I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 402

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

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,

3 SECTION 1. RATIFICATION OF CERTAIN CASWELL AND

4 MONTANA CREEK NATIVE ASSOCIATIONS

5 CONVEYANCES.

6 The conveyance of approximately 11,520 acres to

7 Montana Creek Native Association, Inc., and the convey8 ance of approximately 11,520 acres to Caswell Native As9 sociation, Inc., by Cook Inlet Region, Inc. in fulfillment

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

11 letter agreement of March 26, 1982, among the three par-
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1 ties are hereby adopted and ratified as a matter of Federal

2 law. These conveyances shall be deemed to be conveyances

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

4 Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1613(h)(2)). The group cor5 porations for Montana Creek and Caswell are hereby de6 clared to have received their full entitlement and shall not

7 be entitled to the receipt of any additional lands under

8 the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The ratification

9 of these conveyances shall not have any other effect upon

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

11 (43 U.S.C. 1613(h)) or upon the duties and obligations

12 of the United States to any Alaska Native Corporation.

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

14 land or money by Caswell or Montana Creek group cor15 porations or any other Alaska Native Corporation against

16 the State of Alaska, the United States, or Cook Inlet Re17 gion, Incorporated.

18 SEC. 2. MINING CLAIMS AFTER LANDS CONVEYED TO ALAS19 KA REGIONAL CORPORATION.

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

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

22 the following:

23 ‘‘(3) This section shall apply to lands conveyed by in24 terim conveyance or patent to a regional corporation pur25 suant to this Act which are made subject to a mining claim
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1 or claims located under the general mining laws, including

2 lands conveyed prior to enactment of this paragraph. Ef3 fective upon the date of the enactment of this paragraph,

4 the Secretary, acting through the Bureau of Land Man5 agement and in a manner consistent with section 14(g)

6 of this Act, shall transfer to the regional corporation ad7 ministration of all mining claims determined to be entirely

8 within lands conveyed to that corporation. Any person

9 holding such mining claim or claims shall meet such re10 quirements of the general mining laws and section 314

11 of the Federal Land Management and Policy Act of 1976

12 (43 U.S.C. 1744), except that any filings which would

13 have been made with the Bureau of Land Management

14 if the lands were within Federal ownership shall be timely

15 made to the appropriate regional corporation. The validity

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

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

18 All contest proceedings and appeals by the mining claim19 ants of adverse decisions made by the regional corporation

20 shall be brought in Federal District Court for the District

21 of Alaska. Neither the United States nor any Federal

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

23 such proceedings or appeals. All revenues from such min24 ing claims received after passage of this paragraph shall

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

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

3 within the lands conveyed to the regional corporation, the

4 regional corporation shall be entitled only to that propor5 tion of revenues, other than administrative fees, reason6 ably allocated to the portion of the mining claim or claims

7 so conveyed.’’.

8 SEC. 3. SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS ARISING FROM HAZARD9 OUS SUBSTANCE CONTAMINATION OF TRANS10 FERRED LANDS.

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

12 1601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the follow13 ing:

14 ‘‘CLAIMS ARISING FROM CONTAMINATION OF

15 TRANSFERRED LANDS

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

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

18 substances harmful to public health or the environ19 ment, including asbestos.

20 ‘‘(2) The term ‘lands’ means real property

21 transferred to an Alaska Native Corporation pursu22 ant to this Act.

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

24 and after consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture,

25 State of Alaska, and appropriate Alaska Native corpora26 tions and organizations, the Secretary shall submit to the
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1 Committee on Resources of the House of Representatives

2 and the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of

3 the Senate, a report addressing issues presented by the

4 presence of hazardous substances on lands conveyed or

5 prioritized for conveyance to such corporations pursuant

6 to this Act. Such report shall consist of—

7 ‘‘(1) existing information concerning the nature

8 and types of contaminants present on such lands

9 prior to conveyance to Alaska Native corporations;

10 ‘‘(2) existing information identifying the exist11 ence and availability of potentially responsible par12 ties for the removal or amelioration of the effects of

13 such contaminants;

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

15 ‘‘(4) recommendations for any additional legis16 lation that the Secretary concludes is necessary to

17 remedy the problem of contaminants on such

18 lands.’’.

