Description:
S. 941 would withdraw roughly 30,000 acres of land in the Custer Gallatin National Forest in Montana from mining laws and mineral and geothermal leasing, subject to valid existing rights. That is, the bill would not allow new mining or other related activities on those lands, which are adjacent to the northern boundary of Yellowstone National Park. The Department of the Interior is reviewing a public land order to withdraw those lands from location and entry under mining laws for a period of 20 years. Through November 22, 2018, no new mining claims will be accepted on those lands. If the department chooses not to implement the order, the lands will be open to new mining claims after that date. Using information from the department, CBO estimates that implementing the order would produce no significant change in administrative costs; therefore, implementing the bill also would have no significant effect on spending subject to appropriation. Because the affected lands currently produce no income from mineral or geothermal leasing (and are not expected to do so in the future), CBO estimates that enacting the bill would not affect offsetting receipts, which are treated as reductions in direct spending. Because enacting S. 941 would not affect direct spending or revenues, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates that enacting S. 941 would not increase net direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029. S. 941 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. On October 19, 2018, CBO transmitted a cost estimate of H.R. 4644, the Yellowstone Gateway Protection Act, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Natural Resources on September 26, 2018. The two pieces of legislation are similar and CBO’s estimates of their budgetary effects are the same.
