Sister bills address Red River dispute

WICHITA FALLS, Texas - Bills to resolve the border dispute between Texas landowners and the Bureau of Land Management were filed by federal lawmakers on Thursday.
Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Clarendon, introduced House Resolution 2130, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, introduced Senate Bill 1153. The Red River Private Property Protection Acts outlines specific measures to protect Texas property owners’ rights.
Those include:

• Commissioning a survey of the entire 116-mile stretch of contested area along the Red River using the gradient boundary survey method developed and backed by the Supreme Court to find the proper boundary between Texas and Oklahoma.
• Ordering that the survey be conducted by Licensed State Land Surveyors chosen by the Texas General Land Office, and the final survey must ultimately be approved by the State.
• Allowing landowners who hold the proper right, title, and/or interest in the contested area to appeal any further public domain claims by BLM through an Administrative Law Judge.
• Preventing any contested land from being included in the Resource Management Plan until the survey is complete and private land is no longer subject to an appeal.
• Requiring BLM to sell off the surface rights of the remaining publicly owned land at fair market value after the proper boundary line is located and settled. The bill also explicitly states that the interest of the states and the sovereignty rights of the federally recognized Indian tribes north of the Texas State boundary line will not be affected.

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