[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 924 Referred in House (RFH)]

  1st Session
                                 S. 924


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 18, 2003

                 Referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
  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. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purposes of this Act, the term:
            (1) ``ANCSA'' means the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act 
        (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.);
            (2) ``ANILCA'' means the Alaska National Interest Lands 
        Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3101 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 estates) designated 
        as ``Proposed Village Site'' on 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;
            (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 the map; and
            (8) ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the Interior.

SEC. 2. 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.
    (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 
estates of the Identified Lands. The conveyance shall be by interim 
conveyance. Subsequent to the interim conveyance, the Secretary shall 
survey identified Lands at no cost to Newtok and issue a patent to the 
Identified Lands subject to the provisions of ANCSA and this Act.

SEC. 3. CONVEYANCE.

    (a) Timing.--The Secretary shall issue interim conveyances pursuant 
to subsection 2(b) at the earliest possible time after acceptance of 
the Newtok conveyance and relinquishment of selections under subsection 
2(a).
    (b) Relationship to ANCSA.--Lands conveyed to Newtok under this Act 
shall be treated as having been conveyed under the provisions of ANCSA, 
except that the provisions of 14(c) and 22g of ANCSA shall not apply to 
these lands. Consistent with section 103(c) of ANILCA, these lands 
shall not be included as a portion of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife 
Refuge and shall not be subject to regulations applicable solely to 
public lands within this Conservation System Unit.
    (c) Effect on Entitlement.--Except as otherwise provided, 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 Newtok lands as guaranteed under section 
811 of ANILCA (16 U.S.C. 3121), and to subsistence uses, such as 
traditional subsistence fishing, hunting and gathering, consistent with 
section 803 of ANILCA (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 2(a) 
of this Act. This equivalent 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 from 
lands within the region but outside any conservation system unit.
    (f) Adjustment to Exchange.--If requested by Newtok, the Secretary 
may consider and make adjustments to the exchange to meet the purposes 
of this Act, subject to all the same terms and conditions of this Act.

            Passed the Senate July 17, 2003.

            Attest:

                                             EMILY J. REYNOLDS,

                                                             Secretary.