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News from Rep. Stephanie Herseth
For Immediate Release
Contact: Russ Levsen, 202-226-4449

HOUSE PASSES HERSETH BILL ON BLUNT RESERVOIR

Bill Allows South Dakotans to Buy Back Nearly 14,000 Acres from Federal Government

July 24, 2006, Washington, D.C. - The U.S. House of Representatives today passed H.R. 4301, legislation introduced by Rep. Stephanie Herseth to allow South Dakotans to buy back up to 13,775 acres of land from the federal government.

H.R. 4301, the Blunt Reservoir and Pierre Canal Land Conveyance Act of 2005, was crafted in response to a now defunct irrigation plan authorized as part of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program decades ago. That authorization led the Bureau of Reclamation to acquire approximately 19,000 acres in Hughes and Sully Counties before the project was abandoned in 1977. Herseth's bill would finally deauthorize the irrigation project, giving the original landowners the option to buy back their land, and convey the remaining parcels to the State of South Dakota for wildlife mitigation purposes.

Herseth said, "South Dakotans place high priority on the rights of private property owners, and this bill underscores and reinforces those critical rights. There is no good reason for the federal government to continue owning and managing these acres, and these original landowners deserve the opportunity to once again own their land."

Timeline: Rep. Herseth introduced the legislation in November, 2005 and guided the bill through two Resources Committee hearings in early 2006. During one of those hearings, the Committee heard testimony from two South Dakotans: Darla Pollman Rogers, who represented the original landowners, and John Cooper, the South Dakota Secretary of Game Fish and Parks. The bill was approved by the Resources Committee on June 21st, and passed the full U.S. House of Representatives this afternoon.

In addition to allowing the original landowners to buy back their land, Herseth's bill would also transfer 5,462 acres of non-preferentially-leased lands and unleased lands to the South Dakota Department of Game Fish and Parks. The transfer will help fulfill the federal obligation to restore South Dakota wildlife habitat that was lost due to the construction of the Missouri River dams.

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