Multi-Use Conflict Resolution Act of 2005

Multiple-Use Conflict Resolution Act of 2005 - Establishes a voluntary grazing permit and lease buyout program for commercial livestock operators on federal land. Sets forth land priorities if funds are insufficient to meet all buyouts.

Provides for: (1) voluntary donation of grazing permits; (2) county transitional payments; and (3) permanent retirement of grazing allotments which have no valid grazing permits or allotment leases.

States that a permittee or lessee shall maintain a lease for the remainder of its term in instances of voluntary nonuse or less than minimum use.

[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3166 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3166

    To provide compensation to livestock operators who voluntarily 
 relinquish a grazing permit or lease on Federal lands where conflicts 
with other multiple uses render livestock grazing impractical, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 30, 2005

  Mr. Grijalva (for himself, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. Moran of Virginia, Mr. 
   McDermott, Mr. Kildee, Ms. Lee, Mrs. Davis of California, and Mr. 
 Blumenauer) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
     Committee on Resources, and in addition to the Committees on 
    Agriculture and Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide compensation to livestock operators who voluntarily 
 relinquish a grazing permit or lease on Federal lands where conflicts 
with other multiple uses render livestock grazing impractical, and for 
                            other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Multiple-Use 
Conflict Resolution Act of 2005''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
Sec. 3. Definitions.
Sec. 4. Multiple-use conflict resolution program.
Sec. 5. Compensation for waived grazing permit or lease.
Sec. 6. Donation of grazing permit or lease.
Sec. 7. Effect of waiver or donation of grazing permit or lease.
Sec. 8. Retirement of grazing allotments for which no valid grazing 
                            permit or lease exists.
Sec. 9. Effect of nonuse or reduced use.
Sec. 10. County transition payments.
Sec. 11. Authorization of appropriation.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The use of Federal lands by grazing permittees and 
        lessees for commercial livestock grazing is increasingly 
        difficult due to growing conflicts with other legitimate 
        multiple uses of the lands, such as environmental protection 
        and burgeoning recreational use, and with congressionally 
        mandated goals of wildlife and habitat protection and improved 
        water quality and quantity.
            (2) The recreational use of Federal lands often leads to 
        conflicts with commercial livestock grazing on the same lands 
        because some recreational users of the lands cause damage to 
        range developments or disturb livestock, which renders many 
        grazing operations on Federal lands uneconomical.
            (3) A combination of sustained drought, foreign 
        competition, changing domestic markets, industry restructuring, 
        and individual ranch situations has resulted in Federal grazing 
        permits and leases becoming stranded investments for many 
        permittees and lessees.
            (4) Attempts to resolve grazing conflicts with other 
        multiple uses often require extensive range developments, 
        intensive herd management, and continuous monitoring that 
        greatly increases costs to both permittees and lessees and 
        taxpayers, far out of proportion to the benefit received.
            (5) Certain grazing allotments on Federal lands have, or 
        are likely to become, unsuitable for commercial livestock 
        production as a result of the combined effect of the factors 
        referred to in paragraphs (1) through (4) and other factors.
            (6) The cost of the Federal grazing program greatly exceeds 
        revenues to the Federal treasury from grazing receipts.
            (7) Many permittees and lessees have indicated their 
        willingness to end their commercial livestock grazing on 
        Federal lands in exchange for a one-time payment to reasonably 
        compensate them for the effort and investment that they have 
        made in a grazing allotment.
            (8) Compensating permittees and lessees who relinquish 
        their grazing permit or lease and end commercial livestock 
        grazing on Federal lands would help recapitalize an ailing 
        sector of rural America, by providing economic options to 
        permittees and lessees that do not presently exist and allowing 
        them to restructure their ranch operations, start new 
        businesses, or retire with security.
            (9) Reasonable compensation for the relinquishment of a 
        grazing permit or lease will help alleviate the need for 
        permittees and lessees to sell or subdivide their private 
        lands.
            (10) The cost of compensating permittees and lessees for 
        voluntarily waiving permits and leases is significantly less 
        than the cost to the taxpayers of continuing to administer, 
        monitor, assess, and mitigate for the environmental and other 
        impacts of commercial livestock grazing on Federal lands.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) The term ``animal unit month'' means the amount of 
        forage needed to sustain one animal unit for one month, as 
        determined by the Secretary issuing the grazing permit or 
        lease.
            (2) The term ``commercial livestock grazing'' means the 
        grazing of domestic livestock on Federal lands as authorized by 
        a grazing permit or lease. The term does not include grazing by 
        private or commercial pack or saddle stock.
            (3) The term ``grazing allotment'' means the designated 
        portion of Federal land upon which domestic livestock are 
        permitted to graze by a grazing permit or lease.
            (4) The terms ``grazing permit or lease'' and ``grazing 
        permit and lease'' mean any document authorizing the use of 
        Federal lands for the purpose of grazing domestic livestock.
            (5) The terms ``permittee or lessee'' and ``permittee and 
        lessee'' mean a livestock operator who holds a valid term 
        grazing permit or lease.
            (6) The term ``range developments'' means structures, 
        fences, and other permanent fixtures placed on Federal lands 
        for the furtherance of the purpose of grazing domestic 
        livestock. The term does not include rolling stock, livestock 
        and diversions of water from Federal lands onto non-Federal 
        lands.
            (7) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
        Agriculture, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of 
        Energy, or the Secretary of Defense, as appropriate to the 
        administration of the grazing permit or lease at issue.

