Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 31 / Friday, February 14, 1997 / Notices 7033

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of the Secretary

[DD–7000–DO1]

Notice of Request for Comments on

Lifting the Bar to Statutory Approval of

Alaska Native Allotment Applications

Under Section 905 of Alaska National

Interest Lands Conservation Act

(ANILCA) Following the Withdrawal of

Protests

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Interior.

ACTION: Request for comments on

proposed Secretarial decision.

SUMMARY: This Notice is published in

accordance with the authority of the

Secretary of the Interior to review a

determination of the Interior Board of

Land Appeals (IBLA) or any employee

of the Department and to render a final

decision. Two Alaska Natives have

requested the Secretary to review IBLA

decisions concerning their allotment

applications under the Alaska Native

Allotment Act. While awaiting a legal

opinion from the Solicitor, the Secretary

herein requests comments on the

implications of granting the portion of

the petition that would regard allotment

applications as approved under § 905 of

ANILCA if protests against such

applications have been withdrawn.

DATES: Submit comments by April 15,

1997. The Office of the Secretary may,

but need not, consider comments

received or postmarked after this date in

preparing the final decision.

ADDRESSES: If you wish to comment,

you may hand-deliver comments to the

Bureau of Land Management,

Administrative Record, Room 401, 1620

L Street, NW, Washington, DC; or mail

comments to the Bureau of Land

Management, Administrative Record,

Room 401LS, 1849 C Street, NW,

Washington, DC 20240. You may also

transit comments electronically, via the

Internet to WOComment@wo.blm.gov.

Please include ‘‘Attn: Secretarial

Decision’’, your name and address in

your message. If you do not receive a

confirmation from the system that we

have received your Internet message,

contact us directly at (202) 452–5030.

You will be able to review comments

at Bureau of Land Management’s

Regulatory Affairs Group office, Room

401, 1620 L Street, NW, Washington,

DC, during regular business hours (7:45

a.m. to 4:15 p.m.) Monday through

Friday.

If you wish to withhold your name or

street address, except for the city or

town, from public review or disclosure

under the Freedom of Information Act,

you must state this prominently at the

beginning of your comment. Such

requests will be honored to the extent

allowed by law. All submissions from

organizations or businesses, and from

individuals identifying themselves as

representatives or officials of

organizations or businesses, will be

made available for public inspection in

their entirety.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Sandra J. Ashton, Office of the Solicitor,

(202) 208–6526.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under 43

CFR § 4.5(a), the Secretary of the Interior

may take jurisdiction at any stage of a

matter before the IBLA or an employee

of the Department and render a final

decision in the matter reviewed. By

petition dated March 27, 1996, Edward

N. O’Leary requested that the Secretary

take jurisdiction concerning his

allotment application filed under the

Alaska Native Allotment Act, 34 Stat.

197, repealed by the Alaska Native

Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), 85

Stat. 688 (1971).

In the same petition, another

allotment applicant requested that the

Secretary review the denial of his

application based on application of the

‘‘statutory life’’ regulation of the Bureau

of Land Management (BLM). This

request is not being addressed in this

Notice but is being considered

separately.

Section 905 of the ANILCA, 43 U.S.C.

§ 1634, sets forth a statutory approval of

pending applications for Alaska Native

allotments, if certain conditions are met,

unless a timely and sufficient protest

was filed. In the O’Leary case, 132 IBLA

337 (1995), the IBLA ruled that the BLM

was required to adjudicate an allotment

application even though a protest to the

allotment application had been

withdrawn. The petition asserts that the

IBLA incorrectly interpreted § 905 in

reaching this result. The petitioner

believes that allotment applications

qualify for automatic approval under

§ 905 if and when a protest which

prevented such approval is withdrawn.

The Secretary is favorably disposed to

granting that portion of the petition

which would have § 905 approval vest

upon withdrawal of protests to

allotment applications. This action

would require the Secretary to overrule

the IBLA interpretation of § 905, which

is that allotment applications must be

adjudicated if a sufficient protest was

filed even though the protest was

subsequently withdrawn.

If the Secretary takes this action, the

withdrawal of a protest against an

allotment application will have the

effect of regarding that application as

approved under § 905.

This result would arguably fulfill the

purposes for which § 905 was enacted:

to expedite the approval of allotment

applications and to fulfill the

commitments of the 1971 ANCSA where

no countervailing interests requiring full

adjudication were presented.

The Secretary has requested that the

Solicitor review § 905 of ANILCA,

ANCSA, relevant regulations and

caselaw, and the IBLA decisions,

specifically including the decision that

first articulates IBLA’s holding, Steven

Northway, 96 IBLA 301 (1987), in order

to determine the authority of the

Secretary to pursue this course of action

and to evaluate the effects of lifting the

bar to § 905 approval of Alaska Native

Allotment Applications.

While the Solicitor conducts his

review, interested persons and

organizations may submit their legal

and factual arguments on the authority

of the Secretary to pursue this course of

action and on the effects of applying

§ 905 this way. Although comments on

any possible or potential effects will be

welcomed, comments are encouraged

concerning the effect that this

application of § 905 would have on

public access across allotments that

would be approved under this course of

action. Specific comments also are

requested on whether a Secretarial

decision along these lines should be

applied to all open Native allotment

applications, regardless of the stage of

the application, or whether it should be

limited to applications that have not

been processed beyond a certain stage;

for example, on which no contest

proceeding has been held.

Dated: February 7, 1997.

Bob Armstrong,

Assistant Secretary of the Interior.

[FR Doc. 97–3700 Filed 2–13–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–84–P

Bureau of Land Management

[ES–930–07–1320–01–241A]

Alabama: Request for Public Comment

on Fair Market Value, Maximum

Economic Recovery and the

Environmental Assessment; Coal

Lease Application ALES 47886

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of public hearing and

comment period.

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land

Management requests public comments

on the input concerning the