19 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE

20 PURPOSES OF IMPLEMENTING REQUIRED

21 RECONVEYANCES.

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

23 (43 U.S.C. 1613(c)) is amended by adding at the end the

24 following:
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1 ‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated such sums as may

2 be necessary for the purpose of providing technical assist3 ance to Village Corporations established pursuant to this

4 Act in order that they may fulfill the reconveyance require5 ments of section 14(c) of this Act. The Secretary may

6 make funds available as grants to ANCSA or nonprofit

7 corporations that maintain in-house land planning and

8 management capabilities.’’.

9 SEC. 5. NATIVE ALLOTMENTS.

10 Section 1431(o) of the Alaska National Interest

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

12 adding at the end the following:

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

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

15 the subsurface estate beneath lands within the National

16 Petroleum Reserve—Alaska selected by Kuukpik Corpora17 tion, where such subsurface estate entirely surrounds

18 lands subject to a Native allotment application approved

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

20 lands have been reserved to the United States, Arctic

21 Slope Regional Corporation, at its further option, shall be

22 entitled to receive a conveyance of the reserved oil and

23 gas, including all rights and privileges therein reserved to

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

25 conveyance of such oil and gas interests, the entitlement
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1 of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation to in-lieu subsurface

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

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

4 by the amount of acreage determined by the Secretary to

5 be conveyed to Arctic Slope Regional Corporation pursu6 ant to this paragraph.’’.

7 SEC. 6. REPORT CONCERNING OPEN SEASON FOR CERTAIN

8 NATIVE ALASKAN VETERANS FOR ALLOT9 MENTS.

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

11 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Inte12 rior, in consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture, the

13 State of Alaska and appropriate Native corporations and

14 organizations, shall submit to the Committee on Resources

15 of the House of Representatives and the Committee on

16 Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate, a report

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

18 (1) The number of Vietnam era veterans, as de19 fined in section 101 of title 38, United States Code,

20 who were eligible for but did not apply for an allot21 ment of not to exceed 160 acres under the Act of

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

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

24 (2) an assessment of the potential impacts of

25 additional allotments on conservation system units
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1 as such term is defined in section 102(4) of the

2 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act

3 (94 Stat. 2375); and

4 (3) recommendations for any additional legisla5 tion that the Secretary concludes is necessary.

6 (b) REQUIREMENT.—The Secretary of Veterans Af7 fairs shall release to the Secretary of the Interior informa8 tion relevant to the report required under subsection (a).

9 SEC. 7. TRANSFER OF WRANGELL INSTITUTE.

10 (a) PROPERTY TRANSFER.—Cook Inlet Region, In11 corporated, is authorized to transfer to the United States

12 and the General Services Administration shall accept an

13 approximately 10-acre site of the Wrangell Institute in

14 Wrangell, Alaska, and the structures contained thereon.

15 (b) RESTORATION OF PROPERTY CREDITS.—

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

17 and structures transferred under subsection (a),

18 property bidding credits in the total amount of

19 $382,305, shall be restored to the Cook Inlet Re20 gion, Incorporated, property account in the Treasury

21 established under section 12(b) of the Act of Janu22 ary 2, 1976 (Public Law 94–204; 43 U.S.C. 1611

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

24 Region, Incorporated, property account’’. Such prop-
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1 erty bidding credits shall be used in the same fiscal

2 year as received by 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

8 to their return to the United States.

9 SEC. 8. SHISHMAREF AIRPORT AMENDMENT.

10 The Shishmaref Airport, conveyed to the State of

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

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

13 terms of that patent for nonuse as an airport. The Sec14 retary is authorized to reacquire the interests originally

15 conveyed pursuant to Patent No. 1240529, and, notwith16 standing any other provision of law, the Secretary shall

17 immediately thereafter transfer all right, title, and interest

18 of the United States in the subject lands to the

19 Shishmaref Native Corporation. Nothing in this section

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

21 potentially responsible party of liability, if any, under ex22 isting law for the clean up of hazardous or solid wastes

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

24 Native Corporation become liable for the cleanup of the
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1 property solely by virtue of acquiring title from the State

2 or from the United States.

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