SUMMARY AS OF:
6/28/1999--Introduced.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Title I: Department of the Interior
Title II: Related Agencies
Title III: General Provisions
Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000 -
Makes appropriations for the Department of the Interior and related agencies for
FY 2000.
Title I: Department of the Interior - Makes appropriations for the
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for: (1) land and resource management; (2)
wildland fire management; (3) remedial action of hazardous waste substances; (4)
construction; (5) payments in lieu of taxes to local governments; (6) land
acquisition; (7) Oregon and California grant lands; (8) range improvements; (9)
service charges, deposits, and forfeitures with respect to public lands; and
(10) miscellaneous trust funds.
Appropriates funds for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for: (1) resource
management; (2) construction; (3) land acquisition; (4) expenses related to
carrying out the Endangered Species Act of 1973; (5) the National Wildlife
Refuge Fund; (6) expenses related to carrying out the African Elephant
Conservation Act, the Asian Elephant Conservation Act of 1997, and the
Rhinoceros and Tiger Conservation Act of 1994; (7) expenses related to carrying
out the North American Wetlands Conservation Act; and (8) the Wildlife
Conservation and Appreciation Fund.
Makes appropriations for the National Park Service (NPS) for: (1) the
National Park System; (2) national recreation and preservation activities; (3)
expenses related to carrying out the Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and the
Omnibus Parks and Public Lands Management Act of 1996; (4) construction; and (5)
land acquisition and State assistance from the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Rescinds specified contract authority to obligate funds from the Land and
Water Conservation Fund for FY 2000.
Makes appropriations for: (1) the U.S. Geological Survey for surveys,
investigations, and research; (2) the Minerals Management Service for royalty
and offshore minerals management and oil spill research; (3) the Office of
Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement for regulation and technology and the
Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund; (4) the Bureau of Indian Affairs for operation
of Indian programs, construction, miscellaneous payments to Indians, and Indian
guaranteed loans; (5) assistance to U.S. territories and for carrying out the
Compacts of Free Association with respect to Micronesia, the Marshall Islands,
and Palau; (6) departmental management and the Offices of the Solicitor and the
Inspector General; (7) trust programs for Indians; (8) a pilot program for
consolidation of fractional interests in Indian lands by direct expenditure or
cooperative agreement; and (9) natural resource damage assessment.
Sets forth authorized and prohibited uses of specified funds.
(Sec. 107) Prohibits the use of funds provided in this title for specified
offshore leasing and related activities.
(Sec. 114) Bars the NPS from developing a reduced entrance fee program to
accommodate non-local travel through a unit. Authorizes the Secretary of the
Interior to provide for and regulate local non-recreational passage through
National Park System units, allowing each unit to develop guidelines and permits
for activity appropriate to such unit.
(Sec. 117) Authorizes the renewal of grazing permits and leases which expire
or are transferred in any fiscal year until the Secretary completes renewal
processing.
(Sec. 120) Exempts all properties administered by the NPS at Fort Baker,
Golden Gate National Recreation Area and other agreements associated with such
properties, from all taxes and special assessments, except sales tax by the
State of California and its political subdivisions.
(Sec. 122) Prohibits the use of funds provided in any Act for the pre-design,
design, or engineering for the removal of the Elwha or Glines Canyon Dams or for
the actual removal of such dams until they are acquired by the Federal
Government.
Battle of Midway National Memorial Study Act - Requires the Secretary, acting
through the Director of the NPS, to study and report to specified congressional
committees on the suitability and feasibility of establishing Midway Atoll as a
national memorial to the Battle of Midway.
(Sec. 124) Authorizes persons utilizing Federal lands within the boundary of
Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area (as designated by the Secretary on April
5, 1990) as of March 31, 1997, for grazing purposes pursuant to NPS permits to
renew such permits for the lesser of 20 years or the lifetime of the permittee.
(Sec. 125) Allows the Secretary to redistribute any Tribal Priority
Allocation funds to alleviate tribal funding inequities by transferring funds on
the basis of identified, unmet needs. Bars any tribe from receiving a reduction
in such funds of more than ten percent in FY 2000.
(Sec. 126) Makes funds provided in this Act unavailable for transferring land
into trust status for the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe in Clark County,
Washington, until the tribe and county reach a legally enforceable agreement
that addresses the financial impact of new development on the county, school and
fire districts, and other local governments and the impact on zoning and
development.
Incorporates provisions similar to those contained in the Department of the
Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998 (Public Law 105-83)
concerning: (1) employees of BLM's Helium Operations; and (2) Huron Cemetery in
Kansas City, Kansas.
Title II: Related Agencies - Makes appropriations for the Department
of Agriculture for the Forest Service for: (1) forest and rangeland research;
(2) State and private forestry; (3) the National Forest System; (4) wildland
fire management; (5) construction and reconstruction; (6) land acquisition; (7)
range rehabilitation and improvement; and (8) forest and rangeland research.
Defers a certain amount of funds made available for obligation in prior years
for Department of Energy (DOE) clean coal technology projects until FY 2001.
