Section 1 Finding
Congress finds that the exchange of Federal land and non-Federal land under this Act furthers the public objectives referred to in section 206 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1716) for the following reasons:
On December 21, 2007, the Bureau of Land Management issued a Final Decision Record and Finding of No Significant Impact approving the Blackrock Land Exchange, IDI–35337, between the United States and the J.R. Simplot Company, an Idaho Corporation, involving Federal land in the Pocatello Field Office in the State of Idaho.
The Final Decision Record was issued as a result of a multiyear review and public input process under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), under which the Bureau of Land Management found—
the 2 parcels of Federal land comprising 718.56 acres that are proposed for conveyance to the J.R. Simplot Company are managed by the Bureau of Land Management in the State of Idaho; and
the conveyance of the Federal land described in clause (i) is consistent with—
the multiple-use statutory mission of the Bureau of Land Management; and
the Pocatello Resource Management Plan;
the 3 parcels of non-Federal land comprising 666.92 acres that are proposed for conveyance to the United States—
are owned by the J.R. Simplot Company; and
provide greater resources and values to the United States than the resources and values of the Federal land, including through the United States—
consolidating Federal land;
gaining direct access to adjacent Federal land; and
acquiring critical deer habitat;
the Federal land is adjacent to the phosphate ore processing facility of the J.R. Simplot Company;
carrying out the land exchange under this Act would provide a buffer and an expansion area for a possible phosphate disposal facility;
the land exchange under this Act would not authorize any potential future siting of a new phosphate disposal facility or related facilities because other governmental entities, primarily the State of Idaho and the Environmental Protection Agency, would still have the responsibility and authority to make decisions relating to the approval of any future phosphate disposal facilities; and
after consultation with the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, a federally recognized Tribe with Tribal headquarters at Fort Hall, Idaho, the Bureau of Land Management determined that—
the land exchange authorized under this Act would result in a net loss of 52 acres of public land; but
the loss of public land acreage would be outweighed by the superior natural resources acquired in the land exchange that would enhance and increase opportunities for off-Reservation hunting and gathering by members of the Tribes.
On June 5, 2009, the Interior Board of Land Appeals of the Department of the Interior issued an order, numbered IBLA 2009–27, affirming the Final Decision Record of the Bureau of Land Management.
On May 3, 2011, the Federal District Court for the District of Idaho issued a decision finding that the Bureau of Land Management violated the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) by failing to prepare a full environmental impact statement on detailed future uses, rather than an environmental assessment, with respect to the proposed land exchange.
The Bureau of Land Management and the J.R. Simplot Company—
disagreed with the decision described in paragraph (4); and
argued that the Final Decision Record adequately analyzed the foreseeable environmental effects of the land exchange authorized under this Act.
The fundamental disagreement over the level of analysis needed to complete the land exchange authorized under this Act raises the possibility of an endless cycle of Federal analysis and litigation that has no certain outcome, not only for the Federal land to be exchanged under this Act, but also for other land owned by the United States that is identified for disposal.
The land exchange authorized under this Act—
would permanently resolve the conflict relating to the Federal land and non-Federal land; and
is in the public interest.