Superior National Forest Land Exchange Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 527 To provide for a land exchange involving Federal land in the Superior Na- tional Forest in Minnesota acquired by the Secretary of Agriculture through the Weeks Law, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 14, 2019 Mr. STAUBER (for himself, Mr. EMMER, Mr. PETERSON, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. WESTERMAN, and Mr. HAGEDORN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources A BILL To provide for a land exchange involving Federal land in the Superior National Forest in Minnesota acquired by the Secretary of Agriculture through the Weeks Law, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Superior National Forest Land Exchange Act of 2019’’. 5 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 6 this Act is as follows: 7 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Jan 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H527.IH H527 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 527 IH Sec. 2. Purpose and need for NorthMet Land Exchange. Sec. 3. Definitions. Sec. 4. NorthMet Land Exchange. Sec. 5. Valuation of NorthMet Land Exchange. Sec. 6. Maps and legal descriptions. Sec. 7. Post-exchange land management. Sec. 8. Miscellaneous provisions. SEC. 2. PURPOSE AND NEED FOR NORTHMET LAND EX- 1 CHANGE. 2 (a) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to fur- 3 ther the public interest by consummating the NorthMet 4 Land Exchange as specifically set forth in this Act. 5 (b) NEED.—According to the Final Record of Deci- 6 sion, the NorthMet Land Exchange is advisable and need- 7 ed because the NorthMet Land Exchange will— 8 (1) result in a 40-acre net gain in National 9 Forest System lands; 10 (2) improve the spatial arrangement of Na- 11 tional Forest System lands by reducing the amount 12 of ownership boundaries to be managed by 33 miles; 13 (3) improve management effectiveness by ex- 14 changing isolated Federal lands with no public over- 15 land access for non-Federal lands that will have pub- 16 lic overland access and be accessible and open to 17 public use and enjoyment; 18 (4) result in Federal cost savings by eliminating 19 certain easements and their associated administra- 20 tion costs; 21 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Jan 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H527.IH H527 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 527 IH (5) meet several of the priorities identified in 1 the land and resource management plan for Superior 2 National Forest to protect and manage administra- 3 tively or congressionally designated, unique, pro- 4 posed, or recommended areas, including acquisition 5 of 307 acres of land to the administratively proposed 6 candidate Research Natural Areas, which are man- 7 aged by preserving and maintaining areas for eco- 8 logical research, observation, genetic conservation, 9 monitoring, and educational activities; 10 (6) promote more effective land management 11 that would meet specific National Forest needs for 12 management, including acquisition of over 6,500 13 acres of land for new public access, watershed pro- 14 tection, ecologically rare habitats, wetlands, water 15 frontage, and improved ownership patterns; 16 (7) convey Federal land generally not needed 17 for other Forest resource management objectives, 18 because such land is adjacent to intensively devel- 19 oped private land including ferrous mining areas, 20 where abundant mining infrastructure and transpor- 21 tation are already in place, including— 22 (A) a large, intensively developed open pit 23 mine lying directly to the north of the Federal 24 land; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Jan 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H527.IH H527 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 527 IH (B) a private mine railroad, powerlines, 1 and roads lying directly to the south of the 2 Federal land; and 3 (C) already existing ore processing, milling, 4 and tailings facilities located approximately 5 5 miles to the west of the Federal land; and 6 (8) provide a practical resolution to complex 7 issues pertaining to the development of private min- 8 eral rights underlying the Federal land surface, and 9 thereby avoid potential litigation which could ad- 10 versely impact the status and management of the 11 Federal land and other National Forest System land 12 acquired under the authority of section 6 of the Act 13 of March 1, 1911 (commonly known as the Weeks 14 Law; 16 U.S.C. 515). 15 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 16 In this Act: 17 (1) COLLECTION AGREEMENTS.—The term 18 ‘‘Collection Agreements’’ means the following agree- 19 ments between the Secretary and PolyMet pertaining 20 to the NorthMet Land Exchange: 21 (A) The agreement dated August 25, 22 2015. 23 (B) The agreement dated January 15, 24 2016. