[Senate Report 112-50]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 130
112th Congress } { Report
1st Session } SENATE { 112-50
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WALLOWA FOREST SERVICE COMPOUND CONVEYANCE
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August 30 (legislative day, August 2), 2011.--Ordered to be printed
Filed, under authority of the order of the Senate of August 2, 2011
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Mr. Bingaman, from the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 271]
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was
referred the bill (S. 271) to require the Secretary of
Agriculture to enter into a property conveyance with the city
of Wallowa, Oregon, and for other purposes, having considered
the same, reports favorably thereon with amendments and
recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass.
The amendments are as follows:
1. On page 3, line 8, strike ``and''.
2. On page 3, strike line 12 and insert the following:
Compound; and
(4) pay the reasonable administrative costs
associated with the conveyance.
PURPOSE
The purpose of S. 271 is to provide for the conveyance of a
Forest Service administrative site to the city of Wallowa,
Oregon.
BACKGROUND AND NEED
In 1936, the city of Wallowa donated to the Forest Service
approximately one acre of land in downtown Wallowa where the
Forest Service sought to construct a ranger station and
associated buildings. The Civilian Conservation Corps
subsequently built a ranger station, bunkhouse, warehouse,
storage building, and gas-house on the site. The Wallowa Ranger
Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
on October 28, 2009.
The site was used for many decades by the Forest Service,
but now sits vacant and has accumulated hundreds of thousands
of dollars in deferred maintenance needs. The Forest Service
recently identified the property for sale under the Forest
Service Facility Realignment and Enhancement Act (16 U.S.C.
580d note), which requires fair market value for any
conveyance.
The Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center has proposed
using the compound for local historical and cultural
preservation, interpretation, and education. The Center is a
nonprofit organization whose mission is to collect, preserve,
and interpret the rich early-1900's history of the
multicultural railroad logging community of Maxville, Oregon,
and similar communities in the Pacific Northwest. However, the
Forest Service needs legislative authorization to convey the
property for anything less than its fair market value.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
S. 271 was introduced by Senators Wyden and Merkley on
February 3, 2011. The Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests
held a hearing on S. 271 on May 18, 2011 (S. Hrg. 112-39). At
its business meeting on July 14, 2011, the Committee on Energy
and Natural Resources ordered S. 271 favorably reported with
amendments. The Committee reported a similar bill, S. 1139, in
the 111th Congress (S. Rept. 111-138).
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open
business session on July 14, 2011, by a voice vote of a quorum
present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 271, if amended as
described herein.
COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS
During its consideration of S. 271, the Committee adopted
an amendment that requires the city to pay the reasonable costs
associated with the conveyance, along with a conforming
amendment.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1 provides the short title for the bill.
Section 2(a) provides the definitions for a number of terms
used in the bill.
Subsection (b) directs the Forest Service to convey the
Wallowa Forest Service Compound to the city of Wallowa, if the
city requests the conveyance within 1 year after the date of
enactment of the bill.
Subsection (c) requires the conveyance to be made by
quitclaim deed for no consideration and to be subject to valid
existing rights and such terms and conditions as the Secretary
may require.
Subsection (d) includes a number of conditions for the use
of the compound by the city.
Subsection (e) provides the Secretary with discretion to
exercise a reversionary interest if the conditions in
subsections (c) and (d) are not followed.
COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS
The following estimate of costs of this measure has been
provided by the Congressional Budget Office:
S. 271--Wallowa Forest Service Compound Conveyance Act
S. 271 would direct the Forest Service to convey, without
consideration, about 1 acre of land and improvements in Oregon
to the city of Wallowa. Based on information provided by the
Forest Service, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would
have no significant net effect on the federal budget.
Enacting S. 271 would affect direct spending; therefore,
pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Because the affected land (and
related structures) would probably have been sold under
existing authority, enacting the bill would reduce offsetting
receipts. However, because the Forest Service can spend those
receipts, the loss in receipts would be offset by lower direct
spending of a similar amount. (CBO estimates that the value of
the land is less than $500,000.) Enacting the bill would not
affect revenues.
S. 271 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. The
estimate was approved by Theresa Gullo, Deputy Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.
REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION
In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in
carrying out S. 271.
The bill is not a regulatory measure in the sense of
imposing Government-established standards or significant
economic responsibilities on private individuals and
businesses.
No personal information would be collected in administering
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal
privacy.
Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the
enactment of S. 271, as ordered reported.
CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING
S. 271, as ordered reported, does not contain any
congressionally directed spending items, limited tax benefits,
or limited tariff benefits as defined in rule XLIV of the
Standing Rules of the Senate.
EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
The testimony of the Forest Service at the May 18, 2011,
hearing on S. 271 follows.
Statement of Mary Wagner, Associate Chief, Forest Service, Department
of Agriculture
Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, I am Mary
Wagner, Associate Chief of the Forest Service. Thank you for
the opportunity to appear before you today to provide the
Department of Agriculture's views on S. 271, which would
require the Secretary of Agriculture to convey land, the
Wallowa Ranger Station, to the City of Wallowa, Oregon.
S. 271 would require the Secretary of Agriculture, to
convey to the City of Wallowa, Oregon, on the request of the
City, all right, title, and interest in the Wallowa Forest
Service Compound, approximately 1.11 acres located within the
City, subject to valid existing rights and to such terms and
conditions as the Secretary may require. The bill provides
that, as conditions of the conveyance, the City shall use the
compound as a historical and cultural interpretation and
education center, shall ensure that the compound is managed by
a nonprofit entity, and shall manage the compound with due
consideration for its historic values.
It is long standing policy that the United States receive
market value for the sale, exchange, or use of NFS land. This
policy is well established in law, including the Independent
Offices Appropriation Act (31 U.S.C. 9701), section 102(9) of
FLPMA, as well as numerous land exchange authorities. The
parcels have value to the United States for their potential to
be used to facilitate future land conveyance.
Our preference would be to convey the compound to the City
under existing authorities. The Forest Service has identified
the Wallowa Compound as a site to be sold under the Forest
Service Facility Realignment and Enhancement Act (FSFREA).
Disposition under FSFREA would allow the proceeds from the sale
to be used to address other administrative site needs. In the
past 3 years, the Forest Service has expended funds to prepare
the compound for disposal and hopes to derive benefit on behalf
of the public from the sale by re-investing proceeds from the
sale in other deteriorating infrastructure on the Wallowa-
Whitman National Forest as provided for under FSFREA.
However, because of special circumstances, we do not object
to the conveyance to the City under the bill. Originally the
parcels were owned by the City. During the Depression, the City
defaulted on taxes owned on the land and the County assumed
ownership. The County donated the parcels to the United States
in 1936.
We recommend, however, that the bill should provide that
the City of Wallowa be responsible for bearing all
administrative costs associated with the conveyance.
Additionally, the legislation would provide for the reversion
of the property to the United States, at the election of the
Secretary, if the conditions under subsections 2(c) or 2(d) are
violated. We would like to work with the Committee to address
concerns with S. 271, including the reversionary language.
This concludes my statement and I would be happy to answer
any questions you might have.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no
changes in existing law are made by the bill S. 271, as ordered
reported.