IB
Union Calendar No. 381
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3534
[Report No. 107–632]
To provide for the settlement of certain land claims of Cherokee, Choctaw,
and Chickasaw Nations to the Arkansas Riverbed in Oklahoma.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
DECEMBER 19, 2001
Mr. CARSON of Oklahoma (for himself, Mr. WATKINS of Oklahoma, Mr. KIL-
DEE, and Mr. LARGENT) introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Resources
SEPTEMBER 4, 2002
Additional sponsors: Mr. FILNER and Mr. SULLIVAN
SEPTEMBER 4, 2002
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on December 19, 2001]
A BILL
To provide for the settlement of certain land claims of Cher-
okee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations to the Arkansas
Riverbed in Oklahoma.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cherokee, Choctaw, and
Chickasaw Nations Claims Settlement Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) It is the policy of the United States to pro-
mote tribal self-determination and economic self-suffi-
ciency and to encourage the resolution of disputes
over historical claims through mutually agreed-to set-
tlements between Indian Nations and the United
States.
(2) There are pending before the United States
Court of Federal Claims certain lawsuits against the
United States brought by the Cherokee, Choctaw, and
Chickasaw Nations seeking monetary damages for the
alleged use and mismanagement of tribal resources
along the Arkansas River in eastern Oklahoma.
(3) The Cherokee Nation, a federally recognized
Indian tribe with its present tribal headquarters near
Tahlequah, Oklahoma, having adopted its most recent
constitution on June 26, 1976, and having entered
into various treaties with the United States, includ-
ing but not limited to the Treaty at Hopewell, exe-
cuted on November 28, 1785 (7 Stat. 18), and the
Treaty at Washington, D.C., executed on July 19,
1866 (14 Stat. 799), has maintained a continuous
government-to-government 
relationship 
with 
the
United States since the earliest years of the Union.
(4) The Choctaw Nation, a federally recognized
Indian tribe with its present tribal headquarters in
Durant, Oklahoma, having adopted its most recent
constitution on July 9, 1983, and having entered into
various treaties with the United States of America,
including but not limited to the Treaty at Hopewell,
executed on January 3, 1786 (7 Stat. 21), and the
Treaty at Washington, D.C., executed on April 28,
1866 (7 Stat. 21), has maintained a continuous gov-
ernment-to-government relationship with the United
States since the earliest years of the Union.
(5) The Chickasaw Nation, a federally recognized
Indian tribe with its present tribal headquarters in
Ada, Oklahoma, having adopted its most recent con-
stitution on August 27, 1983, and having entered into
various treaties with the United States of America,
including but not limited to the Treaty at Hopewell,
executed on January 10, 1786 (7 Stat. 24), and the
Treaty at Washington, D.C., executed on April 28,
1866 (7 Stat. 21), has maintained a continuous gov-
ernment-to-government relationship with the United
States since the earliest years of the Union.
(6) In the first half of the 19th century, the Cher-
okee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations were forcibly
removed from their homelands in the southeastern
United States to lands west of the Mississippi in the
Indian Territory which that were ceded to them by
the United States. From the ‘‘Three Forks’’ area near
present day Muskogee, Oklahoma, downstream to the
point of confluence with the Canadian River, the Ar-
kansas River flowed entirely within the territory of
the Cherokee Nation. From that point of confluence
downstream to the Arkansas territorial line, the Ar-
kansas River formed the boundary between the Cher-
okee Nation on the left side of the thread of the river
and the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations on the right.
(7) Pursuant to the Act of April 30, 1906 (34
Stat. 137), title to the bed and banks of the Arkansas
River passed to the United States in trust for the re-
spective Indian Nations in accordance with their re-
spective interests therein.
(8) For more than 60 years after Oklahoma
statehood, the Bureau of Indian Affairs incorrectly
assumed that Oklahoma owned the Riverbed from the
Arkansas State line to Three Forks, and therefore took
no action to protect the Indian Nations’ Riverbed re-
sources such as oil, gas, sand, and gravel and Drybed
Lands suitable for grazing and agriculture.
(9) The United States Government constructed
powerheads and other improvements in the channel of
the Arkansas River on tribal lands, using sand and
gravel belonging to the three Indian Nations. Due to
the Bureau’s inaction, individuals with property near
the Arkansas River began to occupy the three Indian
Nations’ Drybed Lands—lands that were under water
at the time of statehood but that are now dry due to
changes in the course of the river.
