[House Report 109-619]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
109th Congress Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session 109-619
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ICE AGE FLOODS NATIONAL GEOLOGIC ROUTE DESIGNATION ACT OF 2006
_______
September 6, 2006.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on
the State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Pombo, from the Committee on Resources, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany H.R. 383]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill
(H.R. 383) to designate the Ice Age Floods National Geologic
Trail, and for other purposes, having considered the same,
report favorably thereon with amendments and recommend that the
bill as amended do pass.
The amendments are as follows:
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the
following:
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Ice Age Floods National Geologic
Route Designation Act of 2006''.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this Act is to designate the Ice Age Floods National
Geologic Route in the States of Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon,
enabling the public to view, experience, and learn about the Ice Age
Floods' features and story through the collaborative efforts of public
and private entities.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act:
(1) Route.--The term ``Route'' means the Ice Age Floods
National Geologic Route designated in section 4.
(2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of
the Interior.
(3) Floods.--The term ``Ice Age Floods'' or ``floods'' means
the cataclysmic floods that occurred in what is now the
northwestern United States during the last Ice Age primarily
from massive, rapid and recurring drainage of Glacial Lake
Missoula.
SEC. 4. DESIGNATION OF THE ICE AGE FLOODS NATIONAL GEOLOGIC ROUTE.
(a) Designation.--In order to provide for the public appreciation,
education, understanding, and enjoyment, through a coordinated
interpretive program of certain nationally significant natural and
cultural sites associated with Ice Age Floods that are accessible
generally by public roads, the Secretary, acting through the Director
of the National Park Service, with the concurrence of the agency having
jurisdiction over such roads, is authorized to designate, by
publication of a map or other description thereof in the Federal
Register, a vehicular tour route along existing public roads linking
such natural and cultural sites. Such route shall be known as the ``Ice
Age Floods National Geologic Route''.
(b) Location.--The location of the Route shall generally follow
public roads and highways from the vicinity of Missoula in western
Montana, across northern Idaho, through eastern and southern sections
of Washington, and across northern Oregon in the vicinity of the
Willamette Valley and the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean, as
generally depicted on the map titled ``Ice Age Floods National Geologic
Trial'', numbered P43/80,000, and dated June 2004.
(c) Maps.--
(1) Revisions.--The Secretary may revise the map by
publication in the Federal Register of a notice of availability
of a new map, as needed, in cooperation with Federal, State,
local, or tribal governments, and other public or private
entities.
(2) Availability.--Any map referred to in paragraph (1) shall
be on file and available for public inspection in the
appropriate offices of the National Park Service.
(d) Description of Sites; Plan; Interpretive Program.--
(1) Description of sites; plan.--Not later than 3 years after
the date that funds become available for this Act, the
Secretary shall prepare a description of sites along the Route
and general plan which shall include the location and
description of each of the following:
(A) Unique geographic or geologic features and
significant landforms.
(B) Important cultural resources.
(2) Interpretive program.--The general plan shall include
proposals for a comprehensive interpretive program of the
Route.
(3) Transmission to congress.--The Secretary shall transmit
the description of sites and general plan to the Committee on
Resources of the United States House of Representatives and the
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the United States
Senate.
(4) Consultation.--The description of sites and plan shall be
prepared in consultation with other Federal agencies, the State
of Montana, the State of Idaho, the State of Washington, and
the State of Oregon, units of local governments, tribal
governments, interested private citizens, and nonprofit
organizations, and the Ice Age Floods Institute.
SEC. 5. ADMINISTRATION.
(a) In General.--The Secretary, acting through the Director of the
National Park Service, shall administer a program to interpret the
Route in accordance with this Act.
(b) Public Education.--With respect to sites linked by segments of
the Route which are administered by other Federal, State, tribal, and
local nonprofit or private entities, the Secretary is authorized to
provide technical assistance in the development of interpretive devices
and materials pursuant to cooperative agreements with such entities.
The Secretary, in cooperation with Federal, State, tribal, or local
governments or nonprofit or private entities, shall prepare and
distribute information for the public appreciation of sites along the
Route.
(c) Markers.--The Secretary shall ensure that the Route is marked
with appropriate markers to guide the public. With the concurrence and
assistance of the State, tribal, or local entity having jurisdiction
over the roads designated as part of the Route, the Secretary may erect
thereon signs and other informational devices displaying the Ice Age
Floods National Geologic Route marker. The Secretary is authorized to
accept the donation of suitable signs and other informational devices
for placement at appropriate locations.
(d) Private Property Rights.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed
to require any private property owner to allow public access (including
Federal, State or local government access) to such private property or
to modify any provision of Federal, State or local law with regard to
public access to or use of private lands.
