[Senate Report 107-27]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 62
107th Congress Report
SENATE
1st Session 107-27
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HUNA TOTEM CORPORATION LAND EXCHANGE ACT
_______
June 5, 2001.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Murkowski, from the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 506]
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was
referred the bill (S. 506) to amend the Alaska Native Claims
Settlement Act, to provide for a land exchange between the
Secretary of Agriculture and the Huna Totem Corporation, and
for other purposes, having considered the same, reports
favorably thereon without amendment and recommends that the
bill do pass.
Purpose of the Measure
The purpose of S. 506 as ordered reported, is to direct the
Secretary of Agriculture to enter into an equal value exchange
of lands and interests therein, in the Tongass National Forest
with Huna Totem Corporation and Sealaska Corporation.
Background and Need
The city of Hoonah is located in southeast Alaska on the
northeast part of Chichagoff Island. Hoonah has been the home
of the Huna people since the last advance of the great ice
masses into Glacier Bay, forcing the Huna people to look for
new homes. Since the Huna people had traditionally used the
Hoonah area each summer as a subsistence harvesting area, it
was natural for them to settle in the area now called Hoonah.
The community has a population of approximately 918 residents
and is located forty miles from Juneau, Alaska's capital city.
The Huna Totem Corporation, an Alaska Native Corporation
formed pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
(ANCSA) (P.L. 92-203) is located within the Village of Hoonah.
Huna Totem is the largest Tlingit Indian Village Corporation in
southeast Alaska. Under the terms of ANCSA each village
corporation had to select lands within the core township or
townships in which all or part of the Native village is
located.
In 1975, Huna Totem filed its ANCSA land selections within
the two-mile radius of the city of Hoonah as mandated by ANCSA.
Since the community of Hoonah is located along the shoreline at
the base of Hoonah Head Mountain, the surrounding lands are
steep hillsides, cliffs, or designated watershed for the
municipal water sources. Most of the land, approximately 1,999
acres, is not conducive to logging or development due to the
topography and watershed limitations.
To resolve this problem, S. 506 would require the Huna
Totem Corporation to convey ownership of approximately 1,999
acres of land used for the municipal watershed to the United
States Forest Service. In exchange, the Huna Totem Corporation
will be allowed to select other lands readily accessible to
Hoonah in order to fulfill their ANCSA entitlement. Sealaska,
the regional corporation in the area created by ANCSA, owns the
subsurface estate. The bill directs an equal value exchange of
the subsurface estate between Sealaska and the Forest Service.
This legislation also requires the exchange of lands to be of
equal value. Lastly, the legislation requires that any
potential timber harvested from land acquired by Huna Totem
Corporation not be available for export.
Legislative History
S. 506 is identical to S. 426 from the 106th Congress as
passed by the Senate. S. 426 was introduced by Senator
Murkowski on February 12, 1999. Except for minor technical
changes made in S. 426, an identical bill was considered by the
Committee during the 105th Congress. S. 426 was ordered
favorably reported by the Committee with amendments on March 4,
1999 (S. Rept. 106-30) and passed the Senate with amendments on
April 19, 1999. The measure was referred to the House Resources
Committee which ordered the bill favorably reported on
September 13, 2000. No further action was taken in the House.
Committee Recommendations and Tabulation of Votes
The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in open
business session on May 16, 2001, by a unanimous voice vote of
a quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 506,
without amendment.
Section-by-Section Analysis
Section 1 states that the short title is the ``Huna Totem
Corporation Land Exchange Act''.
Section 2 amends the Alaskan Native Claims Settlement Act
by adding a new section that directs the Secretary of
Agriculture in exchange for an equal value of lands, to convey
to Huna Totem Corporation the surface estate and to Sealaska
Corporation the subsurface estate to certain lands.
Subsection (b) contains a legal description of lands to be
conveyed by the Huna Totem Corporation and Sealaska to the
Secretary along with a reference to maps showing the municipal
watershed. Subsection (e) provides that any timber harvested
from the lands conveyed to Huna Totem Corporation under this
section not be available for the purpose of exporting that
timber from the State of Alaska. This section also prohibits
any party to which Huna Totem Corporation may sell, trade,
exchange, substitute, or convey any of the timber, from the
lands it receives under this section, from using the timber for
the purpose of export. Subsection (f) provides that the land
conveyed to Huna Totem Corporation and Sealaska Corporation be
considered as land conveyed under ANCSA for all purpose.
Cost and Budgetary Considerations
The following estimate of the cost of this measure has been
provided by the Congressional Budget Office:
S. 506--Huna Totem Corporation Land Exchange Act
CBO estimates that enacting S. 506 would have no
significant impact on the federal budget. Because the bill
could affect direct spending (including offsetting receipts),
pay-as-you-go procedures would apply, but we estimate that any
such impacts would be less than $500,000 a year. S. 506
contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as
defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no
significant costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
S. 506 would direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey
the surface estate to certain federal lands in the Tongass
National Forest to the Huna Totem Corporation, and also to
convey the subsurface estate to such federal lands to the
Sealaska Corporation. The lands to be conveyed would be
selected by the two corporations from federal lands depicted on
the map described in the bill and dated September 1, 1997.
