II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1686

To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to settle claims arising

from the contamination of transferred lands, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

NOVEMBER 19 (legislative day, NOVEMBER 2), 1993

Mr. MURKOWSKI introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs

SEPTEMBER 21 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 12), 1994

Committee discharged; referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural

Resources

A BILL

To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to settle

claims arising from the contamination of transferred

lands, 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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘ANCSA Land Transfer

5 Equity Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) certain real property, transferred to Native

2 Corporations pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims

3 Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), has been

4 found to contain contaminants;

5 (2) real property transferred to Native Corpora6 tions pursuant to such Act may also contain con7 taminants that have not yet been detected;

8 (3) in fulfilling the remainder of entitlements

9 due to Native Corporations under such Act, addi10 tional conveyances may take place without disclo11 sures by the Federal Government; and

12 (4) the presence of contaminants on the real

13 property creates harmful economic, legal, and other

14 conditions which significantly undermine the intent

15 of such Act.

16 SEC. 3. SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS.

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

18 1601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the follow19 ing new section:

20 ‘‘SEC. 40. SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS ARISING FROM CON21 TAMINATION OF TRANSFERRED LANDS.

22 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section:

23 ‘‘(1) CONTAMINANT.—The term ‘contaminant’

24 means any element, substance, compound, or mix25 ture including disease-causing agents, that after re-
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1 lease into the environment and upon exposure, inges2 tion, inhalation, or assimilation into any organism,

3 either directly from the environment or indirectly by

4 ingestion through food chains, will or may reason5 ably be anticipated to cause death, disease, behav6 ioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutation, physio7 logical malfunctions (including malfunctions in re8 production) or physical deformations, in such orga9 nisms or their offspring. The term shall not include

10 petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction there11 of that is not otherwise specifically listed or des12 ignated as a hazardous substance under subpara13 graphs (A) through (F) of section 101(14) of the

14 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensa15 tion, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C.

16 9601(14)) and shall not include natural gas, lique17 fied natural gas, or synthetic gas of pipeline quality

18 (or mixtures of natural gas and such synthetic gas).

19 ‘‘(2) LANDS.—The term ‘lands’ means real

20 property transferred to a Native Corporation pursu21 ant to this Act.

22 ‘‘(b) SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS.—

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after

24 being notified by a Native Corporation of contami25 nants on lands, the Secretary shall reach a settle-
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1 ment with the Native Corporation that provides

2 for—

3 ‘‘(A) the removal of all contaminants left

4 by the United States, an agent of the United

5 States, or a lessee, from the transferred lands;

6 or

7 ‘‘(B) the replacement of the lands contain8 ing contaminants in accordance with paragraph

9 (2).

10 ‘‘(2) REPLACEMENT OF CONTAMINATED

11 LANDS.—If the settlement reached pursuant to para12 graph (1) provides for the replacement of lands con13 taining contaminants in accordance with paragraph

14 (1)(B), the Secretary shall—

15 ‘‘(A) accept title to the lands containing

16 contaminants from the Native Corporation; and

17 ‘‘(B) replace the lands by conveying to the

18 Native Corporation—

19 ‘‘(i) other lands, from unreserved, va20 cant, and unappropriated public lands, in

21 accordance with section 1302(h) of the

22 Alaska National Interest Lands Conserva23 tion Act (16 U.S.C. 3192(h)); or

24 ‘‘(ii) other lands, interests in lands, or

25 rights available under this Act, pursuant to
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1 such authority, and under such terms with

2 respect to value and acreage, as governed

3 the original conveyance.

4 ‘‘(c) ASSUMPTION OF LIABILITY.—The United States

5 shall—

6 ‘‘(1) assume all past, present, and future liabil7 ities and obligations arising from the original trans8 fer of contaminated lands; and

9 ‘‘(2) defend and hold harmless Native Corpora10 tions in all claims arising from the original transfer

11 of contaminated lands.’’.

12 SEC. 4. PENDING TRANSFERS.

13 Nothing in the amendments made by this Act is in14 tended to impede or delay any transfer of lands under the

15 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et

16 seq.) that is pending on the date of enactment of this Act.

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