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Jan 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H527.IH H527 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 527 IH (2) FEDERAL LAND PARCEL.—The term ‘‘Fed- 1 eral land parcel’’ means all right, title, and interest 2 of the United States in and to approximately 6,650 3 acres of National Forest System land, as identified 4 in the Final Record of Decision, within the Superior 5 National Forest in St. Louis County, Minnesota, as 6 generally depicted on the map entitled ‘‘Federal 7 Land Parcel–NorthMet Land Exchange’’, and dated 8 June 2017. 9 (3) NON-FEDERAL LAND.—The term ‘‘non-Fed- 10 eral land’’ means all right, title, and interest of 11 PolyMet in and to approximately 6,690 acres of land 12 in four separate tracts (comprising 10 separate land 13 parcels in total) within the Superior National Forest 14 to be conveyed to the United States by PolyMet in 15 the land exchange as generally depicted on an over- 16 view map entitled ‘‘Non-Federal Land Parcels– 17 NorthMet Land Exchange’’ and dated June 2017, 18 and further depicted on separate tract maps as fol- 19 lows: 20 (A) TRACT 1.—Approximately 4,650 acres 21 of land in St. Louis County, Minnesota, gen- 22 erally depicted on the map entitled ‘‘Non-Fed- 23 eral Land Parcels–NorthMet Land Exchange– 24 Hay Lake Tract’’, and dated June 28, 2018. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Jan 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H527.IH H527 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 527 IH (B) TRACT 2.—Approximately 320 acres of 1 land in 4 separate parcels in Lake County, Min- 2 nesota, generally depicted on the map entitled 3 ‘‘Non-Federal Land Parcels–NorthMet Land 4 Exchange–Lake County Lands’’, and dated 5 June 28, 2018. 6 (C) TRACT 3.—Approximately 1,560 acres 7 of land in 4 separate parcels in Lake County, 8 Minnesota, generally depicted on the map enti- 9 tled ‘‘Non-Federal Land Parcels–NorthMet 10 Land Exchange–Wolf Lands’’, and dated June 11 2017. 12 (D) TRACT 4.—Approximately 160 acres of 13 land in St. Louis County, Minnesota, generally 14 depicted on the map entitled ‘‘Non-Federal 15 Land Parcel–NorthMet Land Exchange–Hunt- 16 ing Club Lands’’, dated June 2017. 17 (4) NORTHMET LAND EXCHANGE.—The term 18 ‘‘NorthMet Land Exchange’’ means the land ex- 19 change specifically authorized and directed by sec- 20 tion 4 of this Act. 21 (5) POLYMET.—The term ‘‘PolyMet’’ means 22 PolyMet Mining Corporation, Inc., a Minnesota Cor- 23 poration with executive offices in St. Paul, Min- 24 nesota, and headquarters in Hoyt Lakes, Minnesota. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Jan 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H527.IH H527 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 527 IH (6) RECORD OF DECISION.—The term ‘‘Record 1 of Decision’’ means the Final Record of Decision of 2 the Forest Service issued on January 9, 2017, ap- 3 proving the NorthMet Land exchange between the 4 United States and PolyMet Mining, Inc., a Min- 5 nesota Corporation, involving National Forest Sys- 6 tem land in the Superior National Forest in Min- 7 nesota. 8 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 9 the Secretary of Agriculture. 10 (8) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the State 11 of Minnesota. 12 SEC. 4. NORTHMET LAND EXCHANGE. 13 (a) EXCHANGE AUTHORIZED AND DIRECTED.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to section 5(c)(1) 15 and other conditions imposed by this Act, if PolyMet 16 offers to convey to the United States all right, title, 17 and interest of PolyMet in and to the non-Federal 18 land, the Secretary shall accept the offer and convey 19 to PolyMet all right, title, and interest of the United 20 States in and to the Federal land parcel. 21 (2) LAND EXCHANGE EXPEDITED.—Subject to 22 the conditions imposed by this Act, the NorthMet 23 Land Exchange directed by this Act shall be con- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Jan 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H527.IH H527 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 527 IH summated not later than 90 days after the date of 1 enactment of this Act. 2 (b) FORM OF CONVEYANCE.— 3 (1) NON-FEDERAL LAND.—Title to the non- 4 Federal land conveyed by PolyMet to the United 5 States shall be by general warranty deed subject to 6 existing rights of record, and otherwise conform to 7 the title approval regulations of the Attorney Gen- 8 eral of the United States. 9 (2) FEDERAL LAND PARCEL.—The Federal 10 land parcel shall be quitclaimed by the Secretary to 11 PolyMet by an exchange deed. 12 (c) EXCHANGE COSTS.— 13 (1) REIMBURSEMENT REQUIRED.—PolyMet 14 shall pay or reimburse the Secretary, either directly 15 or through the Collection Agreements, for all land 16 survey, appraisal, land title, deed preparation, and 17 other costs incurred by the Secretary in processing 18 and consummating the NorthMet Land Exchange. 19 The Collection Agreements, as in effect on the date 20 of the enactment of this Act, may be modified 21 through the mutual consent of the parties. 