43 U.S.C. § 155 — Withdrawal, reservation, or restriction of public lands for defense purposes; “public lands” defined; exception

submitted 68 years ago by Pub. L. 85-337 to r/title-43-PUBLIC-LANDS · 311 words · no verdicts yet

in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

The Department of Defense can withdraw and use public lands for defense purposes, following this law, starting February 28, 1958. This applies to lands in the states, Alaska, and Hawaii, plus offshore federal waters, but not during wartime or a declared national emergency. Certain naval reserves, older military withdrawals, and two specific California and Nevada sites are excluded.

Starting February 28, 1958, and despite any other law, this section governs how the Department of Defense withdraws, reserves, restricts, and uses U.S. public lands for defense purposes. This includes public lands in the Territories of Alaska and Hawaii. It does not apply during a declared war or national emergency; those situations are handled differently. Four provisos limit this section: (1) "Public lands" also includes federal lands and waters of the Outer Continental Shelf, as defined in section 1331, and federal lands and waters off the coasts of Alaska and Hawaii. (2) This law does not apply to withdrawing or reserving public lands specifically as naval petroleum, naval oil shale, or naval coal reserves. (3) This law does not apply to "warning areas" over the Outer Continental Shelf or over Alaska's coastal waters that the military reserved before August 7, 1953. (4) Neither this section, nor sections 156 or 157, applies to: military reservations or withdrawals that expired when the unlimited national emergency of May 27, 1941 ended, but that the military has kept using since then with the Interior Department's agreement; or the withdrawal of public land for the Marine Corps Training Center at Twentynine Palms, California, and the naval gunnery ranges in Nevada known as Basic Black Rock and Basic Sahwave Mountain.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, except in time of war or national emergency hereafter declared by the President or the Congress, on and after February 28, 1958 the provisions hereof shall apply to the withdrawal and reservation for, restriction of, and utilization by, the Department of Defense for defense purposes of the public lands of the United States, including public lands in the Territories of Alaska and Hawaii: Provided, That—

(1)

for the purposes of this Act, the term “public lands” shall be deemed to include, without limiting the meaning thereof, Federal lands and waters of the Outer Continental Shelf, as defined in section 1331 of this title, and Federal lands and waters off the coast of the Territories of Alaska and Hawaii;

(2)

nothing in this Act shall be deemed to be applicable to the withdrawal or reservation of public lands specifically as naval petroleum, naval oil shale, or naval coal reserves;

(3)

nothing in this Act shall be deemed to be applicable to the warning areas over the Federal lands and waters of the Outer Continental Shelf and Federal lands and waters off the coast of the Territory of Alaska reserved for use of the military departments prior to August 7, 1953, and

(4)

nothing in this section, section 156, or section 157 of this title shall be deemed to be applicable either to those reservations or withdrawals which expired due to the ending of the unlimited national emergency of May 27, 1941, and which subsequent to such expiration have been and are now used by the military departments with the concurrence of the Department of the Interior, or to the withdrawal of public domain lands of the Marine Corps Training Center, Twentynine Palms, California, and the naval gunnery ranges in the State of Nevada designated as Basic Black Rock and Basic Sahwave Mountain.

Source credit: (Pub. L. 85–337, § 1, Feb. 28, 1958, 72 Stat. 27.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1958Enacted · Pub. L. 85-337 · 72 Stat. 27

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 85-337 on 1958-02-28.

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