Union Calendar No. 38

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 402

[Report No. 104–73]

A BILL

To amend the Alaska Native Claims Settlement

Act, and for other purposes.

MARCH 9, 1995

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the

State of the Union and ordered to be printed
IB

Union Calendar No. 38

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 402

[Report No. 104–73]

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

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 4, 1995

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

Committee on Resources

MARCH 9, 1995

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union

and ordered to be printed

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

5 Montana Creek Native Association, Inc., and the convey6 ance of approximately 11,520 acres to Caswell Native As7 sociation, Inc., by Cook Inlet Region, Inc. in fulfillment

8 of the agreement of February 3, 1976, and subsequent

9 letter agreement of March 26, 1982, among the three par10 ties are hereby adopted and ratified as a matter of Federal

11 law. These conveyances shall be deemed to be conveyances

12 pursuant to section 14(h)(2) of the Alaska Native Claims

13 Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1613(h)(2)). The group cor14 porations for Montana Creek and Caswell are hereby de15 clared to have received their full entitlement and shall not

16 be entitled to the receipt of any additional lands under

17 the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The ratification

18 of these conveyances shall not have any other effect upon

19 section 14(h) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act

20 (43 U.S.C. 1613(h)) or upon the duties and obligations

21 of the United States to any Alaska Native Corporation.

22 This ratification shall not be the basis for any claim to

23 land or money by Caswell or Montana Creek group cor24 porations or any other Alaska Native Corporation against

25 the State of Alaska, the United States, or Cook Inlet Re26 gion, 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 pur8 suant 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. Ef11 fective upon the date of the enactment of this paragraph,

12 the Secretary, acting through the Bureau of Land Man13 agement and in a manner consistent with section 14(g)

14 of this Act, shall transfer to the regional corporation ad15 ministration of all mining claims determined to be entirely

16 within lands conveyed to that corporation. Any person

17 holding such mining claim or claims shall meet such re18 quirements of the general mining laws and section 314

19 of the Federal Land Management and Policy Act of 1976

20 (43 U.S.C. 1744), except that any filings which would

21 have been made with the Bureau of Land Management

22 if the lands were within Federal ownership shall be timely

23 made to the appropriate regional corporation. The validity

24 of any such mining claim or claims may be contested by

25 the regional corporation, in the place of the United States.

26 All contest proceedings and appeals by the mining claim-
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1 ants of adverse decisions made by the regional corporation

2 shall be brought in Federal District Court for the District

3 of Alaska. Neither the United States nor any Federal

4 agency or official shall be named or joined as a party in

5 such proceedings or appeals. All revenues from such min6 ing claims received after passage of this paragraph shall

7 be remitted to the regional corporation subject to distribu8 tion pursuant to section 7(i) of this Act, except that in

9 the event that the mining claim or claims are not totally

10 within the lands conveyed to the regional corporation, the

11 regional corporation shall be entitled only to that propor12 tion of revenues, other than administrative fees, reason13 ably allocated to the portion of the mining claim or claims

14 so conveyed.’’.

15 SEC. 3. SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS ARISING FROM HAZARD16 OUS SUBSTANCE CONTAMINATION OF TRANS17 FERRED LANDS.

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

19 1601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the follow20 ing:

21 ‘‘CLAIMS ARISING FROM CONTAMINATION OF

22 TRANSFERRED LANDS

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

24 ‘‘(1) The term ‘contaminant’ means hazardous

25 substances harmful to public health or the environ26 ment, including asbestos.
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1 ‘‘(2) The term ‘lands’ means real property

2 transferred to an Alaska Native Corporation pursu3 ant to this Act.

4 ‘‘(b) Within 18 months of enactment of this section,

5 and after consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture,

6 State of Alaska, and appropriate Alaska Native corpora7 tions and organizations, the Secretary shall submit to the

8 Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives

9 and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of

10 the Senate, a report addressing issues presented by the

11 presence of hazardous substances on lands conveyed or

12 prioritized for conveyance to such corporations pursuant

13 to this Act. Such report shall consist of—

14 ‘‘(1) existing information concerning the nature

15 and types of contaminants present on such lands

16 prior to conveyance to Alaska Native corporations;

17 ‘‘(2) existing information identifying the exist18 ence and availability of potentially responsible par19 ties for the removal or amelioration of the effects of

20 such contaminants;

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

22 ‘‘(4) recommendations for any additional legis23 lation that the Secretary concludes is necessary to

24 remedy the problem of contaminants on such

25 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:

7 ‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as may

8 be necessary for the purpose of providing technical assist9 ance to Village Corporations established pursuant to this

10 Act in order that they may fulfill the reconveyance require11 ments of section 14(c) of this Act. The Secretary may

12 make funds available as grants to ANCSA or nonprofit

13 corporations that maintain in-house land planning and

14 management capabilities.’’.

