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1 1 (September 27, 2017)

handle is hein.congrec/cbo3815 and id is 1 raw text is: 




                  CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE

 U                           COST ESTIMATE
                                                               September 27, 2017


                                  H.R. 1107
     Pershing County Economic Development and Conservation Act

          As ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources
                                 on June 27, 2017


H.R. 1107 would establish a process to sell or exchange up to 400,000 acres of federal land
administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Pershing County, Nevada, and
also would designate 136,000 acres of other federal lands as wilderness.

The bill would require BLM to conduct a mass appraisal of the affected lands. Based on an
analysis of information provided by the Department of the Interior's Office of Valuation
Services, CBO estimates that conducting the appraisal would cost roughly $1 million in
2019; that spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

Title I would direct BLM to work with Pershing County to jointly select parcels from
roughly 300,000 acres of federal land that would be conveyed to the county through sale or
exchange. Because BLM has already identified those lands for disposal, CBO expects that
any lands conveyed in this region eventually will be conveyed under current law. Under the
bill, the agency would only be required to sell lands valued at more than $500 an acre. CBO
expects that lands valued at less than $500 an acre would be exchanged. The bill would
authorize the agency to spend any proceeds from the sale of land, which would increase
direct spending; however, based on information from BLM regarding the amount of
similar lands sold state-wide in Nevada over the last five years (between 1,000 and 3,000
acres) and the value of those lands (between $100 and $300 an acre), CBO estimates that
any proceeds generated by the sale of the affected lands and the associated direct spending
would be insignificant over the 2018-2027 period.

Title II would require BLM to offer mining claims covering roughly 100,000 acres in
Pershing County for sale at fair market value. However, CBO expects that few individuals
or firms would elect to purchase those lands because under current law they would have the
option to patent their mining claims after 2017. Mineral patents allow individuals and firms
to acquire title to hardrock minerals and the associated surface rights under a federal
mining claim at below-market rates. Each year since 1994, the Congress has included
provisions in annual appropriations acts that prohibit BLM from accepting or processing
applications for mineral patents. Because patents are prohibited only in the year the
appropriations acts are enacted, BLM will be authorized to issue mineral patents beginning

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