[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 924 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 924

  To authorize the exchange of lands between an Alaska Native Village 
Corporation and the Department of the Interior, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 11, 2003

 Ms. Murkowski introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize the exchange of lands between an Alaska Native Village 
Corporation and the Department of the Interior, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that:
            (1) The continued existence of the village of Newtok, 
        Alaska is threatened by the eroding banks of the Ninglick 
        River.
            (2) A relocation of the village will become necessary for 
        the health and safety of the residents of Newtok within the 
        next 8 years.
            (3) Lands previously conveyed to the Newtok Native 
        Corporation contain habitat of high value for waterfowl.
            (4) An opportunity exists for an exchange of lands between 
        the Newtok Native Corporation and the Yukon Delta National 
        Wildlife Refuge that would address the relocation needs of the 
        village while enhancing the quality of waterfowl habitat within 
        the boundaries of the Refuge.
            (5) An exchange of lands between Newtok and the United 
        States on an other than equal value basis pursuant to the terms 
        of this Act is in the public interest.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purposes of this Act, the term--
            (1) ``ANCSA'' means the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act 
        of 1971 (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.);
            (2) ``ANILCA'' means the Alaska National Interest Lands 
        Conservation Act of 1980 (16 U.S.C. 410hh-3233, 43 U.S.C. 1602 
        et seq.);
            (3) ``Calista'' means the Calista Corporation, an Alaska 
        Native Regional Corporation established pursuant to ANCSA;
            (4) ``Identified Lands'' means approximately 10,943 acres 
        of lands (including surface and subsurface) designated as 
        ``Proposed Village Site'' upon a map entitled ``Proposed Newtok 
        Exchange,'' dated September, 2002, and available for inspection 
        in the Anchorage office of the United States Fish and Wildlife 
        Service;
            (5) ``limited warranty deed'' means a warranty deed which 
        is, with respect to its warranties, limited to that portion of 
        the chain of title from the moment of conveyance from the 
        United States to Newtok to and including the moment at which 
        such title is validly reconveyed to the United States of 
        America and its assigns;
            (6) ``Newtok'' means the Newtok Native Corporation, an 
        Alaska Native Village Corporation established pursuant to 
        ANCSA;
            (7) ``Newtok lands'' means approximately 12,101 acres of 
        surface estate comprising conveyed lands and selected lands 
        identified as Aknerkochik on the map referred to in paragraph 
        (4) and that surface estate selected by Newtok on Baird Inlet 
        Island as shown on said map; and
            (8) ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the Interior.

SEC. 3. LANDS TO BE EXCHANGED.

    (a) Lands Exchanged to the United States.--If, within 180 days 
after the date of enactment of this Act, Newtok expresses to the 
Secretary in writing its intent to enter into a land exchange with the 
United States, the Secretary shall accept from Newtok a valid, 
unencumbered conveyance, by limited warranty deed, of the Newtok lands 
previously conveyed to Newtok. The Secretary shall also accept from 
Newtok a relinquishment of irrevocable prioritized selections for 
approximately 4,956 acres for those validly selected lands not yet 
conveyed to Newtok. The reconveyance of lands by Newtok to the United 
States and the prioritized, relinquished selections shall be 1.1 times 
the number of acres conveyed to Newtok under this Act. The number of 
acres reconveyed to the United States and the prioritized, relinquished 
selections shall be charged to the entitlement of Newtok.
    (b) Lands Exchanged to Newtok.--In exchange for the Newtok lands 
conveyed and selections relinquished under subsection (a), the 
Secretary shall, subject to valid existing rights and notwithstanding 
section 14(f) of ANCSA, convey to Newtok the surface and subsurface 
estate of the Identified Lands. The conveyance shall be by interim 
conveyance. Subsequent to the interim conveyance, the Secretary shall 
survey the Identified Lands at no cost to Newtok and issue a patent to 
the Identified Lands subject to the provisions of ANCSA and this Act. 
At the time of survey the charge against Newtok's entitlement for acres 
conveyed or irrevocable priorities relinquished by Newtok may be 
adjusted to conform to the standard of 1.1 acres relinquished by Newtok 
for each one acre received.

SEC. 4. CONVEYANCE.

    (a) Timing.--The Secretary shall issue interim conveyances pursuant 
to subsection 3(b) at the earliest possible time after acceptance of 
the Newtok conveyance and relinquishment of selections under subsection 
3(a).
    (b) Relationship to ANCSA.--Lands conveyed to Newtok under this Act 
shall be deemed to have been conveyed under the provisions of ANCSA, 
except that the provisions of 14(c) of ANCSA shall not apply to these 
lands, and to the extent that section 22(g) of ANCSA would otherwise be 
applicable to these lands, the provisions of 22(g) of ANCSA shall also 
not apply to these lands. Consistent with section 103(c) of ANILCA, 
these lands shall not be deemed to be included as a portion of the 
Yukon National Wildlife Refuge and shall not be subject to regulations 
applicable solely to public lands within this Conservation System Unit.
    (c) Effect on Entitlement.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed 
to change the total acreage of land to which Newtok is entitled under 
ANCSA.
    (d) Effect on Newtok Lands.--The Newtok Lands shall be included in 
the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge as of the date of acceptance 
of the conveyance of those lands from Newtok, except that residents of 
the Village of Newtok, Alaska, shall retain access rights to 
subsistence resources on those public lands as guaranteed under ANILCA 
section 811 (16 U.S.C. 3121), and to subsistence uses, such as 
traditional subsistence fishing, hunting and gathering, consistent with 
ANILCA section 803 (16 U.S.C. 3113).
    (e) Adjustment to Calista Corporation ANCSA Entitlement for 
Relinquished Newtok Selections.--To the extent that Calista subsurface 
rights are affected by this Act, Calista shall be entitled to an 
equivalent acreage of in-lieu subsurface entitlement for the Newtok 
selections relinquished in the exchange as set forth in subsection 3(a) 
of this Act. This additional entitlement shall come from subsurface 
lands already selected by Calista, but which have not been conveyed. If 
Calista does not have sufficient subsurface selections to accommodate 
this additional entitlement, Calista Corporation is hereby authorized 
to make an additional in lieu selection for the deficient acreage.
    (f) Adjustment to Exchange.--If requested by Newtok, the Secretary 
is authorized to consider and make adjustments to the original exchange 
to meet the purposes of this Act, subject to all the same terms and 
conditions of this Act.
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