This bill directs a land swap between the Chugach Alaska Corporation (a Regional Native Corporation) and the United States. If Chugach Alaska offers to convey about 231,000 acres of subsurface interests that underlie lands where the surface was bought or protected after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Secretary of the Interior must accept that offer and convey to Chugach Alaska about 65,374 acres of Federal land in the Chugach Region. The exchange must occur within one year of the law taking effect if Chugach Alaska offers the non-Federal land. Title the Secretary receives must be in a form the Secretary accepts, and both sides’ conveyances are subject to existing rights and encumbrances. Land the Secretary acquires becomes part of the existing Federal land units and is managed under those units. Chugach Alaska can exclude up to 209 acres from the conveyance for village development or shareholder homesites. The bill also lets the Secretary and Chugach Alaska correct minor mapping or acreage errors and says maps control when there is a conflict.
No publicly available information.
The bill’s findings say the exchange will resolve a split-estate conflict created when surface lands were bought for conservation after the Exxon Valdez spill while subsurface rights stayed with Chugach Alaska. Supporters say the exchange furthers objectives in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act by balancing cultural and economic land interests, lets the Federal Government perfect conservation of surface lands, and is in the public interest.
No publicly available information.