II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 277
To release a Federal reversionary interest and convey mineral interests in
Chester County, Tennessee, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY28, 2025
Mrs. B
LACKBURN(for herself and Mr. HAGERTY) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition, and Forestry
A BILL
To release a Federal reversionary interest and convey mineral
interests in Chester County, Tennessee, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. CHESTER COUNTY REVERSIONARY AND MIN-3
ERAL INTERESTS RELEASE. 4
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds that— 5
(1) within the parcel of State forest land lo-6
cated in Henderson, Chester County, Tennessee, a 7
recent survey by the State determined that Bethel 8
Baptist Church is encroaching on State-owned land 9
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•S 277 IS
in Chickasaw State Forest by approximately 19 1
inches; 2
(2) the parcel described in paragraph (1) was 3
conveyed to the State by the Department of Agri-4
culture, which retained a reversionary interest in the 5
land; and 6
(3) it is necessary to release the interests of the 7
United States in and to that land to resolve the en-8
croachment issue described in paragraph (1). 9
(b) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 10
(1) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 11
the Secretary of Agriculture. 12
(2) S
TATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the State 13
of Tennessee. 14
(3) S
TATE FOREST LAND .—The term ‘‘State 15
forest land’’ means the approximately 0.62-acre par-16
cel of land in Chickasaw State Forest that is identi-17
fied as ‘‘State Forest Land’’ on the map prepared 18
by the Forest Service entitled ‘‘State Forest Land 19
Detail Map’’ and dated December 13, 2019. 20
(c) R
ELEASE OFREVERSIONARYINTEREST.— 21
(1) R
ELEASE.— 22
(A) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall re-23
lease, without consideration, the reversionary 24
interest described in paragraph (2). 25
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(B) REQUIREMENTS.—Notwithstanding 1
any requirement for a grant of land under sec-2
tion 32(c) of The Bankhead-Jones Farm Ten-3
ant Act (7 U.S.C. 1011(c)) or any other provi-4
sion of law, the release under subparagraph (A) 5
shall occur without any appraisal, other report, 6
or environmental or similar review being under-7
taken. 8
(2) D
ESCRIPTION OF REVERSIONARY INTER -9
EST.—The reversionary interest referred to in para-10
graph (1)(A) is the reversionary interest of the 11
United States in and to the State forest land that— 12
(A) takes effect if the State forest land 13
ceases to be used for public purposes; and 14
(B) was created by the deed— 15
(i) granting from the United States to 16
the State the State forest land; 17
(ii) dated August 12, 1955; and 18
(iii) registered on pages 588 through 19
591 of book 48 of the record of deeds for 20
Chester County, Tennessee. 21
(3) P
AYMENT OF COSTS.—As a condition of the 22
release under paragraph (1), the State shall pay to 23
the United States any administrative costs incurred 24
by the United States in carrying out the release. 25
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(d) CONVEYANCE OFMINERALRIGHTS.— 1
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any re-2
quirement for the conveyance of Federal mineral in-3
terests under section 209 of the Federal Land Policy 4
and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1719), 5
part 2720 of title 43, Code of Federal Regulations 6
(or successor regulations), or any other provision of 7
law, the Secretary shall convey to the State, by quit-8
claim deed, without warranty, and without consider-9
ation, the mineral interest in the State forest land 10
owned by the United States. 11
(2) R
EQUIREMENTS.—Notwithstanding any 12
other provision of law, the conveyance under para-13
graph (1) shall occur— 14
(A) without any exploratory program as to 15
the character of the mineral deposits in the 16
land; 17
(B) without any findings as to known min-18
eral values and mineral development of the 19
land; and 20
(C) without any appraisal, other report, or 21
environmental or similar review being under-22
taken by the Secretary. 23
(3) P
AYMENT OF COSTS.—As a condition of the 24
conveyance under paragraph (1), the State shall pay 25
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to the United States any administrative costs in-1
curred by the United States in carrying out the con-2
veyance. 3
Æ
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