(10) In 1966, the three Indian Nations sued the
State of Oklahoma to recover their lands. In 1970, the
Supreme Court of the United States decided in the
case of Choctaw Nation vs. Oklahoma (396 U.S. 620
(1970)), that the Indian Nations retained title to
their respective portions of the Riverbed along the
navigable reach of the river.
(11) In 1989, the Indian Nations filed lawsuits
against the United States in the United States Court
of Federal Claims (Case Nos. 218–89L and 630–89L),
seeking damages for the United States use and mis-
management of tribal trust resources along the Arkan-
sas River. Those actions are still pending.
(12) In 1997, the United States filed quiet title
litigation against individuals occupying some of the
Indian Nations’ Drybed Lands. That action, filed in
the United States District Court for the Eastern Dis-
trict of Oklahoma, was dismissed without prejudice
on technical grounds.
(13) From time to time over the years following
the Indian Nations’ Court of Federal Claims litiga-
tion, the Indian Nations, the Department of Justice,
the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Indian Nations
have engaged in settlement negotiations.
(14) Nearly 7,750 acres of the Indian Nations’
Drybed Lands have been occupied by a large number
of adjacent landowners in Oklahoma. Without Federal
legislation, further litigation against thousands of
such landowners would be likely and any final resolu-
tion of pending disputes through a process of litiga-
tion would take many years and entail great expense
to the United States, the Indian Nations, and the in-
dividuals and entities occupying the Drybed Lands
and would seriously impair long-term economic plan-
ning and development for all parties.
(15) The Councils of the Cherokee, Choctaw, and
Chickasaw Nations have each enacted tribal legisla-
tion which would, contingent upon the passage of this
Act and in exchange for the monies appropriated
hereunder—
(A) settle and forever release their respective
claims against the United States asserted by
them in United States Court of Federal Claims
Case Nos. 218–89L and 630–89L; and
(B) forever disclaim any and all right, title,
and interest in and to the Disclaimed Drybed
Lands, as set forth in those enactments of the re-
spective councils of the Indian Nations.
(16) The resolutions adopted by the respective
Councils of the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw
Nations each provide that, contingent upon the pas-
sage of the settlement legislation, each Indian Nation
agrees to dismiss, release, and forever discharge its
claims asserted against the United States in the
United States Court of Federal Claims, Case No. 218–
89L, and to disclaim any right, title, or interest of
the Indian Nation in the Disclaimed Drybed Lands,
in exchange for the funds appropriated and allocated
to the Indian Nation under the provisions of the set-
tlement legislation, which funds the Indian Nation
agrees to accept in full satisfaction and settlement of
all claims against the United States for its use of and
damage to the bed of the Arkansas River arising out
of the construction of the McClellan-Kerr Navigation
Way and for the damages sought in the aforemen-
tioned claims asserted in the United States Court of
Federal Claims, and as full and fair compensation for
disclaiming its right, title, and interest in the Dis-
claimed Drybed Lands.
(17) In those resolutions, each Indian Nation ex-
pressly reserved all of its beneficial interest and title
to all other Riverbed lands, including minerals, as de-
termined by the Supreme Court in Choctaw Nation v.
Oklahoma, 397 U.S. 620 (1970), and further reserved
any and all right, title, or interest that each Nation
may have in and to the water flowing in the Arkan-
sas River and its tributaries.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are as follows:
(1) To approve, ratify, and confirm an agreed-
to resolution of claims brought by the Cherokee, Choc-
taw, and Chickasaw Nations against the United
States, and the agreed-to disclaimers of the three In-
dian Nations to any right, title, or interest in ap-
proximately 7,750 acres of Drybed Lands contiguous
to the channel of the Arkansas River as of the date
of the enactment of this Act in certain townships in
eastern Oklahoma.
(2) To reserve the three Indian Nations’ bene-
ficial interest in the Riverbed except for the Dis-
claimed Drybed Lands.
(3) To authorize and direct the Secretary to im-
plement the terms of such settlement.
(4) To authorize the actions and appropriations
necessary to implement the provisions of this Act.