SEC. 4. MULTIPLE-USE CONFLICT RESOLUTION PROGRAM.

    (a) Waiver of Existing Grazing Permit or Lease.--A permittee or 
lessee may waive to the Secretary, at any time, a valid existing 
grazing permit or lease authorizing commercial livestock grazing on 
Federal lands.
    (b) Cancellation of Waived Grazing Permit or Lease.--The Secretary 
shall cancel grazing permits and leases waived under this section and 
permanently retire the associated grazing allotments from commercial 
livestock grazing, notwithstanding any other provision of law.
    (c) Waiver Priority.--If funds available to the Secretary to carry 
out this Act are insufficient to meet all of the offers submitted to 
the Secretary for the waiver of grazing permits and leases, the 
Secretary shall give priority to the waiver of grazing permits and 
leases that authorize commercial livestock grazing on the following 
Federal lands:
            (1) A unit of the National Wilderness Preservation System.
            (2) A unit of the National Wild and Scenic River System.
            (3) A unit of the National Park System.
            (4) A unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
            (5) A grazing allotment that includes a trail in the 
        National Trails System.
            (6) A unit of the National Landscape Conservation System.
            (7) Any designated critical habitat for a species listed 
        under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et 
        seq.).
            (8) A designated wilderness study area.
            (9) Roadless and undeveloped areas identified in Forest 
        Service, Roadless Area Conservation EIS, vol. 2 (Nov. 2000).
            (10) An area of critical environmental concern designated 
        by the Bureau of Land Management.
            (11) A designated Research Natural Area.
            (12) A grazing allotment that includes a water-quality-
        limited stream identified by a State pursuant to section 303(d) 
        of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1313(d)).
            (13) A grazing allotment that includes a stream segment 
        identified for study under section 5(a) of the Wild and Scenic 
        Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1276(a)).
            (14) A grazing allotment that includes a stream segment 
        identified by the Secretary under section 5(d)(1) of the Wild 
        and Scenic Rivers Act (16 U.S.C. 1276(d)(1)).
            (15) A grazing allotment featuring other scientific, 
        ecological, scenic, watershed, or recreation values, as 
        determined by the Secretary.
    (d) Relation to Other Authority.--Nothing in this Act shall be 
construed to affect the ability of a permittee or lessee to renew or 
transfer a grazing permit or lease as provided by law.
    (e) Relation to Eminent Domain.--Nothing in this Act shall be 
construed to authorize the use of eminent domain for the purpose of 
acquiring a grazing permit or lease.

SEC. 5. COMPENSATION FOR WAIVED GRAZING PERMIT OR LEASE.

