```

[Senate Report 115-393]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                     Calendar No. 679
115th Congress     }                          {              Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session        }                          {               115-393

======================================================================

 
TO AMEND THE ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT TO REPEAL A PROVISION 
LIMITING THE EXPORT OF TIMBER HARVESTED FROM LAND CONVEYED TO THE KAKE 
                   TRIBAL CORPORATION UNDER THAT ACT

                                _______
                                

               November 28, 2018.--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. 1149]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 
referred the bill (S. 1149) to amend the Alaska Native Claims 
Settlement Act to repeal a provision limiting the export of 
timber harvested from land conveyed to the Kake Tribal 
Corporation under that Act, having considered the same, reports 
favorably thereon without amendment and recommends that the 
bill do pass.

                                Purpose

    The purpose of S. 1149 is to amend the Alaska Native Claims 
Settlement Act (ANCSA) to repeal a provision (43 U.S.C. 1629h) 
limiting the export of timber harvested from land conveyed to 
the Kake Tribal Corporation (KTC) under that Act.

                          Background and Need

    In 2000, Congress enacted Public Law 106-283, the Kake 
Tribal Corporation Land Transfer Act, in an effort to prevent 
timber harvesting in the Gunnuk Creek watershed near the native 
village of Kake, Alaska. The Gunnuk Creek watershed is the 
potable water source for the village.
    Under the terms of the land exchange, KTC conveyed 1,430 
acres of surface and subsurface estate in the Gunnuk Creek 
watershed to the City of Kake, but retained 1,127 acres of its 
watershed land. Both the land conveyed to the City of Kake and 
the land retained by KTC were encumbered by a conservation 
easement to protect the watershed. In return for the conveyed 
lands, KTC acquired 1,389 acres of timberlands in the nearby 
Jenny Creek area, which is outside of the protected watershed.
    Although the legislation did not require the values of the 
lands subject to exchange be equal, the parties attempted to 
informally equalize the value of the land exchange. To 
facilitate this, Sealaska, the southeast regional native 
corporation established under the Alaska Native Claims 
Settlement Act (ANCSA), and the State of Alaska exchanged lands 
among themselves and the U.S. Forest Service. The exchanged 
land included 1,127 acres of Sealaska lands that were deeded to 
the Southeast Alaska Lands Trust to aid in the protection of 
the town's watershed, and 694.5 acres from the State of Alaska 
to the City of Kake for the purpose of municipal expansion.
    The House Committee report accompanying the legislation 
noted that KTC would be compensated with a $15 million payment 
from the Forest Service to equalize the value of the exchange. 
An appraisal conducted in 2000 for the purpose of determining 
the approximate value of the timber if the timber was sold in 
export markets, estimated that the value of the Gunnuk Creek 
watershed's timber was worth approximately $32 million while 
the value of the timber at Jenny Creek--land at Saginaw and 
Hamilton Bay on Kuiu Island--was estimated to be worth $14.4 
million (H. Rept. 106-489). By contrast, private appraisals 
estimated the domestic market value of that timber in 2000 to 
be approximately $7.4 million.
    A provision was included in Public Law 106-283 that 
prohibited the sale of the timber from the Jenny Creek lands in 
export markets. This effectively required that the timber be 
sold only in Alaska or to West Coast mills for domestic 
processing. This had the effect of lowering the sales value, 
yet increasing timber availability for the mills.
    Also impacting the value of the exchange to KTC, Congress 
did not begin appropriating the $15 million payment until 2005 
because the authorization of appropriations in the legislation 
prohibited appropriations being made until KTC entered into a 
series of conservation easements. By 2009, Congress had 
appropriated just under $13 million of the total compensation. 
From 2000 to 2009, timber prices decreased. The Forest Service 
contends that since the value of the timber in the Gunnuk Creek 
watershed has declined, the remaining $2.1 million of the $15 
million in compensation is no longer necessary to equalize the 
values of the land exchange.
    KTC has argued over the past decade that the remaining $2.1 
million in still owed from the original appropriation. For 
several years, KTC has been seeking to repeal the timber export 
prohibition to allow the corporation to sell Jenny Creek timber 
for export, potentially raising its value and helping to offset 
the compensation deficit it faced with the original 2000 land 
exchange.
