Legislation sponsored by U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) to prohibit the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from claiming Texas land along the Red River as public domain on Feb. 26 received approval from the U.S. House of Representatives as part of a sweeping bipartisan lands package bill that is set to become a new law.
“The fundamental right to own property must be protected,” Rep. Thornberry said on Wednesday. “This bill takes another crucial step in giving property owners the assurance they deserve to know once and for all where public lands end and private lands begin.”
The House on Tuesday voted 363-62 to pass the Natural Resources Management Act, S. 47, already approved on Feb. 12 by the U.S. Senate, 92-8. The measure contains provisions from the Red River Gradient Boundary Survey Act, H.R. 346, which Rep. Thornberry introduced last month with several Republican cosponsors to require a gradient boundary survey of a part of the Red River area between Texas and Oklahoma.
The larger bill now heads to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature to make it law.
“The pieces are now in place to see that property owners are protected,” said Rep. Thornberry. “I am grateful for all of the work that has been done on this issue for the past several years.”
Currently, the BLM is authorized to survey the Red River area using BLM surveyors who don’t have to confer with states experts, according to the congressman’s statement. The BLM also is in the process of updating its Resource Management Plan for BLM-managed lands, which includes a 116-mile stretch of the Red River on the border between Texas and Oklahoma in Wilbarger, Wichita and Clay counties, he explained.
As part of the House-approved S. 47, Thornberry’s H.R. 346 requires the BLM to use independent third-party surveyors who must be chosen in consultation with the states and American Indian tribes, which also must provide written approval for the BLM to implement the completed survey or portions of it, he said.
In turn, Texas, Oklahoma and the affected tribes then will have full veto authority to protect private property rights and ensure an accurate survey, the lawmaker said.
This is an issue Rep. Thornberry has been fighting since 2013, according to his staff. During the 115th Congress, for example, he introduced the same-named H.R. 428, which had a companion bill, S. 90, in the Senate. While the House passed H.R. 428 in February 2017, S. 90 stalled after action by the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
So on Jan. 8, Rep. Thornberry reintroduced H.R. 346, which had four cosponsors, including U.S. Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK). The Senate companion bill, S. 41, was introduced by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on the same day.