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Mineral Resources on Weeks Law Lands

• Act of March 4, 1917 (Ch. 179, 39 Stat. 1134; 16 U.S.C. 520)

The Secretary of the Interior is authorized, under general regulations to be prescribed by him, to permit the prospecting, development, and utilization of the mineral resources of the lands acquired under the Act of March first, nineteen hundred and eleven (Thirty-sixth Statutes, page nine hundred and sixty-one), known as the Weeks Law, upon such terms and for specified periods or otherwise, as he may deem to be for the best interests of the United States; and all moneys received on account of charges, if any, made under this Act shall be disposed of as is provided by existing law for the disposition of receipts from national forests. (16 U.S.C. 520)

NOTE.--See transfer provisions below.

Section 402 of Reorganization Plan No. 3, of July 16, 1946 (60 Stat. 1097, 1099; 5 U.S.C. Appendix)

The functions of the Secretary of Agriculture and the Department of Agriculture with respect to the uses of mineral deposits in certain lands pursuant to the provisions of the Act of March 4, 1917, (39 Stat. 1134, 1150; 16 U.S.C. 520) *** are hereby transferred to the Secretary of the Interior and shall be performed by him or, subject to his direction and control, by such officers and agencies of the Department of the Interior as he may designate: Provided, That mineral development on such lands shall be authorized by the Secretary of the Interior only when he is advised by the Secretary of Agriculture that such development will not interfere with the primary purposes for which the land was acquired and only in accordance with such conditions as may be specified by the Secretary of Agriculture in order to protect such purposes. The provisions of law governing the crediting and distribution of revenues derived from the said lands shall be applicable to revenues derived in connection with the functions transferred by this section. To the extent necessary in connection with the performance of the functions transferred by this section, the Secretary of the

Interior and his representatives shall have access to the title records of the Department of Agriculture relating to the lands affected by this section.

NOTE.--Functions relating to common varieties of

mineral materials in acquired and certain other lands were transferred back to the Secretary of Agriculture by Sec 1(1) of Act of June 11, 1960 (74 Stat. 205; 7 U.S.C. 220(note))

Timber Export

• Act of March 4, 1917 (Ch. 179, 39 Stat. 1134; 16 U.S.C. 491(note))

The Secretary of Agriculture may, in his discretion, permit timber and other forest products cut or removed from the national forests to be exported from the State or Territory in which said forests are respectively situated.

NOTE.--The Interior and Related Agencies Appropriation Act for the Fiscal year ending September 30, 1983 (PL 97-394) and some prior years contained the following:

Sec. 301. No part of any appropriation under this Act shall be available to the Secretaries of the Interior and Agriculture for use for any sale hereafter made of unprocessed timber from Federal lands west of the 100th meridian in the contiguous 48 States which will be exported from the United States, or which will be used as a substitute for timber from private lands which is exported by the purchaser: Provided, That this limitation shall not apply to specific quantities of grades and species of timber which said Secretaries determine are surplus to domestic lumber and plywood manufacturing needs. (16 U.S.C. 491(note))

Mineral Leasing Act

• Act of February 25, 1920 (Ch. 85, 41 Stat. 437, as amended; 30 U.S.C. 181)

Deposits of coal, phosphate, sodium, potassium, oil, oil shale, native asphalt, solid and semisolid bitumen, and bituminous rock (including oil impregnated rock or sands from which oil is recoverable only by special treatment after the deposit is mined or quarried) or gas, and lands containing such deposits owned by the United States, including those in national forests, but excluding lands acquired under the authority of the Weeks Law, and those in incorporated cities, towns, and villages and in national parks and monuments, those acquired under other Acts subsequent to February 25, 1920, and lands within the naval petroleum and oil-shale reserves, except as hereinafter provided, shall be subject to disposition in the form and manner provided by Chapter 3, Title 30, United States Code, to citizens of the United States, or to associations of such citizens, or to any corporation organized under the laws of the United States or of any State or Territory thereof, or in the case of coal, oil, oil shale, or gas, to

municipalities. Citizens of another country, the laws, customs or regulations of which deny similar or like privileges to citizens or corporations of this country shall not by stock ownership, stock holding, or stock control, own any interest in any lease acquired under the provisions of said sections.

The United States reserves the ownership of and the right to extract helium from all gas produced from lands leased or otherwise granted under the provisions of said sections, under such rules and regulations as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior: Provided further, That in the extraction of helium from gas produced From such lands it shall be so extracted as to cause no substantial delay in the delivery of gas produced from the well to the purchaser thereof. (30 U.S.C. 181)

NOTE.--This Act is commonly referred to as the Mineral Leasing Act and applies to (1) national forest lands reserved from the public domain or which were acquired by exchange under the Act of March 20, 1922 (42 Stat. 465; 16 U.S.C. 485), or similar law, by terms of which "public land" or the timber thereon is granted in exchange, and (2) national grasslands and other Title

III, Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act lands, reserved from the public domain. It does not apply to "acquired" lands in either category.

The Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior, is responsible for leasing under this Act. Technical administration of leases and permits is the responsibility of the U.S. Geological Survey. By interdepartmental agreement all applications to lease lands under Forest Service jurisdiction are referred to the Forest Service for review, recommendation, and special stipulations to protect the surface and surface functions. (See Federal coal leasing amendments.)

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