    (a) Compensation Required.--A permittee or lessee who waives a 
grazing permit or lease (other than an ephemeral grazing permit or 
lease) under section 4(a) shall be compensated at a rate of $175 per 
animal unit month based on the average of the highest three years of 
authorized animal unit months out of the last 10 years authorized to 
the permittee or lessee or the predecessors of the permittee or lessee. 
In the case of an ephemeral grazing permit or lease, the permittee or 
lessee shall be compensated for the average over the last 10 years of 
the actual animal unit months of grazing use.
    (b) Grazing Fees in Arrears.--If a permittee or lessee is in 
arrears of Federal grazing fees, the amount of fees in arrears shall be 
deducted from the amount of compensation otherwise due the permittee or 
lessee under this section.
    (c) Waiver of Certain Permits or Leases Prohibited.--A permittee or 
lessee who seeks to waive a grazing permit or lease under section 4(a) 
for a grazing allotment for which no valid grazing permit or lease 
exists as of the date of the introduction of this Act shall not be 
eligible for compensation under this section.
    (d) Relation to Other Authority.--Nothing in this Act shall be 
construed to affect the Secretary's authority to otherwise modify or 
terminate grazing permits or leases without compensation. Compensation 
disbursed pursuant to this section shall not create a property right in 
grazing permits or leases.

SEC. 6. DONATION OF GRAZING PERMIT OR LEASE.

    (a) Donation Authorized.--A permittee or lessee may at any time 
waive a claim to compensation in whole or in part under section 5 and 
donate to the Secretary a valid existing grazing permit or lease 
authorizing commercial livestock grazing on Federal lands.
    (b) Acceptance of Other Compensation.--A permittee or lessee may 
accept compensation from private or other sources in lieu of, or in 
addition to, receiving compensation under section 5.
    (c) Cancellation of Donated Permits and Leases.--The Secretary 
shall cancel grazing permits or leases donated under this section and 
permanently retire the associated grazing allotments from commercial 
livestock grazing.

SEC. 7. EFFECT OF WAIVER OR DONATION OF GRAZING PERMIT OR LEASE.

    (a) Effect on Range Developments.--A permittee or lessee who waives 
a grazing permit or lease to the Secretary under section 4 and receives 
compensation under section 5, or donates a grazing permit or lease 
under section 6, shall be deemed to have waived any claim to all range 
developments on the associated grazing allotments, notwithstanding any 
other provision of law.
    (b) Securing Retired Allotments Against Unauthorized Use.--The 
Secretary shall ensure that grazing allotments retired from grazing 
under this Act are rendered reasonably secure from trespass grazing by 
domestic livestock.
    (c) Relation to Other Valid Existing Rights.--Nothing in this Act 
affects the allocation, ownership, interest, or control, in existence 
on the date of enactment of this Act, of any water, water right, or any 
other valid existing right held by the United States, Indian tribe, 
State, or private individual, partnership or corporation.

SEC. 8. RETIREMENT OF GRAZING ALLOTMENTS FOR WHICH NO VALID GRAZING 
              PERMIT OR LEASE EXISTS.

    The Secretary shall not issue grazing permits or leases for grazing 
allotments for which no valid permit or lease exists as of the date of 
the enactment of this Act, and shall permanently retire the grazing 
allotments from commercial livestock grazing, notwithstanding any other 
provision of law.

SEC. 9. EFFECT OF NONUSE OR REDUCED USE.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a permittee or lessee 
may opt not to graze a grazing allotment or to graze the grazing 
allotment at less than the minimum permitted level and still retain the 
grazing permit or lease for the remainder of its term. Such nonuse 
shall be considered to be in compliance with the terms of the grazing 
permit or lease when it becomes due for renewal.

SEC. 10. COUNTY TRANSITION PAYMENTS.

    (a) Payments Required.--For each grazing permit or lease waived 
under section 4 (other than an ephemeral grazing permit or lease), the 
Secretary shall pay to the county in which the associated allotment is 
located $10 per animal unit month based on the average of the highest 
three years of authorized animal unit months out of the last 10 years 
authorized to the permittee or lessee or the predecessors of the 
permittee or lessee. In the case of an ephemeral grazing permit or 
lease, the Secretary shall pay to the county in which the associated 
allotment is located $10 per animal unit month based on the average 
over the last 10 years of the actual animal unit months of grazing use.
    (b) Proportional Allocation Among Counties.--In cases where an 
allotment is located in more than one county, the payment under 
subsection (a) to each county in which the allotment is located shall 
be proportional to the allotment's land area located in that county.

SEC. 11. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION.

    There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretaries 
$100,000,000, to remain available until expended, to provide 
compensation to permittees and lessees under section 5 and to make 
transition payments to counties under section 10. None of the funds 
appropriated pursuant to this section shall be used by any Federal 
agency for administrative costs related to the purposes of this Act.
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