Description:
As ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on November 13, 2014
S. 841 would require roughly 108,000 acres of federal land located in Colorado to be managed for conservation purposes. The bill also would require the Secretary of the Interior to convey 82 acres of land to La Plata County in Colorado. Based on information provided by the affected agencies and assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost less than $500,000 over the 2015-2019 period. Those amounts would be used to develop new management plans, install new signs, and conduct trail maintenance. Enacting S. 841 would not affect direct spending or revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
The bill would designate about 37,000 acres of federal land within the San Juan National Forest as components of the National Wilderness Preservation System and 71,000 acres of adjacent lands as the Hermosa Creek Special Management Area.
The legislation also would require the Bureau of Land Management to convey 82 acres of federal land in Colorado to La Plata County. Based on information regarding the administrative costs to carry out similar conveyances, CBO estimates that implementing this provision would have no significant effect on spending subject to appropriation. In addition, because those lands are not expected to generate any offsetting receipts over the next 10 years, CBO estimates that enacting this provision would not affect direct spending.
S. 841 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would benefit La Plata County in Colorado. Any costs to the county resulting from the conveyance would be incurred voluntarily.
On December 8, 2014, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for H.R. 1839, the Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act of 2014, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on September 18, 2014. The two bills are similar, and the CBO cost estimates are the same.
