69–010 

Calendar No. 128 

115TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 1st Session 115–98 

TO PROVIDE FOR THE CORRECTION OF A SURVEY OF 

CERTAIN LAND IN THE STATE OF ALASKA 

JUNE 8, 2017.—Ordered to be printed 

Ms. MURKOWSKI, from the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 267] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 

referred the bill (S. 267) to provide for the correction of a survey 

of certain land in the State of Alaska, having considered the same, 

reports favorably thereon without amendment and recommends 

that the bill do pass. 

PURPOSE

The purpose of S. 267 is to provide for the correction of a survey 

of certain Federal land within the boundaries of the Swan Lake 

Hydroelectric Project in the State of Alaska. 

BACKGROUND AND NEED

The Swan Lake Hydroelectric project (Project No. 2911) originally consisted of a 174-foot high, 430-foot long dam on Swan Lake, 

located 22 air miles northeast of Ketchikan, Alaska. The project included a 2,200-foot power tunnel and was able to produce 22 

megawatts of electricity for the City of Ketchikan and surrounding 

areas. It was funded by the State of Alaska in 1980 and completed 

and placed in service in June 1984. 

In the 1980s, the State of Alaska sought to select for transfer to 

the State pursuant to the Alaska Statehood Act (Public Law 85– 

508) all of the land underneath the existing reservoir and the lands 

that would be flooded by a future expansion of the reservoir, in the 

event that the height of the dam was ever raised. A 15-foot inVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:12 Jun 09, 2017 Jkt 069010 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\SR098.XXX SR098
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crease in height was anticipated in the second phase of the project, 

which guided the October 20, 1994, state land selection (tentative 

approval AA–71620). In 1997, 1,500-acres of land inside the 

Tongass National Forest were conveyed to the State of Alaska to 

cover the project’s existing and anticipated future reservoir size, 

enough land to cover a reservoir to 350 feet elevation (345-feet required, plus a 5-foot margin for excess rain and wind driven wave 

action on the mountain lake). The conveyance was the result of a 

National Forest Community Grant selection (application AA– 

71620) pursuant to section 6(a) of the Alaska Statehood Act of July 

7, 1958, (Public Law 85–508). The lands were conveyed (Patent No. 

50–97–0286) based on U.S. Survey 11630, filed on May 9, 1997. 

That survey found that the dam with a raised height would cause 

the reservoir to rise to an elevation of about 345-feet above sea 

level, instead of the original 330-feet. 

Since the original conveyance, the State sold the project to the 

Alaska Four Dam Pool agency in 2002. That agency subsequently 

sold the dam to the Southeast Alaska Power Authority (SEAPA) in 

2009. In anticipation of beginning work to raise the height of the 

dam by 15 feet to store 25 percent more water and thus increase 

electrical output from the project, the agency sought a confirmatory 

land survey in 2012. It found that the original survey was in error 

in one location. The dam receives runoff from four separate tributaries. In three of the four a small increase in surface elevation did 

not affect land inundation. However, in the fourth tributary, the 

Lost Creek area, on the northeast end of the reservoir, the 350-foot 

elevation contour was improperly drawn. As a result, a higher dam 

is likely to inundate up to an additional 25.8 acres of lands, flooding the 0.8 mile of the creek with additional water at different 

hydrological conditions. 

S. 267 is being sought by SEAPA and the State of Alaska to 

guarantee the transfer of all lands from federal to state ownership 

that will make up the project’s exterior boundary. The State has 

asked that the acreage be subtracted from the nearly 5.2 million 

acres that the State is still seeking to select under terms of the 

Alaska Statehood Act. 

Construction began in 2016 on the dam height increase and is 

nearing completion. The additional dam height should allow 

enough hydroelectric power to offset up to 12,000 megawatts of diesel generation annually. 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

Senators Sullivan and Murkowski introduced S. 267 on February 

1, 2017. 

Companion legislation, H.R. 219, was introduced in the House of 

Representatives by Representative Young on February 10, 2017. 

In the 114th Congress, the measure was included in Amendment 

No. 3310, which the Senate agreed to on April 19, 2016, as an 

amendment to S. 2012 the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 

2016, which the Senate passed, as amended, on April 20, 2016. 

In the House of Representatives, Representative Young introduced a similar measure, H.R. 5402, on June 7, 2016. 

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources met in open 

business session on March 30, 2017, and ordered S. 267 favorably 

reported. 

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COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in 

open business session on March 30, 2017, by a majority voice vote 

of a quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 267. 

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1 provides that within 18 months of enactment, the Secretary of the Interior, after consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, shall survey the exterior boundaries of the tract underlying 

the Swan Lake project’s northeast expansion area—labeled as the 

‘‘Lost Creek’’ area—and issue a patent to the State of Alaska for 

the tract identified as needed to cover the reservoir of the Swan 

Lake project boundary. It requires that the land count against the 

State’s final conveyance under section 6(a) of the Alaska Statehood 

Act of July 7, 1958 (Public Law 85–508) and that the conveyance 

meet the terms of section 24 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 

818). 

COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

The following estimate of the costs of this measure has been provided by the Congressional Budget Office: 

S. 267—To provide for the correction of a survey of certain land in 

the State of Alaska 

S. 267 would direct the Department of the Interior to conduct a 

survey of a 26-acre parcel of land within the boundary of the Swan 

Lake Hydroelectric Project in Alaska. The bill also would require 

the federal government to convey the parcel, which is currently 

under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Forest Service, to the state of 

Alaska. Based on an analysis of information provided by the affected agencies, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would 

have no significant effect on the federal budget. The parcel is not 

currently generating any receipts for the Forest Service and it is 

not expected to do so in the future. 

Enacting S. 267 would not affect direct spending or revenues; 

therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates 

that enacting the legislation would not increase net direct spending 

or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods 

beginning in 2028. 

S. 267 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates 

as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jeff LaFave. The estimate was approved by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis. 

REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION

In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following evaluation 

of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in carrying out 

S. 267. 

The bill is not a regulatory measure in the sense of imposing 

Government-established standards or significant economic responsibilities on private individuals and businesses. 

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No personal information would be collected in administering the 

provision. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal privacy. 

Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the enactment of S. 267, as ordered reported. 

CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

S. 267, as ordered reported, does not contain any congressionally 

directed spending items, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in rule XLIV of the Standing Rules of the Senate. 

EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

Executive Communications were not requested by the Committee 

on Energy and Natural Resources in the 115th Congress. 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no changes in existing law are made by the bill as ordered reported. 

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