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $250,000 for
each fiscal year to carry out this Act.
Amend the title so as to read:
A bill to designate the Ice Age Floods National Geologic
Route, and for other purposes.
PURPOSE OF THE BILL
The purpose of H.R. 383, as ordered reported, is to
designate the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Route, and for
other purposes.
BACKGROUND AND NEED FOR LEGISLATION
Between 1.8 million and 10,000 years ago, North America was
repeatedly glaciated. During the last Ice Age, a series of
floods in the Pacific Northwest dramatically altered the
geologic landscape of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.
Glacial Lake Missoula was created, and when an ice dam failed
periodically, floods rushed down the Columbia River creating
the Columbia River Gorge and washing over Oregon's Willamette
Valley and into the Pacific Ocean. The floods carved out miles
of earth and created Grand Coulee, Dry Falls, Palouse Falls,
the Missoula and Spokane ground-water resources, and the
Willamette Valley and Quincy Basin.
In 2001, the National Park Service completed a Special
Resource Study, which proposed that the Ice Age Floods National
Geologic Trail be established. The bill requires that the
Geologic Trail be administered by the Secretary of the
Interior, acting through the Director of the National Park
Service, but the Trail would not be a unit of the National Park
System.
COMMITTEE ACTION
H.R. 383 was introduced on January 26, 2005, by Congressman
Doc Hastings (R-WA). The bill was referred to the Committee on
Resources, and within the Committee to the Subcommittee on
National Parks. On July 13, 2006, the Subcommittee held a
hearing on the bill. On July 19, 2006, the Full Resources
Committee met to consider the bill, at which time the
Subcommittee on National Parks was discharged from further
consideration of the bill by unanimous consent. Congressman
Stevan Pearce (R-NM) offered an amendment in the nature of a
substitute to refine the purpose and execution of the bill. The
amendment clarified that H.R. 383 does not create a new unit,
or entity, within the National Park System. The Park Service
will be charged with administering only a program of education
and interpretation. There will be no authority to acquire or
manage public and private land. Also, the amendment reduced the
authorization of appropriations from $500,000 to $250,000
annually. Finally, the name of the designation will be the
``Ice Age Floods National Geologic Route'' to conform with a
similar program that currently exists and is administered by
the National Park Service. The amendment in the nature of a
substitute was adopted by unanimous consent. The bill, as
amended, was ordered favorably reported to the House of
Representatives by unanimous consent.
CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY STATEMENT
Article I, section 8, clause 3 of the Constitution of the
United States grants Congress the authority to enact this bill.
COMPLIANCE WITH HOUSE RULE XIII
1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(2) of rule XIII of the
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(3)(B)
of that rule provides that this requirement does not apply when
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
2. Congressional Budget Act. As required by clause 3(c)(2)
of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and
section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this
bill does not contain any new budget authority, spending
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in
revenues or tax expenditures.
3. General Performance Goals and Objectives. As required by
clause 3(c)(4) of rule XIII, the general performance goal or
objective of this bill is to designate the Ice Age Floods
National Geologic Trail, and for other purposes.
4. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate. Under clause
3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives and section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act
of 1974, the Committee has received the following cost estimate
for this bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget
Office:
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE COST ESTIMATE
H.R. 383--Ice Age Floods National Geologic Route Designation Act of
2006
H.R. 383 would establish the Ice Age Floods National
Geologic Route. The route would be primarily an auto route
along existing highways and roads between Missoula, Montana,
and the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Northwest, following the
path of the Ice Age floods approximately 17,000 years ago. H.R.
383 would authorize the appropriation of $250,000 annually for
the National Park Service (NPS) to identify the route with
signs and markers, develop an interpretive program, and report
to the Congress.
Assuming appropriation of the specified amount each year,
CBO estimates that the NPS would spend $1.25 million over the
2007-2011 period to develop and maintain the Ice Age Floods
National Geologic Route. Enacting the bill would not affect
revenues or direct spending.
H.R. 383 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.
On October 5, 2005, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S.
206, the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail Designation
Act, as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and
Natural Resources on September 28, 2005. Both pieces of
legislation would establish an auto route along the path of the
Ice Age floods but have different provisions. The Senate
version would authorize the appropriation of $12 million for
developing the trail; the House version would authorize the
appropriation of $250,000 annually.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Matthew
Pickford. The estimate was approved by Robert A. Sunshine,
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
COMPLIANCE WITH PUBLIC LAW 104-4
This bill contains no unfunded mandates.
PREEMPTION OF STATE, LOCAL OR TRIBAL LAW
This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or
tribal law.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
If enacted, this bill would make no changes to existing
law.