(5) To maintain the trust relationship between
the United States and each of the three Indian Na-
tions.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions
apply:
(1) DISCLAIMED
DRYBED
LANDS.—The term
‘‘Disclaimed Drybed Lands’’ means all Drybed Lands
along the Arkansas River that are located in Town-
ship 10 North in Range 24 East, Townships 9 and
10 North in Range 25 East, Township 10 North in
Range 26 East, and Townships 10 and 11 North in
Range 27 east, in the State of Oklahoma.
(2) DRYBED LANDS.—The term ‘‘Drybed Lands’’
means those Riverbed lands of the Indian Nations
which lie above and contiguous to the high water
mark of the Arkansas River in the State of Oklahoma
as of the date of the enactment of this Act but which
have become part of the Riverbed by operation of ac-
cretion and avulsion.
(3) INDIAN NATION; INDIAN NATIONS.—The term
‘‘Indian Nation’’ means the Cherokee Nation, Choc-
taw Nation, or Chickasaw Nation, and the term ‘‘In-
dian Nations’’ means all three tribes collectively.
(4) RIVERBED.—The term ‘‘Riverbed’’ means the
Drybed Lands and the Wetbed Lands and includes all
minerals therein.
(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
the Secretary of the Interior.
(6) WETBED LANDS.—The term ‘‘Wetbed Lands’’
means those Riverbed lands which lie below the high
water mark of the Arkansas River in the State of
Oklahoma as of the date of the enactment of this Act,
exclusive of the Drybed Lands.
SEC. 5. SETTLEMENT AND CLAIMS; APPROPRIATIONS; ALLO-
CATION OF FUNDS.
(a) EXTINGUISHMENT OF CLAIMS.—Upon payment of
the funds appropriated under this section, all claims for
use of and damage to the Riverbed arising out of the con-
struction and maintenance of the McClellan-Kerr Naviga-
tion Way and the claims asserted by the Cherokee, Choctaw,
and Chickasaw Nations in the United States Court of Fed-
eral Claims against the United States shall be deemed extin-
guished.
(b) RELEASE OF TRIBAL CLAIMS TO CERTAIN DRYBED
LANDS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Upon the deposit of all funds
authorized for appropriation under subsection (c) for
an Indian Nation into the appropriate trust fund ac-
count described in section 6, all claims and all right,
title, and interest that the Indian Nations may have
to the Disclaimed Drybed Lands, shall be deemed ex-
tinguished. The Secretary shall execute an appro-
priate document citing this Act, suitable for filing
with the county clerks, or such other county official
as appropriate, of those counties wherein the foregoing
described lands are located, disclaiming tribal inter-
ests in such Disclaimed Drybed Lands.
(2) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding any provision
of this Act, the Indian Nations do not relinquish any
right, title, or interest in any lands or minerals to
which the United States claims title which are contig-
uous to the Riverbed, and no provision of this Act
shall be construed to extinguish or convey any water
rights of the Indian Nations in the Arkansas River or
any other stream or the beneficial interests or title of
any of the Indian Nations in and to trust lands lying
above or below the high water mark of the Arkansas
River as of the date of the enactment of this Act, ex-
cept for the Disclaimed Drybed Lands.
(3) LAND TO BE TAKEN INTO TRUST.—To the ex-
tent that the United States determines that it is able
to effectively maintain the McClellan-Kerr Navigation
Way without retaining title to lands above the high
water mark of the Arkansas River as of the date of
the enactment of this Act, said lands, after being de-
clared surplus, shall be taken into trust for the Indian
Nation within whose boundary the land is located. All
Wetbed Lands, including minerals, from the Arkansas
State line upstream to the historic point of naviga-
bility near the confluence of the Arkansas, Verdigris,
and Grand Rivers, and all Drybed Lands located out-
side the foregoing described Townships, shall continue
to be held by the United States in trust for the bene-
ficiary Indian Nation and shall be protected in ac-
cordance with applicable law governing tribal trust
lands.
(c) AUTHORIZATION FOR SETTLEMENT APPROPRIA-
TIONS.—
(1) SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS.—There is author-
ized to be appropriated the aggregate sum of
$41,293,245. After payment pursuant to section 7, the
remaining funds appropriated under this subsection
shall be paid and allocated among the three Indian
Nations in accordance with subsection (d) and depos-
ited into the trust fund accounts established pursuant
to section 6. Such payment shall be in full satisfac-
tion and settlement of the Indian Nations’ claims for
the use of and damage to the Arkansas Riverbed aris-
ing out of the construction and maintenance of the
McClellan-Kerr Navigation Way and asserted against
the United States in the United States Court of Fed-
eral Claims, Case Nos. 218–89L and 630–89L, and in
full satisfaction of, and as compensation for, the three
Indian Nations’ respective right, title, and interest in
and to the Disclaimed Drybed Lands.