    S. 1149 strikes the provision in Public Law 106-283 
prohibiting KTC from exporting timber, thus allowing the 
corporation to sell its timber as it chooses, the same right 
held by all other Alaska Native corporations that gained lands 
under terms of ANCSA.

                          Legislative History

    S. 1149 was introduced by Senator Murkowski on May 17, 
2017. The Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining 
held a hearing on S. 1149 on July 26, 2017.
    The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources met in 
open business on October 2, 2018, and ordered S. 1149 favorably 
reported.

                        Committee Recommendation

    The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in 
open business session on October 2, 2018, by a majority voice 
vote of a quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 
1149.

                      Section-by-Section Analysis

Section. 1. Repeal of provision limiting the export of timber harvested 
        from certain Kake Tribal Corporation land

    Section 1 repeals section 42 of ANCSA to remove the 
prohibition on the exportation of timber harvested from KTC 
lands.

                   Cost and Budgetary Considerations

    The following estimate of the costs of this measure has 
been provided by the Congressional Budget Office:
    S. 1149 would amend the Kake Tribal Corporation Land 
Transfer Act to repeal a timber export prohibition on almost 
1,400 acres of land that was conveyed to the Kake Tribal 
Corporation in 2001.
    Because the prohibition that would be repealed under S. 
1149 only applies to timber controlled by the native 
corporation, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would not 
affect federal spending.
    Enacting S. 1149 would not affect direct spending or 
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply.
    CBO estimates that enacting S.1149 would not increase net 
direct spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four 
consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029.
    S. 1149 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.
    The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Robert Reese. 
The estimate was reviewed 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. 1149. The bill is not a regulatory measure in 
the sense of imposing Government-established standards or 
significant economic responsibilities on private individuals 
and businesses.
    No personal information would be collected in administering 
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal 
privacy.
    Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the 
enactment of S. 1149, as ordered reported.

                   Congressionally Directed Spending

    S. 1149, 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

    The testimony provided by the Department of Agriculture at 
the July 26, 2017, hearing on S. 1149 follows:

Statement for the Record, U.S. Forest Service, United States Department 
                             of Agriculture

    Chairman Lee, Ranking Member Wyden, members of the 
Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to present the 
views of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regarding S. 
1149--the Kake Tribal Corporation Export Restriction Act.
    S. 1149 would repeal a timber export prohibition that was 
enacted in 2000 as part of the Kake Tribal Corporation Land 
Transfer Act (Public Law 106-283, October 6, 2000, 114 Stat. 
867) (Kake Act). The Kake Act reallocated lands and land 
selection rights among the State of Alaska, Kake Tribal 
Corporation, and the City of Kake. The Kake Act also involved 
conveyance of 1,389 acres of federal lands to Kake Tribal 
Corporation and Sealaska Corporation. Conveyance of land 
interests was completed in 2001 and Forest Service considers 
the Kake Act to be fully implemented. The Forest Service does 
not have a role in Kake Tribal Corporation's timber sale 
activities and therefore has no position on the bill.
    Thank you again for the opportunity to provide this 
statement for the record.

                        Changes in Existing Law

    In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the 
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by 
the original bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing 
law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new 
matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is 
proposed is shown in roman):

                  ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT

Public Law 92-203, as amended

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

KAKE TRIBAL CORPORATION LAND TRANSFER

           *       *       *       *       *       *       *

    Sec. 42. (a) In General.--If--
    [(h) Timber Manufacturing; Export Restriction.--
Nothwithstanding any other provision of law, timber harvested 
from lands conveyed to Kake Tribal Corporation under this 
section shall not be available for export as unprocessed logs 
from Alaska, nor may Kake Tribal Corporation sell, trade, 
exchange, substitute, or otherwise convey such timber to any 
person for the purpose of exporting that timber from the State 
of Alaska.]
    [(i)] (h) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are 
authorized such sums as may be necessary to carry out this 
chapter, including to compensate Kake Tribal Corporation for 
relinquishing its development rights pursuant to subsection 
(g)(2) [and to provide assistance to Kake Tribal Corporation to 
meet the requirements of subsection (h)]. No funds authorized 
under this section may be paid to Kake Tribal Corporation 
unless Kake Tribal Corporation is a party to the conservation 
easements described in subsection (g).

                                  [all]
```