§1545 — Title 48 Territories and Insular Possessions | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior can lease or sell U.S. property he manages in the Virgin Islands if the land is not needed for public use. He may set the sale or lease terms he thinks are best for the United States. Any U.S. ownership put under the Virgin Islands government by section 1405c(a) is transferred to that government unless the Secretary reserved it within 120 days after October 5, 1974. Land that was part of the National Park System on October 5, 1974 stays with the United States. Also, except for valid existing rights, property the United States got from Denmark under the August 16, 1916 convention is transferred to the Virgin Islands unless it was reserved or kept under Public Law 93–435 (88 Stat. 1210).

Title 48, §1545

Territories and Insular Possessions — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Secretary of the Interior shall be authorized to lease or to sell upon such terms as he may deem advantageous to the Government of the United States any property of the United States under his administrative supervision in the Virgin Islands not needed for public purposes.

(b)(1)All right, title, and interest of the United States in the property placed under the control of the government of the Virgin Islands by section 1405c(a) of this title, not reserved to the United States by the Secretary of the Interior within one hundred and twenty days after October 5, 1974, is hereby conveyed to such government. The conveyance effected by the preceding sentence shall not apply to that land and other property which on October 5, 1974, is administered by the Secretary of the Interior as part of the National Park System and such lands and other property shall be retained by the United States.

(2)Subject to valid existing rights, title to all property in the Virgin Islands which may have been acquired by the United States from Denmark under the Convention entered into August 16, 1916, not reserved or retained by the United States in accordance with the provisions of Public Law 93–435 (88 Stat. 1210) is hereby transferred to the Virgin Islands government.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Public Law 93–435 (88 Stat. 1210), referred to in subsec. (b)(2), is Pub. L. 93–435, Oct. 5, 1974, 88 Stat. 1210, which enacted sections 1705 to 1708 of this title, amended this section, and repealed sections 1701 to 1703 of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Tables.

Amendments

1980—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 96–205 designated existing provisions as par. (1) and added par. (2). 1974—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 93–435 substituted provisions conveying to the government of Virgin Islands title in lands now under its control with power to the Secretary of the Interior to reserve rights to the United States within 120 days after Oct. 5, 1974, with the exception of land and property being administered by the Secretary of the Interior as part of the National Park System, for provisions that the government of Virgin Islands shall continue to have control over all public property under its control on July 22, 1954.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Submerged Lands, Conveyance to TerritoryConveyance of submerged lands to the government of the Virgin Islands, see section 1701 et seq. of this title.

§1545 Lease and Sale of Public Property; Conveyance of Title in Certain Lands to the Government of Virgin Islands