§1545. Lease and sale of public property; conveyance of title in certain lands to the government of Virgin Islands

(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.

(July 22, 1954, ch. 558, §31, 68 Stat. 510 ; Pub. L. 93–435, §3, Oct. 5, 1974, 88 Stat. 1211 ; Pub. L. 96–205, title IV, §401(a), Mar. 12, 1980, 94 Stat. 88 .)

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 L. 93–435, Oct. 5, 1974, 88 Stat. 1210 , which enacted sections 1705 to 1708 of this title, amended this section, and repealed sections 1701 to 1703 of this title.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 Territory

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