22 (2) DEPOSIT OF FUNDS.—All funds paid or re- 23 imbursed to the Secretary under paragraph (1)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Jan 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H527.IH H527 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 527 IH (A) shall be deposited and credited to the 1 accounts in accordance with the Collection 2 Agreements; 3 (B) shall be used for the purposes specified 4 for the accounts; and 5 (C) shall remain available to the Secretary 6 until expended without further appropriation. 7 (d) CONDITIONS ON LAND EXCHANGE.— 8 (1) RESERVATION OF CERTAIN MINERAL 9 RIGHTS.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), the 10 United States shall reserve the mineral rights on ap- 11 proximately 181 acres of the Federal land parcel as 12 generally identified on the map entitled ‘‘Federal 13 Land Parcel–NorthMet Land Exchange’’, and dated 14 June 2017. 15 (2) THIRD-PARTY AUTHORIZATIONS.—As set 16 forth in the Final Record of Decision, PolyMet shall 17 honor existing road and transmission line authoriza- 18 tions on the Federal land parcel. Upon relinquish- 19 ment of the authorizations by the holders or upon 20 revocation of the authorizations by the Forest Serv- 21 ice, PolyMet shall offer replacement authorizations 22 to the holders on at least equivalent terms. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Jan 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H527.IH H527 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 527 IH SEC. 5. VALUATION OF NORTHMET LAND EXCHANGE. 1 (a) APPRAISALS.—The Congress makes the following 2 new findings: 3 (1) Appraisals of the Federal and non-Federal 4 lands to be exchanged in the NorthMet Land Ex- 5 change were formally prepared in accordance with 6 the Uniform Appraisal Standards for Federal Land 7 Acquisitions, and were approved by the Secretary in 8 conjunction with preparation of the November 2015 9 Draft Record of Decision on the NorthMet Land 10 Exchange. 11 (2) The appraisals referred to in paragraph (1) 12 determined that the value of the non-Federal lands 13 exceeded the value of the Federal land parcel by ap- 14 proximately $425,000. 15 (3) Based on the appraisals referred to in para- 16 graph (1), the United States would ordinarily be re- 17 quired to make a $425,000 cash equalization pay- 18 ment to PolyMet to equalize exchange values under 19 the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 20 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), unless such an 21 equalization payment is waived by PolyMet. 22 (b) VALUES FOR CONSUMMATION OF LAND EX- 23 CHANGE.—The appraised values of the Federal and non- 24 Federal land determined and approved by the Secretary 25 in November 2015, and referenced in subsection (a)— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Jan 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H527.IH H527 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •HR 527 IH (1) shall be the values utilized to consummate 1 the NorthMet Land Exchange; and 2 (2) shall not be subject to reappraisal. 3 (c) WAIVER OF EQUALIZATION PAYMENT.— 4 (1) CONDITION ON LAND EXCHANGE.—Not- 5 withstanding section 206(b) of the Federal Land 6 Policy and Management Act (43 U.S.C. 1716(b)), 7 and as part of its offer to exchange the non-Federal 8 lands as provided in section 4(a)(1) of this Act, 9 PolyMet shall waive any payment to it of any monies 10 owed by the United States to equalize land values. 11 (2) TREATMENT OF WAIVER.—A waiver of the 12 equalization payment under paragraph (1) shall be 13 considered as a voluntary donation to the United 14 States by PolyMet for all purposes of law. 15 SEC. 6. MAPS AND LEGAL DESCRIPTIONS. 16 (a) MINOR ADJUSTMENTS.—By mutual agreement, 17 the Secretary and PolyMet may correct minor or typo- 18 graphical errors in any map, acreage estimate, or descrip- 19 tion of the Federal land parcel or non-Federal land to be 20 exchanged in the NorthMet Land Exchange. 21 (b) CONFLICT.—If there is a conflict between a map, 22 an acreage estimate, or a description of land under this 23 Act, the map shall control unless the Secretary and 24 PolyMet mutually agree otherwise. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:04 Jan 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H527.IH H527 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •HR 527 IH (c) EXCHANGE MAPS.—The maps referred to in sec- 1 tion 3 depicting the Federal and non-Federal lands to be 2 exchanged in the NorthMet Land Exchange, and dated 3 June 28 2018, depict the identical lands identified in the 4 Final Record of Decision, which are on file in the Office 5 of the Supervisor, Superior National Forest. 6 SEC. 7. POST-EXCHANGE LAND MANAGEMENT. 7 (a) NON-FEDERAL LAND.—Upon conveyance of the 8 non-Federal land to the United States in the NorthMet 9 Land Exchange, the non-Federal land shal [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]