Union Calendar No. 451

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3612

[Report No. 103–805]

A BILL

To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement

Act, and for other purposes.

OCTOBER 3, 1994

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commitordered to be printed tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and
IB

Union Calendar No. 451

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3612

[Report No. 103–805]

To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 21, 1993

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Natural Resources

OCTOBER 3, 1994

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on November 21, 1993]

A BILL

To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, and

for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. RATIFICATION OF CERTAIN CASWELL AND

2 MONTANA CREEK NATIVE ASSOCIATIONS

3 CONVEYANCES.

4 The conveyance of approximately 11,520 acres to Mon5 tana Creek Native Association, Inc., and the conveyance of

6 approximately 11,520 acres to Caswell Native Association,

7 Inc., by Cook Inlet Region, Inc. in fulfillment of the agree8 ment of February 3, 1976, and subsequent letter agreement

9 of March 26, 1982, among the three parties are hereby

10 adopted and ratified as a matter of Federal law. These con11 veyances shall be deemed to be conveyances pursuant to sec12 tion 14(h)(2) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act

13 (43 U.S.C. 1613(h)(2)). The group corporations for Mon14 tana Creek and Caswell are hereby declared to have received

15 their full entitlement and shall not be entitled to the receipt

16 of any additional lands under the Alaska Native Claims

17 Settlement Act. The ratification of these conveyances shall

18 not have any other effect upon section 14(h) of the Alaska

19 Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1613(h)) or upon

20 the duties and obligations of the United States to any Alas21 ka Native Corporation. This ratification shall not be the

22 basis for any claim to land or money by Caswell or Mon23 tana Creek group corporations or any other Alaska Native

24 corporation against the State of Alaska, the United States,

25 or Cook Inlet Region, Incorporated.
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1 SEC. 2. MINING CLAIMS AFTER LANDS CONVEYED TO

2 ALASKA REGIONAL CORPORATION.

3 Section 22(c) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement

4 Act (43 U.S.C. 1621(c)) is amended by adding at the end

5 the following:

6 ‘‘(3) This section shall apply to lands conveyed by in7 terim conveyance or patent to a regional corporation pursu8 ant to this Act which are made subject to a mining claim

9 or claims located under the general mining laws, including

10 lands conveyed prior to enactment of this paragraph. Effec11 tive upon the date of the enactment of this paragraph, the

12 Secretary, acting through the Bureau of Land Management

13 and in a manner consistent with section 14(g) of this Act,

14 shall transfer to the regional corporation administration of

15 all mining claims determined to be entirely within lands

16 conveyed to that corporation. Any person holding such min17 ing claim or claims shall meet such requirements of the gen18 eral mining laws and section 314 of the Federal Land Man19 agement and Policy Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1744), except

20 that any filings which would have been made with the Bu21 reau of Land Management if the lands were within Federal

22 ownership shall be timely made to the appropriate regional

23 corporation. The validity of any such mining claim or

24 claims may be contested by the regional corporation, in the

25 place of the United States. All contest proceedings and ap26 peals by the mining claimants of adverse decisions made
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1 by the regional corporation shall be brought in Federal Dis2 trict Court for the District of Alaska. Neither the United

3 States nor any Federal agency or official shall be named

4 or joined as a party in such proceedings or appeals. All

5 revenues from such mining claims received after passage of

6 this paragraph shall be remitted to the regional corporation

7 subject to distribution pursuant to section 7(i) of this Act,

8 except that in the event that the mining claim or claims

9 are not totally within the lands conveyed to the regional

10 corporation, the regional corporation shall be entitled only

11 to that proportion of revenues, other than administrative

12 feeds, reasonably allocated to the portion of the mining

13 claim or claims so conveyed.’’.

14 SEC. 3. SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS ARISING FROM HAZARD15 OUS SUBSTANCE CONTAMINATION OF TRANS16 FERRED LANDS.

17 The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C.

18 1601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

19 ‘‘CLAIMS ARISING FROM CONTAMINATION OF TRANSFERRED

20 LANDS

21 ‘‘SEC. 40. (a) As used in this section:

22 ‘‘(1) The term ‘contaminant’ means substances

23 harmful to public health or the environment, includ24 ing asbestos.

25 ‘‘(2) The term ‘lands’ means real property trans26 ferred to a Native Corporation pursuant to this Act.
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1 ‘‘(b) Within 18 months of enactment of this section,

2 and after consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture,

3 State of Alaska, and appropriate Alaska Native corpora4 tions and organizations, the Secretary shall submit to the

5 Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Represent6 atives and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

7 of the Senate, a report addressing issues presented by the

8 presence of hazardous substances on lands conveyed or

9 prioritized for conveyance to such corporations pursuant to

10 this Act. Such report shall consist of—

11 ‘‘(1) existing information concerning the nature

12 and types of contaminants present on such lands

13 prior to conveyance to Alaska Native corporations;

14 ‘‘(2) existing information identifying the exist15 ence and availability of potentially responsible par16 ties for the removal or amelioration of the effects of

17 such contaminants;

18 ‘‘(3) identification of existing remedies; and

19 ‘‘(4) recommendations for any additional legisla20 tion that the Secretary concludes is necessary to rem21 edy the problem of contaminants on such lands.’’.
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1 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE

2 PURPOSES OF IMPLEMENTING REQUIRED

3 RECONVEYANCES.

4 Section 14(c) of Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act

5 (43 U.S.C. 1613(c)) is amended by adding at the end the

6 following: ‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated such

7 sums as may be necessary for the purpose of providing tech8 nical assistance to Village Corporations established pursu9 ant to this Act in order that they may fulfill the

10 reconveyance requirements of section 14(c) of this Act. The

11 Secretary may make funds available as grants to ANCSA

12 or nonprofit corporations that maintain in-house land

13 planning and management capabilities.’’.

