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Week Ending December 10, 2004

HR 3785 authorizing a land exchange in the Everglades National Park in Florida.

BRIEF

  The bill lends support to a 1996 Water Resources Development Act that authorized modifications to one of the historic projects associated with the restoration of the Florida Everglades known as the C-111 Project. “Specifically,” The committee report explained, “…the C-111 Project, located on the eastern boundary of the Florida Everglades, would restore habitat of the Everglades National Park that has been adversely affected by the Army Corps of Engineers Central and Southern Florida Project, as well as restore more natural flows of water to the Park's eastern panhandle, Taylor Slough and Florida Bay.

   The bill would direct the Secretary of the Interior to exchange approximately 1054 acres of land from the Rocky Glades area of the Park for approximately 1054 acres from the South Florida Water Management District located in the Southern Glades Wildlife and Environmental Area and Dade County, FL. The exchange would allow the National Park Service to provide the necessary lands to complete the project modifications and obtain an equal amount of acreage adjacent to the Park boundary, which when incorporated into the Park would conform to the Park Service's goal of no net loss to the Park.

Sponsor: Representative Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL-25^th)

Vote: Passed House by voice vote (July 19, 2004); Passed Senate by Unanimous Consent (Dec. 8, 2004); Signed by President Bush as Public Law 108-483 (Dec. 23, 2004)

Cost to the taxpayers: ‘CBO estimates that acquiring and developing land near the East Everglades areas of the park would cost about $3.5 million over the next few years. We estimate that about $500,000 of this amount would be used by the NPS to acquire a suitable site of about 10 acres outside of the park's boundary. Of the remaining amount, we estimate that about $3 million would be used to construct a fire station, maintenance and storage facilities, and administrative offices. This does not include $2 million that would be spent for employee housing because the NPS is already authorized to build employee housing outside of the park.

CBO estimates that the administrative costs of the four-way land exchange would be less than $50,000 over the next year or two. Additional costs to manage newly acquired acreage would be minimal. Costs to operate the new offsite facility would be similar to the cost of operating existing facilities within the park, which would be demolished. ## All Rights Reserved. TheWeekInCongress.com