Kingman and Heritage Islands Act of 2010

Madam President, I rise today to speak about the Kingman and Heritage Islands Act of 2010, H.R. 6278. In particular, I wish to describe the legislative history and intent of this act. Earlier this year, essentially identical legislation, H.R. 2092, passed the House and the Senate but has not been enacted for reasons that I will address in this statement. Therefore, the House and Senate committee reports describing H.R. 2092 should be referenced as applicable legislative history for H.R. 6278.

D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced H.R. 2092, The Kingman and Heritage Islands Act of 2009, on April 23, 2009. The bill was considered by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on September 10, 2009, and ordered reported favorably with an amendment. On October 7, 2009, H.R. 2092 passed the House of Representatives under suspension of the rules and the subsequent day, H.R. 2092 was referred to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The committee considered the bill on May 17, 2010, and ordered the bill reported to the full Senate with one amendment. On September 27, 2010, the Senate passed H.R. 2092 by unanimous consent. Due to a mistake, however, the version that the Senate passed on September 27 contained a few drafting errors and did not reflect all of the modifications that our committee had intended.

Rather than seek the enactment of the Senate-passed version of H.R. 2092, and in order to avoid any confusion among the government entities responsible for implementing the bill, Delegate Norton subsequently introduced H.R. 6278 with the support of the chairman and ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. H.R. 6278 consists of the text of H.R. 2092 as my committee had amended it and intended it to pass in the Senate. Delegate Norton introduced H.R. 6278 on September 29, 2010, and it passed the House of Representatives on November 16, 2010, under suspension of the rules. After being received in the Senate, the bill was held at the desk and today it will pass the Senate by unanimous consent.

Because neither the relevant House nor Senate committee had the opportunity to file committee reports describing H.R. 6278, the committee reports describing H.R. 2092 should be considered as applicable legislative history for this bill. The report filed by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform report is House Report 111-275 and the report filed by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is Senate Report 111-300. In the remainder of my statement I further describe the background and intent of the legislation.

The Kingman and Heritage Islands Act of 2010 would allow the District of Columbia to use all of Heritage Island and portions of Kingman Island--the Islands--for recreational, environmental and educational uses. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers created Kingman and Heritage Islands in the District of Columbia from sediment dredged from the Anacostia River.

Until the enactment in 1996 of the National Children's Island Act of 1995--the act--the National Park Service held administrative jurisdiction on both islands. The act required the Federal Government to transfer title of the islands to the District of Columbia for use as a children's recreational park. It also mandated that title to the islands would revert back to the Federal Government if the District did not use the land in a manner consistent with the purposes specified in the act. The Secretary of the Interior transferred title of the Islands to the District via quitclaim deed in January 1997. In 2000, the Secretary of Interior wrote the District a letter stating that the District had fully lived up to the letter and spirit of the act and that DC should retain title to the Islands.

DC has not developed a children's recreational park on the Islands, and since that time, it has re-evaluated its

needs and interests and no longer seeks to use the Islands for that purpose. In 2003, in accordance with a memorandum of understanding between DC and several Federal agencies, including the NPS, the District developed the Anacostia Waterfront Framework Plan--Waterfront Plan--to redevelop and revitalize the Anacostia waterfront. The Waterfront Plan envisions using the islands for nature-themed exhibitions and educational projects. The District also has developed a Comprehensive Plan to serve as a general policy document to provide overall guidance for future planning and development in DC.

Recently, the District has taken steps toward implementing the Waterfront Plan. In the summer of 2007, the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation, now part of the DC Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, partnered with a number of other organizations to begin using the Islands to host environmental programs and cleanup. Since May 2008, Living Classrooms, a nonprofit educational organization with a focus on experiential learning, has been managing the islands and running programs there, including educational programming and volunteer events aimed at restoring the Islands.

To ensure that the activities DC has authorized do not raise any questions about its title to the Islands, the District has asked Congress to amend the act to sanction the broader work now occurring on the Islands. H.R. 6278 would do just that, by amending the National Children's Island Act in order to allow the District to conduct recreational, environmental and educational activities on the Islands, consistent with the Waterfront Plan and the District's Comprehensive Plan. If any portion of the land is used for an activity that is not recreational, environmental or educational, the reversionary process as outlined in the bill could begin.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6278) to amend the National Children's Island Act of 1995 to expand allowable uses for Kingman and Heritage Islands by the District of Columbia, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume and rise to support H.R. 6278, the Kingman and Heritage Islands Act of 2010. This bill would permit the District of Columbia to use the Kingman and Heritage Islands for recreational, environmental, and educational purposes. I introduced this bill on September 29, 2010.

The bulk of the language in the bill was considered by the Oversight Committee, the full House, and the Senate in another measure, H.R. 2092. However, because of a clerical error in the Senate, minor changes were not included in the bill when it was considered by the Senate. I have introduced H.R. 6278 to ensure the correct language is passed by both Houses. This bill includes the House-passed language in H.R. 2092, and captures the minor changes agreed upon in a bipartisan fashion by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

The amendment agreed to by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee makes it clear that the islands may revert back to the Federal Government in the future if they are not used for the purposes specified in the bill.

I should note that the House Oversight Committee did file a report on H.R. 2092, and that report is an important part of the legislative history of the bill we are considering now.

Mr. Speaker, we are very pleased that this bill has come in time before the House. The original act transferred title of this land on the Anacostia bill, but a prior Congress authorized it for another purpose, and, therefore, since we in the District of Columbia want to use this for environmental, recreational, and educational purposes, it was necessary to come again with a bill.

This is a bill that involves 40 acres of tidal marsh in Kingman Lake, currently being restored by the Army Corps, the District, and local environmental teaching groups. These islands are beautiful little places in the midst of the concrete of a big city. They, for example, have a memorial tree grove dedicated to the three District of Columbia schoolchildren who were on a trip sponsored by the National Geographic on a plane that went down in the September 11 attack on our country. This quaint set of islands has guided trails and interpretive stations.

As far as my own work in the Congress is concerned, Mr. Speaker, the dedication of these islands to environmental, teaching, and recreation purposes complements my own work on the Anacostia River. I am the primary sponsor of the Anacostia River initiative. There's already a 10-year plan of the jurisdictions in this region to restore the Anacostia River so that it is no longer one of the most polluted rivers in America.

To that end, I regard this bill as another manifestation of our determination to return the river to its original state and to allow the use of these small islands for the recreational and environmental purposes of the citizens of the District of Columbia and to all of those who visit our city and would like some relief from the big-city life and will find it right in the midst of what appears to be nothing other than a big-city landscape and will be relieved if they are privileged to visit these islands.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this measure, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 6278, which was received from the House and is at the desk.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read three times and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of H.R. 6278, the Kingman and Heritage Islands Act, and would just ask for support for it.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.