Makes appropriations for DOE for: (1) fossil energy research and development
activities; (2) naval petroleum and oil shale reserve activities; (3) energy
conservation; (4) economic regulation activities of the Office of Hearings and
Appeals; (5) the Strategic Petroleum Reserve; and (6) the Energy Information
Administration.
Makes appropriations for the Department of Health and Human Services for the
Indian Health Service and Indian health facilities.
Makes appropriations for: (1) the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian
Relocation; (2) the Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture and
Arts Development; (3) the Smithsonian Institution, including amounts for repair
and restoration of buildings owned or occupied by the Smithsonian; (4)
construction and improvements at the National Zoological Park; (5) construction;
(6) the National Gallery of Art, including an amount for repair and restoration
of facilities owned or occupied by the National Gallery; (7) operations,
maintenance, and construction expenses of the John F. Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts; (8) carrying out the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Act of 1968; (9)
the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA); (10) the National Endowment for the
Humanities; (11) the Institute of Museum and Library Services; (12) the
Commission of Fine Arts; (13) national capital arts and cultural affairs; (14)
the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation; (15) the National Capital
Planning Commission; (16) the Holocaust Memorial Council; and (17) the Presidio
trust.
Sets forth provisions regarding uses of, and limitations on, funds under this
title.
Title III: General Provisions - Sets forth limitations on the use of
funds under this Act, including Buy American requirements.
Incorporates provisions similar to those contained in the Department of
Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998 (Public Law 105-83)
concerning: (1) the sale of timber from giant sequoias; (2) the underground
lunchroom at Carlsbad Caverns National Park; (3) funding for the Americorps
program; (4) the bridge between Jersey City, New Jersey, and Ellis Island; (5)
patents for mining or mill site claims; (6) competition for watershed
restoration project contracts in the Pacific Northwest; (7) designation of
Biosphere Reserves; and (8) restrictions on NEA grants.
(Sec. 317) Bars the use of funds made available in any Act to designate any
portion of Canaveral National Seashore in Brevard County, Florida, as a
clothing-optional area or area in which public nudity is permitted if such
designation would be contrary to county ordinance.
(Sec. 326) Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct technology
transfer and development, training, dissemination of information, and applied
research in the management, processing, and utilization of the hardwood forest
resource.
Permits the Secretary of Agriculture to operate and utilize assets of the
Wood Education and Resource Center in West Virginia as part of a newly formed
Institute of Hardwood Technology Transfer and Applied Research. Requires
Institute revenues to be deposited in a special Treasury fund known as the
Hardwood Technology Transfer and Applied Research Fund. Authorizes
appropriations.
(Sec. 327) Sets forth requirements for the sale of timber in Region 10 of the
Forest Service, including those regarding the volume of western red cedar timber
available for processors.
(Sec. 328) Bars the use of funds available to the Secretaries of Agriculture
or the Interior for introducing grizzly bears into Idaho or Montana without the
approval of the Governors of both States.
(Sec. 331) Amends the Service Contract Act to exempt from service contract
labor standards any concession contract with Federal land management agencies
the principal purpose of which is the provision of recreational services to the
general public. Provides that such exemptions shall not affect the applicability
of the Davis-Bacon Act to construction contracts associated with such contracts.
(Sec. 332) Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to implement a pilot program
to charge and collect at least the fair market value for special forest products
(vegetation or other life forms such as fungi that grows on National Forest
System lands) harvested on such lands.
(Sec. 334) Expands Forest Service authority to enter into stewardship and end
result contracts to authorize an additional nine contracts in Region One.
(Sec. 335) Amends Federal law to exempt units of local government and persons
residing within such units that lie in the White Mountain National Forest, New
Hampshire, from Demonstration Program Fees imposed for access to the Forest.
(Sec. 336) Prohibits the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture from
limiting the number or acreage of millsites based on the ratio between the
number or acreage of millsites and the number or acreage of associated lode or
placer claims for any fiscal year.
(Sec. 337) Authorizes increases in recreation residence fees, with a
specified ceiling.
(Sec. 338) Bars the use of monies appropriated for the purchase of land by
the Forest Service in the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area unless the Forest
Service complies with a specified acquisition protocol.
(Sec. 340) Prohibits the Secretary of the Interior, before June 1, 2001, from
issuing a prospecting permit for hardrock mineral exploration on Mark Twain
National Forest land in the Current River-Jack's Fork River-Eleven Point
Watershed, with a specified exception for land on which mining activities are
currently taking place. Bars the use of Department of the Interior funds, before
such date, to segregate or withdraw lands in the Forest from operation of public
land laws and certain activities under such laws and mining laws.
Requires specified Federal officials to study and report to specified
congressional committees on exploratory drilling operations on such land.
Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to specified congressional
committees on the impact of the cessation of lead mining in the Forest, the
State of Missouri, and surrounding States on the public and private sectors, the
strategic availability of lead in the United States, and the economies of the
United States and such States.
(Sec. 342) Amends the Department of the Interior and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 1999 to extend a certain prohibition on the issuance of a
final rulemaking with respect to the valuation of crude oil for royalty purposes
until June 30, 2001, or until there is a negotiated agreement on the rule.