15 SEC. 5. NATIVE ALLOTMENTS.

16 Section 1431(o) of the Alaska National Interest

17 Lands Conservation Act (94 Stat. 2542) is amended by

18 adding at the end the following:

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

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

21 the subsurface estate beneath lands within the National

22 Petroleum Reserve—Alaska selected by Kuukpik Corpora23 tion, where such subsurface estate entirely surrounds

24 lands subject to a Native allotment application approved

25 under section 905 of this Act, and the oil and gas in such

26 lands have been reserved to the United States, Arctic
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1 Slope Regional Corporation, at its further option, shall be

2 entitled to receive a conveyance of the reserved oil and

3 gas, including all rights and privileges therein reserved to

4 the United States, in such lands. Upon the receipt of a

5 conveyance of such oil and gas interests, the entitlement

6 of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation to in-lieu subsurface

7 lands under section 12(a)(1) of the Alaska Native Claims

8 Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1611(a)(1)) shall be reduced

9 by the amount of acreage determined by the Secretary to

10 be conveyed to Arctic Slope Regional Corporation pursu11 ant to this paragraph.’’.

12 SEC. 6. REPORT CONCERNING OPEN SEASON FOR CERTAIN

13 NATIVE ALASKAN VETERANS FOR ALLOT14 MENTS.

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—No later than six months after the

16 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Inte17 rior, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, the

18 State of Alaska and appropriate Native corporations and

19 organizations, shall submit to the Committee on Resources

20 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on

21 Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate, a report

22 which shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

23 (1) The number of Vietnam era veterans, as de24 fined in section 101 of title 38, United States Code,

25 who were eligible for but did not apply for an allot-
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1 ment of not to exceed 160 acres under the Act of

2 May 17, 1906 (Chapter 2469; 34 Stat. 197), as

3 such Act was in effect before December 18, 1971;

4 (2) an assessment of the potential impacts of

5 additional allotments on conservation system units

6 as such term is defined in section 102(4) of the

7 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act

8 (94 Stat. 2375); and

9 (3) recommendations for any additional legisla10 tion that the Secretary concludes is necessary.

11 (b) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of Veterans Af12 fairs shall release to the Secretary of the Interior informa13 tion relevant to the report required under subsection (a).

14 SEC. 7. TRANSFER OF WRANGELL INSTITUTE.

15 (a) PROPERTY TRANSFER.—Cook Inlet Region, In16 corporated, is authorized to transfer to the United States

17 and the General Services Administration shall accept an

18 approximately 10-acre site of the Wrangell Institute in

19 Wrangell, Alaska, and the structures contained thereon.

20 (b) RESTORATION OF PROPERTY CREDITS.—

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

22 and structures transferred under subsection (a),

23 property bidding credits in the total amount of

24 $382,305, shall be restored to the Cook Inlet Re25 gion, Incorporated, property account in the Treasury
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1 established under section 12(b) of the Act of Janu2 ary 2, 1976 (Public Law 94–204; 43 U.S.C. 1611

3 note), referred to in such section as the ‘‘Cook Inlet

4 Region, Incorporated, property account’’. Such prop5 erty bidding credits shall be used in the same fiscal

6 year as received by Cook Inlet Region, Incorporated.

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

8 defend and hold harmless Cook Inlet Region, Incor9 porated, and its subsidiaries in any and all claims

10 arising from Federal or Cook Inlet Region, Incor11 porated, ownership of the land and structures prior

12 to their return to the United States.

13 SEC. 8. SHISHMAREF AIRPORT AMENDMENT.

14 The Shishmaref Airport, conveyed to the State of

15 Alaska on January 5, 1967, in Patent No. 1240529, is

16 subject to reversion to the United States, pursuant to the

17 terms of that patent for nonuse as an airport. The Sec18 retary is authorized to reacquire the interests originally

19 conveyed pursuant to Patent No. 1240529, and, notwith20 standing any other provision of law, the Secretary shall

21 immediately thereafter transfer all right, title, and interest

22 of the United States in the subject lands to the

23 Shishmaref Native Corporation. Nothing in this section

24 shall relieve the State, the United States, or any other

25 potentially responsible party of liability, if any, under ex-
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1 isting law for the clean up of hazardous or solid wastes

2 on the property, nor shall the United States or Shishmaref

3 Native Corporation become liable for the cleanup of the

4 property solely by virtue of acquiring title from the State

5 or from the United States.