14 SEC. 5. NATIVE ALLOTMENTS.

15 Section 1431(o) of the Alaska National Interest Lands

16 Conservation Act (94 Stat. 2542) is amended by adding at

17 the end the following:

18 ‘‘(5) Following the exercise by Arctic Slope Regional

19 Corporation of its option under paragraph (1) to acquire

20 the subsurface estate beneath lands within the National Pe21 troleum Reserve—Alaska selected by Kuukpik Corporation,

22 where such subsurface estate entirely surrounds lands sub23 ject to a Native allotment application approved under sec24 tion 905 of this Act, and the oil and gas in such lands have

25 been reserved to the United States, Arctic Slope Regional

26 Corporation, at its further option, shall be entitled to re-
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1 ceive a conveyance of the reserved oil and gas, including

2 all rights and privileges therein reserved to the United

3 States, in such lands. Upon the receipt of a conveyance of

4 such oil and gas interests, the entitlement of Arctic Slope

5 Regional Corporation to in-lieu subsurface lands under sec6 tion 12(a)(1) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act

7 (43 U.S.C. 1611(a)(1)) shall be reduced by the amount of

8 acreage determined by the Secretary to be conveyed to Arc9 tic Slope Regional Corporation pursuant to this para10 graph.’’.

11 SEC. 6. REPORT CONCERNING OPEN SEASON FOR CERTAIN

12 NATIVE ALASKAN VETERANS FOR ALLOT13 MENTS.

14 No later than six months after the date of enactment

15 of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior, in consultation

16 with the Secretary of Agriculture, the State of Alaska and

17 appropriate Native corporations and organizations, shall

18 submit to the Committee on Natural Resources of the House

19 of Representatives and the Committee on Energy and Natu20 ral Resources of the Senate, a report which shall include,

21 but not be limited to, the following:

22 (1) The number of Vietnam era veterans, as de23 fined in section 101 of title 38, United States Code,

24 who were eligible for but did not receive an allotment

25 of not to exceed 160 acres under the Act of May 17,
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1 1906 (Chapter 2469; 34 Stat. 197), as such Act was

2 in effect before December 18, 1971.

3 (2) An assessment of the potential impacts of ad4 ditional allotments on conservation system units as

5 such term is defined in section 102(4) of the Alaska

6 National Interest Lands Conservation Act (94 Stat.

7 2375).

8 (3) Recommendations for any additional legisla9 tion that the Secretary concludes is necessary.

10 SEC. 7. TRANSFER OF WRANGELL INSTITUTE.

11 (a) PROPERTY TRANSFER.—Cook Inlet Region, Incor12 porated, is authorized to transfer to the United States and

13 the General Services Administration shall accept an ap14 proximately 10-acre site of the Wrangell Institute in

15 Wrangell, Alaska, and the structures contained thereon.

16 (b) RESTORATION OF PROPERTY CREDITS.—

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—In exchange for the land and

18 structures transferred under subsection (a), property

19 bidding credits in the total amount of $382,305, shall

20 be restored to the Cook Inlet Region, Incorporated,

21 property account in the Treasury established under

22 section 12(b) of the Act of January 2, 1976 (Public

23 Law 94–204; 43 U.S.C. 1611 note), referred to in

24 such section as the ‘‘Cook Inlet Region, Incorporated,

25 property account’’. Such property bidding credits
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1 shall be used in the same fiscal year as received by

2 Cook Inlet Region, Incorporated.

3 (2) HOLD HARMLESS.—The United States shall

4 defend and hold harmless Cook Inlet Region, Incor5 porated, and its subsidiaries in any and all claims

6 arising from Federal or Cook Inlet Region, Incor7 porated, ownership of the land and structures prior to

8 their return to the United States.

9 SEC. 8. SHISHMAREF AIRPORT AMENDMENT.

10 The Shishmaref Airport, conveyed to the State of Alas11 ka on January 5, 1967, in Patent No. 1240529, is subject

12 to reversion to the United States, pursuant to the terms of

13 that patent for nonuse as an airport. The Secretary is au14 thorized to reacquire the interests originally conveyed pur15 suant to Patent No. 1240529, and, notwithstanding any

16 other provision of law, the Secretary shall immediately

17 thereafter transfer all right, title, and interest of the United

18 States in the subject lands to the Shismaref Native Corpora19 tion. Nothing in this section shall relieve the State, the

20 United States, or any other potentially responsible party

21 of liability, if any, under existing law for the clean up of

22 hazardous or solid wastes on the property, nor shall the

23 United States or Shismaref Native Corporation become lia24 ble for the clean up of the property solely by virtue of ac25 quiring title from the State or from the United States.