Washington, D.C. – The Senate by unanimous consent tonight passed H.R. 620 and included, as separate titles, the text of several other bills approved by the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee. The package of bills now goes to the House for consideration. The H.R. 620 package includes the text of the following bills as individual titles in H.R. 620: H.R. 620: To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to provide supplemental funding and other services that are necessary to assist the State of California or local educational agencies in California in providing educational services for students attending schools located within the Yosemite National Park. (This bill was previously passed by the Senate.) HR 4593: A bill to designate the 11,000-acre site just south of San Ysidro, New Mexico known as Ojito as a federal wilderness area – the first such designation in New Mexico in 17 years. The Ojito area has been preserved as a Wilderness Study Area since 1991, pending congressional action to formally designate the area as wilderness. Enactment of the Ojito Wilderness adds 11,000 acres to the National Wilderness Preservation System, which protects wild areas that have “outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation.” The area will remain open to hiking, backpacking, horseback riding, and rock climbing, as well as grazing and scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical uses. But it also will remain protected from development, including commercial enterprises, road building, and mining, as well as off-road vehicle use. This language was passed by the House but has been altered with a water rights provision agreed upon by Senators Domenici and Bingaman which states that the wilderness designation will not create an express or implied federal water right and requires the federal government to pursue any new water right in the area through the state permitting process. S. 425: A bill to revise the boundary of the Wind Cave National Park in the State of South Dakota. Requires the Park's boundaries to be adjusted to reflect the acquisition of land. (Previously passed by the Senate.) S. 426: A bill to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain parcels of land acquired for the Blunt Reservoir and Pierre Canal features of the initial stage of the Oahe Unit, James Division, South Dakota, to the Commission of Schools and Public Lands and the Department of Game, Fish, and Parks of the State of South Dakota for the purpose of mitigating lost wildlife habitat, on the condition that the current preferential leaseholders shall have an option to purchase the parcels from the Commission. (Previously passed by the Senate.) HR 4808: To provide for a land exchange involving private land and BLM land in the vicinity of Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, for the purpose of removing private land from the required safety zone surrounding munitions storage bunkers at the base. Resolution of the Cover Over Issue for the Commonwealth Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) : Under the 1976 covenant between the U.S. and the CNMI and pursuant to insular law, the federal government is obligated to provide (or “cover-over”) to the CNMI the proceeds of almost all taxes, duties, and fees collected with respect to the CNMI and its people, other than those which relate to social security benefits. For a variety of reasons, these funds have been fully provided to the CNMI. The resolution clarifies that the cover-over of federal collections to the treasuries of certain territories (CNMI, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands) encompasses all taxes and fees, including the proceeds on estates and gifts. It further directs the Department of Interior to review the accounting of the cover-over sums the CNMI claims is due it. We further direct DOI to negotiate with CNMI to reach a settlement on the past due amounts and condition such settlement on CNMI submitting a plan to spend these cover-over amounts on infrastructure needed for education and water purposes. S. 1957: A bill to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to cooperate with the States on the border with Mexico and other appropriate entities in conducting a hydrogeologic characterization, mapping, and modeling program for priority transboundary aquifers, and for other purposes. (Previously passed by the Senate.) HR 2457: To authorize funds for an educational center for the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument. S. 2429: Pactola Reservoir Reallocation Authorization Act of 2004 - Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to reallocate, in a manner consistent with specified Federal reclamation law, the construction costs of Pactola Dam and Reservoir, Rapid Valley Unit, Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program, South Dakota, from irrigation purposes to municipal, industrial, and fish and wildlife purposes. S. 1530: A bill to provide compensation to the Lower Brule and Crow Creek Sioux Tribes of South Dakota for damage to tribal land caused by Pick-Sloan projects along the Missouri River. S. 738: A bill to designate certain public lands in Humboldt, Del Norte, Mendocino, Lake, Napa, and Yolo Counties in the State of California as wilderness, and to designate certain segments of the Black Butte River in Mendocino County, California as a wild or scenic river. S. 1209: A bill to provide for the acquisition of property in Washington County, Utah, for implementation of a desert tortoise habitat conservation plan. S. 2567: The Redwood National Park Boundary Adjustment Act of 2004 revises the boundaries of the Redwood National Park in California and increases to 133,000 acres the maximum acreage of the Park. S. 1582: The Valles Caldera Preservation Act of 2003 directs the Agriculture Secretary to negotiate a price for buying the remaining geothermal interests at the Preserve. If negotiations are unsuccessful, the matter would be directed to federal court for resolution. The Department of Agriculture would use available funds to acquire the mineral interests, unless the court sets a higher price, in which case the difference would be paid from the judgment fund. S. 1819: The Central Nevada Rural Cemeteries Act directs the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain land to Lander County, Nevada, and the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain land to Eureka County, Nevada, for continued cemetery use. S. 1826: The Dandini Research Park Conveyance Act directs the Secretary of the Interior to convey to the Board of Regents of the University and Community College System of Nevada all right, title, and interest of the United States in specified land located in Washoe County, Nevada, patented to the University of Nevada under the Recreation and Public Purposes Act. The bill requires the Board of Regents to pay the net proceeds of any sale of such land to the Secretary for use by the Director of the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada. S. 849: The Northern Arizona National Forest Land Exchange Act of 2003 directs the Secretary of Agriculture to convey certain land in the Prescott, Coconino, and Kaibab National Forests, Arizona, to the Yavapai Ranch Limited Partnership or the Northern Yavapai, L.L.C. in exchange for land within the boundaries of the Prescott National Forest, Arizona. ###