Under the bill, the Huna Totem Corporation and Sealaska
Corporation would convey to the United States approximately
2,000 acres of surface and subsurface estate.
S. 506 does not specify the federal lands to be conveyed to
the corporations, but it provides that the exchange be on the
basis of equal value. Because the federal budget is on a cash
basis, the budgetary impact of the land exchange is measured by
its effect on the government's cash flow, such as changes in
offsetting receipts from timber harvests. CBO estimates that
enacting this legislation could decrease offsetting receipts to
the federal government. According to the Forest Service, the
agency would generally consider the area acquired from the
corporation to be unsuitable for timber harvesting because it
lies within the watershed and viewshed of the village of
Hoonah. Some of the federal land that could be conveyed to the
corporation under S. 506 currently does not generate federal
timber receipts because it has recently been logged; however, a
portion of the federal land that could be conveyed is not
currently being harvested because it has been set aside as part
of a conservation reserve under the Tongass National Forest
management plan.
According to the agency, if the corporation harvested those
areas following the exchange, then the agency would be
obligated under the forest management plan to reserve for
conservation another area of federal land within the Tongass
National Forest that otherwise would be harvested under current
law. We estimate that any resulting loss of timber receipts
would be less than $500,000 a year over the 2002-2011 period.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Megan Carroll.
This estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
Regulatory Impact Evaluation
In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following
evaluation of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in
carrying out S. 506 The bill is not a regulatory measure in the
sense of imposing Government-established standards or
significant economic responsibilities on private individuals
and businesses.
No personal information would be collected in administering
the program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal
privacy.
Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the
enactment of S. 506, as ordered reported.
Executive Communications
On March 9, 2001, the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources requested legislative reports from the Department of
Agriculture and the Office of Management and Budget setting
forth Executive agency recommendations on S. 506. These reports
had not been received at the time the report on S. 506 was
filed. When the reports become available, the Chairman will
request that they be printed in the Congressional Record for
the advice of the Senate.
Changes in Existing Law
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by
the bill S. 506, as ordered reported, are shown as follows
(existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black
brackets, new matter is printed in italic, existing law in
which no change is proposed is shown in roman):
ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT OF 1971 (43 U.S.C. 1601, et seq.),
as amended
SEC. XX. HUNA TOTEM CORPORATION LAND EXCHANGE.
(a) General.--In exchange for lands and interests therein
described in subsection (b), the Secretary of Agriculture
shall, subject to valid existing rights, convey to the Huna
Totem Corporation the surface estate and to Sealaska
Corporation the subsurface estate of the Federal lands
identified by Huna Totem Corporation pursuant to subsection
(c). The values of the lands and interests therein exchanged
pursuant to this section shall be equal.
(b) The surface estate to be conveyed by Huna Totem
Corporation and the subsurface estate to be conveyed by
Sealaska Corporation to the Secretary of Agriculture are the
municipal watershed lands as shown on the map dated September
1, 1997, and labeled attachment A, and are further described as
follows:
MUNICIPAL WATERSHED AND GREENBELT BUFFER
T43S, R61E, C.R.M.
Portion of Section Approximate Acres
16........................................................ 2
21........................................................ 610
22........................................................ 227
23........................................................ 35
26........................................................ 447
27........................................................ 400
33........................................................ 202
34........................................................ 76
Approximate total......................................... 1,999.
(c) Within ninety (90) days of the receipt by the United
States of the conveyances of the surface estate and subsurface
estate described in subsection (b), Huna Totem Corporation
shall be entitled to identify lands readily accessible to the
Village of Hoonah and, where possible, located on the road
system to the Village of Hoonah, as depicted on the map dated
September 1, 1997, and labeled Attachment B, Huna Totem
Corporation shall notify the Secretary of Agriculture in
writing which lands Huna Totem Corporation has identified.
(d) Timing of Conveyance and Valuation.--The conveyance
mandated by subsection (a) by the Secretary of Agriculture
shall occur within ninety (90) days after the list of
identified lands is submitted by Huna Totem Corporation
pursuant to subsection (c).
(e) Timber Manufacturing; Export Restriction.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, timber harvested
from land conveyed to Huna Totem Corporation under this section
shall not be exported as unprocessed logs from Alaska, nor may
Huna Totem Corporation sell, trade, exchange, substitute, or
otherwise convey that timber to any person for the purpose of
exporting that timber from the State of Alaska.
(f) Relation to Other Requirements.--The land conveyed to
Huna Totem Corporation and Sealaska Corporation under this
section shall be considered, for all purposes, land conveyed
under the Alaska Native claims Settlement Act.
(g) Maps.--The maps referred to in this section shall be
maintained on file in the Office of the Chief, United States
Forest Service, and in the Office of the Secretary of the
Interior, Washington, D.C. The acreage cited in this section in
approximate, and if there is any discrepancy between cited
acreage and the land depicted on the specified maps, the maps
shall control. The maps do not constitute an attempt by the
United States to convey State or private land.