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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. RATIFICATION OF CERTAIN CASWELL AND
MONTANA 
CREEK 
NATIVE 
ASSOCIATIONS
CONVEYANCES.
The conveyance of approximately 11,520 acres to
Montana Creek Native Association, Inc., and the convey-
ance of approximately 11,520 acres to Caswell Native As-
sociation, Inc., by Cook Inlet Region, Inc. in fulfillment
of the agreement of February 3, 1976, and subsequent
letter agreement of March 26, 1982, among the three par-
ties are hereby adopted and ratified as a matter of Federal
law. These conveyances shall be deemed to be conveyances
pursuant to section 14(h)(2) of the Alaska Native Claims
Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1613(h)(2)). The group cor-
porations for Montana Creek and Caswell are hereby de-
clared to have received their full entitlement and shall not
be entitled to the receipt of any additional lands under
the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The ratification
of these conveyances shall not have any other effect upon
section 14(h) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
(43 U.S.C. 1613(h)) or upon the duties and obligations
of the United States to any Alaska Native Corporation.
This ratification shall not be the basis for any claim to
land or money by Caswell or Montana Creek group cor-
porations or any other Alaska Native Corporation against
the State of Alaska, the United States, or Cook Inlet Re-
gion, Incorporated.
SEC. 2. MINING CLAIMS AFTER LANDS CONVEYED TO ALAS-
KA REGIONAL CORPORATION.
Section 22(c) of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act (43 U.S.C. 1621(c)) is amended by adding at the end
the following:
‘‘(3) This section shall apply to lands conveyed by in-
terim conveyance or patent to a regional corporation pur-
suant to this Act which are made subject to a mining claim
or claims located under the general mining laws, including
lands conveyed prior to enactment of this paragraph. Ef-
fective upon the date of the enactment of this paragraph,
the Secretary, acting through the Bureau of Land Man-
agement and in a manner consistent with section 14(g)
of this Act, shall transfer to the regional corporation ad-
ministration of all mining claims determined to be entirely
within lands conveyed to that corporation. Any person
holding such mining claim or claims shall meet such re-
quirements of the general mining laws and section 314
of the Federal Land Management and Policy Act of 1976
(43 U.S.C. 1744), except that any filings which would
have been made with the Bureau of Land Management
if the lands were within Federal ownership shall be timely
made to the appropriate regional corporation. The validity
of any such mining claim or claims may be contested by
the regional corporation, in the place of the United States.
All contest proceedings and appeals by the mining claim-
ants of adverse decisions made by the regional corporation
shall be brought in Federal District Court for the District
of Alaska. Neither the United States nor any Federal
agency or official shall be named or joined as a party in
such proceedings or appeals. All revenues from such min-
ing claims received after passage of this paragraph shall
be remitted to the regional corporation subject to distribu-
tion pursuant to section 7(i) of this Act, except that in
the event that the mining claim or claims are not totally
within the lands conveyed to the regional corporation, the
regional corporation shall be entitled only to that propor-
tion of revenues, other than administrative fees, reason-
ably allocated to the portion of the mining claim or claims
so conveyed.’’.
SEC. 3. SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS ARISING FROM HAZARD-
OUS SUBSTANCE CONTAMINATION OF TRANS-
FERRED LANDS.
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C.
1601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the follow-
ing:
‘‘CLAIMS ARISING FROM CONTAMINATION OF
TRANSFERRED LANDS
‘‘SEC. 40. (a) As used in this section:
‘‘(1) The term ‘contaminant’ means hazardous
substances harmful to public health or the environ-
ment, including asbestos.
‘‘(2) The term ‘lands’ means real property
transferred to an Alaska Native Corporation pursu-
ant to this Act.
‘‘(b) Within 18 months of enactment of this section,
and after consultation with the Secretary of Agriculture,
State of Alaska, and appropriate Alaska Native corpora-
tions and organizations, the Secretary shall submit to the