.
The National Mormon Pioneer Heritage Area will serve as a special recognition of the people and places that have contributed greatly to our Nation's development. It will allow for the conservation of historical and cultural resources, the establishment of interpretive exhibits, will increase public awareness of the surviving skills and crafts of those living along Highway 89, and specifically allows for the preservation of historic buildings. In light of the benefits associated with preserving the rich heritage of the founding of many of the communities along Highway 89, my legislation has broad support from Sanpete, Sevier, Piute, Garfield, and Kane counties and is a locally based, locally supported undertaking.
Since the introduction of this legislation in the 108th Congress, I am pleased that the local counties, who have been unanimously supportive of this legislation, have come together to outline in a Memorandum of Understanding, with the local coordinating entity identified in the legislation, the cooperative relationship the coordinating entity enjoys with the elected officials of the local counties.
This legislation passed the Senate both in the 107th and 108th Congresses as part of packages agreed upon by the committee of jurisdiction. Unfortunately, both times the packages were not able to be considered by the other body prior to adjournment. I reintroduce this bill today with the hope that during this session of Congress we might achieve success in this body early enough to be considered by the House.
By Mr. BENNETT:
S. 164. A bill to provide for the acquisition of certain property in Washington County, Utah; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, today I am re-introducing a bill which is intended to bring to a close the Federal acquisition of an important piece of privately held land, located within the federally designated desert tortoise reserve in Washington County, UT.
As some of my colleagues are aware, this is not the first time legislation has been introduced in an attempt to resolve this issue. Most recently, on December 7, 2004, at the conclusion of the 108th Congress, the Senate passed by unanimous consent an amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 620, which adopted as title XVI agreed upon provisions of S. 1209. Unfortunately, the House of Representatives adjourned sine die before it had time to act upon H.R. 620. The legislation I am introducing today is virtually the same as the language earlier adopted by the Senate, except for a technical clarification regarding management of the acquired lands.
I want to personally express my appreciation to Chairman DOMENICI and his staff for their leadership and assistance on this issue. I would also like to thank the ranking minority member, Mr. BINGAMAN, the Department of the Interior, and their respective staffs, for their assistance and support of this measure.
Earlier in July of 2000, I introduced S. 2873, which was referred to and reported favorably by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. In addition, similar legislation was twice approved by the House of Representatives, both in the 106th and 107th Congresses. For over a decade, the private property addressed by this bill has been under Federal control and the Federal Government has enjoyed the benefits of the private property without fulfilling its constitutional obligation to compensate the landowner. The government's failure to timely acquire the landowner's private property has forced the landowner into bankruptcy. It is my hope that the time has come to finally resolve this issue.
In March of 1991, the desert tortoise was listed as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. Government and environmental researchers determined that the land immediately north of St. George, UT, was prime desert tortoise habitat. Consequently, in February 1996, nearly 5 years after the listing, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, USFWS, issued Washington County a Section 10 permit under the Endangered Species Act which paved the way for the adoption of a habitat conservation plan, HCP, and an implementation agreement. Under the Plan and Agreement, the Bureau of Land Management, BLM, committed to acquire all private lands in the designated habitat area for the formation of the Red Cliffs Reserve for the protection of the desert tortoise.
One of the private land owners within the reserve is Environmental Land Technology, Ltd., ELT, which began acquiring lands from the State of Utah in 1981 for residential and recreational development several years prior to the listing of the species. Moreover, in the years preceding the listing of the desert tortoise and the adoption of the habitat conservation plan, ELT completed appraisals, cost estimates, engineering studies, site plans, surveys, utility layouts, and right-of-way negotiations. ELT staked out golf courses, and obtained water rights for the development of this land. Prior to the adoption of the HCP, it was not clear which lands the Federal and local governments would set aside for the desert tortoise, although it was assumed that there were sufficient surrounding Federal lands to provide adequate habitat. However, when
the HCP was adopted in 1996, the decision was made to include ELT's lands within the boundaries of the reserve primarily because of the high concentrations of tortoises. The tortoises on ELT land also appeared to be one of, if not the only population without an upper respiratory disease that afflicted all of the other populations. As a consequence of the inclusion of the ELT lands, ELT's development efforts were halted.
