Forest Service Must Hand Over 0.81 Acres to Arkansas County, But County Pays All Costs and Takes Environmental Risk

This legislation mandates the Secretary of Agriculture to transfer a specific 0.81-acre parcel of Forest Service land in Perryville, Arkansas, to Perry County. The transfer is required if the county submits a written request within 180 days of the bill becoming law. While the land itself comes free of charge, the bill makes it clear that the county is responsible for footing the bill for every step of the process, including the required land survey and any necessary environmental analysis.

The Free Land That Isn't Exactly Free

For Perry County, getting nearly an acre of federal land for zero dollars sounds like a win, especially since the bill requires the land to be used only for public purposes, such as supporting education and youth development. This means the community could gain a valuable asset for a new facility without the cost of purchasing the property. However, the catch is in the fine print: Perry County must cover all costs associated with the transfer, including the survey, environmental analysis, and compliance reviews. For a busy county government, this means diverting resources and staff time to manage a complex federal land transfer process, which can quickly add up.

The Environmental Liability Hot Potato

Here’s the provision that should make local officials—and taxpayers—take notice: The bill explicitly states that the Secretary of Agriculture is not required to provide any warranty regarding environmental conditions on the property. Normally, when the federal government transfers property, it must provide assurance under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) that the land is clean, or disclose any contamination. This bill waives that requirement. Think of it like buying a used car where the seller refuses to say if the engine works or if the frame is rusted out. If the county accepts the land and later finds out it’s contaminated—say, from historical use—the county, and by extension its taxpayers, will be on the hook for the potentially massive cleanup costs. This is a significant shift of financial risk from the federal government to the local level.

Use It or Lose It: The Reversion Clause

The bill includes a strong safeguard to ensure the land benefits the public. The property must be used only for specified public purposes, like education or youth development. If the county ever stops using the land for these purposes, the Secretary of Agriculture retains the discretion to take the land back, or have it revert to U.S. ownership. This reversion clause is designed to prevent the county from later selling the land to a private developer for profit. It keeps the land locked into public use, but it also means the county’s investment in surveys, environmental cleanup (if needed), and any future construction is contingent on meeting the federal government’s definition of “public purpose” indefinitely.