II

103D CONGRESS

1ST 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

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—

8 (1) certain real property, transferred to Native

9 Corporations pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims
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1 Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), has been

2 found to contain contaminants;

3 (2) real property transferred to Native Corpora4 tions pursuant to such Act may also contain con5 taminants that have not yet been detected;

6 (3) in fulfilling the remainder of entitlements

7 due to Native Corporations under such Act, addi8 tional conveyances may take place without disclo9 sures by the Federal Government; and

10 (4) the presence of contaminants on the real

11 property creates harmful economic, legal, and other

12 conditions which significantly undermine the intent

13 of such Act.

14 SEC. 3. SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS.

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

16 1601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the follow17 ing new section:

18 ‘‘SEC. 40. SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS ARISING FROM CON19 TAMINATION OF TRANSFERRED LANDS.

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

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

22 means any element, substance, compound, or mix23 ture including disease-causing agents, that after re24 lease into the environment and upon exposure, inges25 tion, inhalation, or assimilation into any organism,
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1 either directly from the environment or indirectly by

2 ingestion through food chains, will or may reason3 ably be anticipated to cause death, disease, behav4 ioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutation, physio5 logical malfunctions (including malfunctions in re6 production) or physical deformations, in such orga7 nisms or their offspring. The term shall not include

8 petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction there9 of that is not otherwise specifically listed or des10 ignated as a hazardous substance under subpara11 graphs (A) through (F) of section 101(14) of the

12 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensa13 tion, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C.

14 9601(14)) and shall not include natural gas, lique15 fied natural gas, or synthetic gas of pipeline quality

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

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

18 property transferred to a Native Corporation pursu19 ant to this Act.

20 ‘‘(b) SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS.—

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

22 being notified by a Native Corporation of contami23 nants on lands, the Secretary shall reach a settle24 ment with the Native Corporation that provides

25 for—
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1 ‘‘(A) the removal of all contaminants left

2 by the United States, an agent of the United

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

4 or

5 ‘‘(B) the replacement of the lands contain6 ing contaminants in accordance with paragraph

7 (2).

8 ‘‘(2) REPLACEMENT OF CONTAMINATED

9 LANDS.—If the settlement reached pursuant to para10 graph (1) provides for the replacement of lands con11 taining contaminants in accordance with paragraph

12 (1)(B), the Secretary shall—

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

14 contaminants from the Native Corporation; and

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

16 Native Corporation—

17 ‘‘(i) other lands, from unreserved, va18 cant, and unappropriated public lands, in

19 accordance with section 1302(h) of the

20 Alaska National Interest Lands Conserva21 tion Act (16 U.S.C. 3192(h)); or

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

23 rights available under this Act, pursuant to

24 such authority, and under such terms with
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1 respect to value and acreage, as governed

2 the original conveyance.

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

4 shall—

5 ‘‘(1) assume all past, present, and future liabil6 ities and obligations arising from the original trans7 fer of contaminated lands; and

8 ‘‘(2) defend and hold harmless Native Corpora9 tions in all claims arising from the original transfer

10 of contaminated lands.’’.

11 SEC. 4. PENDING TRANSFERS.

12 Nothing in the amendments made by this Act is in13 tended to impede or delay any transfer of lands under the

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

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

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