With assurances from the Federal Government that the acquisition of the ELT development lands was a high priority, the owner negotiated with, and entered into, an assembled land exchange agreement with the BLM in anticipation of intrastate land exchanges. The private land owner then began a costly process of identifying comparable Federal lands within the State that would be suitable for an exchange for his lands in Washington County. Over the last 7 years, BLM and the private land owners, including ELT, have completed several exchanges, and the Federal Government has acquired, through those exchanges or direct purchases, nearly all of the private property located within the reserve, except for approximately 1,516 acres of the ELT development land. However, with the unforeseen creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in September 1996, and the subsequent land exchanges between the State of Utah and the Federal Government to consolidate Federal lands within that monument, there are no longer sufficient comparable Federal lands within Utah to complete the originally contemplated intrastate exchanges for the remainder of the ELT land.
Faced with this problem, and in light of the high priority the Department of the Interior has placed on acquiring these lands, BLM officials recommended that the ELT lands be acquired by direct purchase. During the FY 2000 budget process, BLM proposed that $30 million be set aside to begin acquiring the remaining lands in Washington County. Unfortunately, because this project involves endangered species habitat and the USFWS is responsible for administering activities under the Endangered Species Act, the Office of Management and Budget shifted the $30 million from the BLM budget request to the USFWS's Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund budget request. Ultimately, however, none of those funds was made available for BLM acquisitions within the Federal section of the reserve. Instead, the funds in that account were made available on a matching basis for the use of individual States to acquire wildlife habitat. The result of this bureaucratic fumbling has resulted in extreme financial hardship for ELT.
The lands within the Red Cliffs Reserve are ELT's only asset. The establishment of the Washington County HCP has effectively taken this property and prevented ELT from developing or otherwise disposing of the property. ELT has been brought to the brink of financial ruin as it has exhausted its resources in an effort to hold the property while awaiting the compensation to which it is entitled. ELT has had to sell its remaining assets, and the private land owner has also had to sell his personal assets, including his home, to simply hold the property. This has become a financial crisis for the landowner. It is simply wrong for the Federal Government to expect the landowner to continue to bear the cost of the government's efforts to provide habitat for an endangered species. That is the responsibility of the Federal Government. Moreover, while the landowner is bearing these costs, he continues to pay taxes on the property. This situation is made more egregious by the failure of the Department of the Interior to request any acquisition funding for FY 2004 or FY 2005, even though this acquisition has been designated a high priority by the agency. Over the past several years, ELT has pursued all possible avenues to complete the acquisition of these lands. The private land owner has spent millions of dollars pursuing both intrastate and interstate land exchanges and has worked cooperatively with the Department of the Interior. Unfortunately, all of these efforts have thus far been fruitless.
The bill that I am introducing today will finally bring this acquisition to a close. In my view, a legislative taking should be an action of last resort. But, if ever a case warranted legislative condemnation, this is it. This bill will transfer to the Federal Government all right, title, and interest in the ELT development property within the Red Cliffs Reserve, including an additional 34 acres of landlocked real property owned by ELT adjacent to the land within the reserve. Subject to existing law, the Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal Land Acquisitions and the Uniform Standards and Practices for Appraisal Professionals, USPAP, a United States Court of competent jurisdiction shall determine the value for the land.
The bill includes language to allow, as part of the legislative taking, for the landowner to recover reasonable costs, interest, and damages, if any, as determined by the court. It is important to understand that, while Federal acquisitions should be completed on the basis of fair market value, when the Federal Government makes the commitment to acquire private land, the landowner should not have to be driven into financial ruin while waiting upon the Federal Government to discharge its obligation. While the Federal Government has never disputed its obligation to acquire the property, it has had the benefit of the private land for all these years without having to pay for it. The private landowner should not have to bear the costs of this Federal foot-dragging.
This legislation is consistent with the high priority the Department of the Interior has repeatedly placed on this land acquisition, and is a necessary final step towards an equitable resolution. The time for pursuing other options has long since expired and it is unfortunate that it requires legislative action. Without commenting on the Endangered Species Act itself, it would seem that if it is the government's objective to provide habitat for the benefit of an endangered species, then the government ought to bear the costs, rather than forcing them upon the landowner. It is also time to address this issue so that the Federal agencies may be single-minded in their efforts to recover the desert tortoise which remains the aim of the creation of the reserve. This legislation simply codifies the status quo by enabling the private land owner to obtain the compensation to which he is constitutionally entitled. It is time to right this wrong and get on with the efforts to recover the species and I encourage my colleagues to again support the immediate enactment of this important legislation.
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