[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 99 (Monday, July 14, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S7423]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. MURKOWSKI:
  S. 1015. A bill to provide for the exchange of lands within Admiralty 
Island National Monument, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Energy and Natural Resources.


                   hood bay land exchange act of 1997

  Mr. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, today I am introducing legislation to 
authorize and direct a land exchange which will greatly benefit the 
community of Sitka, AK. This bill 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; provide for a spectacular inholding encompassing 
approximately 50 acres on Admiralty Island to be added to the Admiralty 
Island National Monument; extinguish a reversionary interest on land 
owned at Sitka by the Alaska Pulp Corp. In return for the 
extinguishment of the reversionary interest, the corporation will 
convey the 50-acre inholding on Admiralty Island to the Forest Service 
to be included in the monument, as well as the water system lands to 
the city of Sitka.
  Mr. President, Admiralty Island is an area with outstanding 
conservation values. 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 area as appropriate.
  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 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.
                                 ______