(2) RENTALS.—In addition to funds authorized
to be appropriated in paragraph (1), there is author-
ized for appropriation and allocated in accordance
with subsection (d) $8,000,000, representing the
present value of the fair market rentals for the loca-
tion and future operation in perpetuity of the two hy-
dropower generation and related facilities at the
Webbers Falls Lock and Dam and the Kerr Lock and
Dam on the Arkansas River.
(d) ALLOCATION AND DEPOSIT OF FUNDS.—After pay-
ment pursuant to section 7, the remaining funds authorized
(b) LAND ACQUISITION.—
(1) TRUST LAND STATUS PURSUANT TO REGULA-
TIONS.—The funds appropriated and allocated to the
Indian Nations pursuant to section 5(c) and depos-
ited into trust fund accounts pursuant to section 6(a),
together with any interest earned thereon, and allo-
cated pursuant to section 5(d) may be used for the ac-
quisition of land by the three Indian Nations for
transfer to the United States in trust for the bene-
ficiary Indian Nation in accordance with the Sec-
retary’s trust land acquisition regulations at part 151
of title 25, Code of Federal Regulations, as in effect
on January 1, 2001.
(2) REQUIRED TRUST LAND STATUS.—Any such
trust land acquisitions on behalf of the Cherokee Na-
tion shall be mandatory if the land proposed to be ac-
quired is located within Township 12 North, Range
21 East, in Sequoyah County, Township 11 North,
Range 18 East, in McIntosh County, Townships 11
and 12 North, Range 19 East, or Township 12 North,
Range 20 East, in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, and
not within the limits of any incorporated munici-
pality as of January 1, 2002, if—
(A) the land proposed to be acquired meets
the Department of the Interior’s minimum envi-
ronmental standards and requirements for real
estate acquisitions set forth in 602 DM 2.6, as
in effect on January 1, 2001; and
(B) the title to such land must meet appli-
cable Federal title standards as in effect on said
date.
(3) OTHER EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS.—The In-
dian Nations may elect to expend all or a portion of
the funds deposited into its trust account for any
other purposes authorized under subsection (c).
(c) INVESTMENT OF TRUST FUNDS; NO PER CAPITA
PAYMENT.—
(1) NO PER CAPITA PAYMENTS.—No money re-
ceived by the Indian Nations hereunder may be used
for any per capita payment.
(2) INVESTMENT
BY
SECRETARY.—Except as
provided in this section and section 7, the principal
of such funds deposited into the accounts established
hereunder and any interest earned thereon shall be
invested by the Secretary in accordance with current
laws and regulations for the investing of tribal trust
funds.
(3) USE OF PRINCIPAL FUNDS.—The principal
amounts of said funds and any amounts earned there-
on shall be made available to the Indian Nation for
which the account was established for expenditure for
purposes which may include construction or repair of
health care facilities, law enforcement, cultural or
other education activities, economic development, so-
cial services, and land acquisition. Land acquisition
using such funds shall be subject to the provisions of
subsections (b) and (d).
(d) DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS.—The Secretary shall
disburse the funds from a trust account established under
this section pursuant to a budget adopted by the Council
of the Indian Nation setting forth the amount and an in-
tended use of such funds.
SEC. 7. ATTORNEY FEES.
(a) PAYMENT.—At the time the funds are paid to the
Indian Nations, from funds authorized to be appropriated
pursuant to section 5(c), the Secretary shall pay to the In-
dian Nations’ attorneys those fees provided for in the indi-
vidual tribal attorney fee contracts as approved by the re-
spective Indian Nations.
(b) LIMITATIONS.—Notwithstanding subsection (a),
the total fees payable to attorneys under such contracts with
an Indian Nation shall not exceed 10 percent of that Indian
Nation’s allocation of funds appropriated under section
5(c).
Union Calendar No. 381
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3534
[Report No. 107–632]
A BILL
To provide for the settlement of certain land claims
of Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations to
the Arkansas Riverbed in Oklahoma.
SEPTEMBER 4, 2002
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,
and ordered to be printed