[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 84 (Tuesday, June 17, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1224-E1225]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      INTRODUCTION OF LEGISLATION

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. DON YOUNG

                               of alaska

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 17, 1997

  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, today, I am introducing legislation 
to authorize and direct a land exchange which will greatly benefit the 
town of Sitka, AK. This bill has several components to the exchange. 
First, it will ensure that an important water system now currently 
under an easement will be conveyed to the city of Sitka in order to 
provide its residents with an assured water supply into the future.
  This exchange will also provide for a spectacular inholding on 
Admiralty Island National Monument to be added to the monument. 
Admiralty Island is considered to be an area holding outstanding 
conservation values within the American conservation system. The land 
exchange authorized in the bill I am sponsoring will ensure that this 
private inholding is included in the monument and in the wilderness.
  The final component of the exchange will be the extinguishment of a 
reversionary interest on land owned at Sitka by the Alaska Pulp Corp. 
The corporation also owns the valuable inholding at Admiralty Island 
and the lands which the city of Sitka wishes to have conveyed to it. In 
return for the extinguishment of the reversionary interest, the 
corporation will convey the inholding to the monument and the water 
system lands to the city.
  This exchange is supported by the city and borough of Sitka, and the 
city administrator has requested me to sponsor this legislation and 
expedite the exchange.
  This exchange is truly in the best interests of all involved. The 
U.S. Government even comes out ahead on value. Recent appraisals for 
the various lands and interests exchanged show that the Admiralty 
Island land is valued at more than the reversionary interest which will 
be exchanged. As a condition of my legislation, the corporation is 
required to waive its

[[Page E1225]]

right to any compensation for this difference in value.
  In summary, as a result of this exchange the Admiralty Island 
Monument land ownership pattern will be consolidated, the city of Sitka 
will receive valuable lands in fee ownership on which parts of its 
water system are located, and the corporation will be free of a 
problematic reversionary interest in its property. As a bonus, the 
Federal Government realizes a net benefit in the value of the exchange. 
This is a sound deal in the best interests of all parties.
  It is my hope that this legislation can pass this body and the 
Congress in the near future.

                          ____________________