ANCSA Chugach Alaska Land Exchange Study Act of 2017

To require a study and report identifying the impacts on Chugach Alaska Corporation land that resulted from changes in Federal law or Federal or State land acquisitions in the Chugach region, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the ANCSA Chugach Alaska Land Exchange Study Act of 2017 2. Chugach Alaska Corporation land exchange pool (a) Definitions In this section: (1) CAC The term CAC (2) CAC land The term CAC land 43 U.S.C. 1601 (A) both the surface estate and the subsurface estate were conveyed to CAC; or (B) (i) the subsurface estate was conveyed to CAC; and (ii) the surface estate or a conservation easement in the surface estate was acquired by the State or by the United States as part of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council Habitat Protection and Acquisition Program. (3) Secretary The term Secretary (4) State The term State (b) Study (1) In general Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in coordination with the Secretary of the Interior and in consultation with CAC, shall conduct a study to identify the impacts on CAC land that resulted from changes in Federal law or Federal or State land acquisitions in the Chugach region after December 1, 1980. (2) Study requirements (A) In general The study described in paragraph (1) shall— (i) consider conflicts that have arisen between the management of Federal land in the Chugach region and CAC land; (ii) include recommendations for a land exchange, including land exchange options that could be offered to CAC as consideration for the conveyance of existing property rights of CAC in exchange for other Federal land or property available for exchange; and (iii) identify not less than 500,000 acres of economically viable Federal land, being managed by any Federal land management agency, in or outside the State that can be made available to CAC in exchange for any CAC land identified by CAC as available to the United States for exchange. (B) Land exchange requirements Any land exchange described in subparagraph (A) shall be pursuant to mutual agreement of CAC and the United States and consummated in accordance with all applicable legal authorizations, except that any acre-for-acre exchange of such Federal land for such CAC land shall be conclusively deemed to be in the public interest. (c) Report Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives a report containing the results of the study conducted under this section, the identification of Federal land for exchange, and any other recommendations as identified by the Secretary of the Interior.

Summary: ANCSA Chugach Alaska Land Exchange Study Act of 2017 This bill requires the Department of Agriculture, in coordination with the Department of the Interior, to conduct a study that identifies the impacts on the land of the Chugach Alaska Corporation (CAC), an Alaska Native regional corporation, that resulted from changes in federal law or federal or state land acquisitions in the Chugach region after the enactment of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. The study must include the impacts on land in which the subsurface estate was conveyed to the CAC and the surface estate or a conservation easement in the surface estate was acquired by Alaska or by the United States as part of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council Habitat Protection and Acquisition Program. In addition, the study must: (1) include recommendations for a land exchange, including land exchange options that could be offered to the CAC as consideration for the conveyance of its existing property rights in exchange for other federal land or property available for exchange; and (2) identify at least 500,000 acres of economically viable federal land, in or outside of Alaska, that can be exchanged with the CAC. The land exchange described in the recommendations must be pursuant to mutual agreement of the CAC and the United States.