Mortgage Fairness Act of 2017

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues from Montana and Hawaii for their supportiveness.

Briefly, Mr. Speaker, this is what you get when people talk about issues and not cliches. This is a long time in the making, as has been previously indicated, folks from the wilderness areas, folks from economic development areas, folks from the resource extraction areas all coming together on this.

But just in case there is some concern about, oh my God, potentially we are transferring the Federal estate, let's remind people of a couple of things that are in this legislation.

First of all, nothing is transferred for nothing. It talks about the appraisal process and how, if you are going to purchase the Federal estate, you are going to pay for it.

Secondly, it is talking about exchanges along the Trans-Pacific legislation on the checkerboard from 1862, which talks about the Secretary of the Interior is a full partner with the county commission in identifying those lands that are appropriate for exchange.

Why is this important?

This is important because if they don't think it is a good idea to exchange, then the Secretary of the Interior can stop that process, so it doesn't force the Secretary of the Interior to exchange land that he or she, in the future, doesn't want to.

But let's remind ourselves of one other thing. Exchanges of checkerboard land are not just something that benefits perhaps economic development along the Interstate 80 corridor, or somebody who does a cow-calf operation somewhere. It also allows resource managers, Federal land managers, wildlife people to consolidate checkerboard lands where they need to be consolidated, to do things like preserve habitat, preserve special resource areas, whether it is for mule deer, whether it is for the endangered species potential of the sage hen, and other things like that. So it is a two-way street.

So my congratulations to the folks of Pershing County and the BLM employees in the Winnemucca district.

By the way, no lands are subject to this that haven't been identified in their resource management plan, their planning document, as potentially available for either exchange or disposal.

Finally, I want to remind you of this: there are 150,000 acres that can be bought out of a potential Federal estate of over 9 million acres in that county. So it is a fraction of 1 percent. And of the potential available for exchange, it sets an upper limit of 300,000, potential. The county has to ask for it, the Secretary has to agree to an exchange.

So when you talk about the size of the Federal estate in Pershing County--which, by the way, is the home to the Burning Man festival, for those of you who follow that sort of stuff--it is something that is, quite frankly, not going to change the landscape, literally speaking, in terms of the ownership and the diminishment of the Federal estate. They are still the major player to the tune of--at the end of the day, 95 percent of the Federal estate is still intact.

Finally, on wilderness study areas and wilderness creation areas, in this bill, you have created about 148,000 acres of new wilderness areas and you have released parts of five different wilderness study areas that are about 48,000 acres. So when you start talking about this is a good housekeeping measure, it allows Pershing County to come into the new age in terms of what they think is appropriate for their economic diversification and vitality, but also gives Federal land managers, resource folks, wildlife groups, and conservation groups, the tools to do good things in Pershing County, too.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his generous provision of the time.

The last piece is this: the most successful public lands legislation in the country is probably the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, which turns 20 this year. Much of this is patterned on that.

When you talk about what happens when they sell land, money goes to education and it goes to the county, and then 85 percent of every dollar brought in goes for the benefit of those Federal lands, for those land managers in Pershing County.

It has been working in southern Nevada for 20 years. This is a good step. I encourage bipartisan, nationwide support.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1107) to promote conservation, improve public land management, and provide for sensible development in Pershing County, Nevada, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1107, introduced by Congressman Mark Amodei of Nevada, is a bipartisan bill that consolidates over 300,000 acres of checkerboard land previously identified for disposal by the Bureau of Land Management in Pershing County, Nevada. This bill conveys land for mining and other public purposes, creates a new wilderness area, and releases certain wilderness study areas, all to benefit conservation, recreation, and economic development in the county.

Mr. Speaker, 85 percent of Nevada's land is owned and operated by the Federal Government. Not only does this deprive the State final say on management decisions in its own backyard, but it also deprives the State of the tax base utilized by other States to fund roads, school districts, and police departments.

Pershing County, Nevada, is no different. Seventy-five percent of the county is federally owned. This bill is a result of over a decade of negotiations between locally elected officials, miners, conservationists, sportsmen, ranchers, and residents in the county. Their hard work and commitment to bipartisanship has resulted in a bill that benefits all parties, guaranteeing that both the economic and ecological future of the county are protected.

This bill, in addition to being cosponsored by all Nevada congressional Representatives, is supported by Pershing County, Friends of Nevada Wilderness, the Nevada Chapter of the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Coalition for Nevada's Wildlife, and several Nevadan mining companies, including Clover Nevada, Coeur Mining, EP Minerals, Gold Acquisition Corp., and Solidus Resources.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Amodei).

Mr. Speaker, I would echo the sentiments of the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Hanabusa). I urge my colleagues to vote for this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1107 is a bill cosponsored by the entire Nevada delegation that will enhance both economic development opportunities and the conservation of public land in Pershing County.

First, I want to mention that this bill will designate over 130,000 acres of wilderness. This is a significant conservation victory and I would like to congratulate everyone who has worked on making this a reality.

In addition to the wilderness designation, this bill establishes a process to exchange or sell up to 400,000 acres of Federal land throughout Pershing County. I understand that the BLM and other interested parties have raised some concerns with the appraisal process set up in the bill. Unfortunately, we were not able to address these concerns at markup, but I hope we can continue working with our colleagues in the Senate to make any necessary changes to the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am just going to close by saying that I request that all of our colleagues vote to support H.R. 1107, Pershing County Economic Development and Conservation Act.

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

Mr. President, I know of no further debate on the bills.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.