[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 31 (Friday, February 14, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 7033]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-3700]
[[Page 7033]]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of the Secretary
[DD-7000-DO1]
Notice of Request for Comments on Lifting the Bar to Statutory
Approval of Alaska Native Allotment Applications Under Section 905 of
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) Following the
Withdrawal of Protests
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Interior.
ACTION: Request for comments on proposed Secretarial decision.
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SUMMARY: This Notice is published in accordance with the authority of
the Secretary of the Interior to review a determination of the Interior
Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) or any employee of the Department and to
render a final decision. Two Alaska Natives have requested the
Secretary to review IBLA decisions concerning their allotment
applications under the Alaska Native Allotment Act. While awaiting a
legal opinion from the Solicitor, the Secretary herein requests
comments on the implications of granting the portion of the petition
that would regard allotment applications as approved under Sec. 905 of
ANILCA if protests against such applications have been withdrawn.
DATES: Submit comments by April 15, 1997. The Office of the Secretary
may, but need not, consider comments received or postmarked after this
date in preparing the final decision.
ADDRESSES: If you wish to comment, you may hand-deliver comments to the
Bureau of Land Management, Administrative Record, Room 401, 1620 L
Street, NW, Washington, DC; or mail comments to the Bureau of Land
Management, Administrative Record, Room 401LS, 1849 C Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20240. You may also transit comments electronically, via
the Internet to WOC[email protected]. Please include ``Attn:
Secretarial Decision'', your name and address in your message. If you
do not receive a confirmation from the system that we have received
your Internet message, contact us directly at (202) 452-5030.
You will be able to review comments at Bureau of Land Management's
Regulatory Affairs Group office, Room 401, 1620 L Street, NW,
Washington, DC, during regular business hours (7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.)
Monday through Friday.
If you wish to withhold your name or street address, except for the
city or town, from public review or disclosure under the Freedom of
Information Act, you must state this prominently at the beginning of
your comment. Such requests will be honored to the extent allowed by
law. All submissions from organizations or businesses, and from
individuals identifying themselves as representatives or officials of
organizations or businesses, will be made available for public
inspection in their entirety.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sandra J. Ashton, Office of the
Solicitor, (202) 208-6526.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under 43 CFR Sec. 4.5(a), the Secretary of
the Interior may take jurisdiction at any stage of a matter before the
IBLA or an employee of the Department and render a final decision in
the matter reviewed. By petition dated March 27, 1996, Edward N.
O'Leary requested that the Secretary take jurisdiction concerning his
allotment application filed under the Alaska Native Allotment Act, 34
Stat. 197, repealed by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA),
85 Stat. 688 (1971).
In the same petition, another allotment applicant requested that
the Secretary review the denial of his application based on application
of the ``statutory life'' regulation of the Bureau of Land Management
(BLM). This request is not being addressed in this Notice but is being
considered separately.
Section 905 of the ANILCA, 43 U.S.C. Sec. 1634, sets forth a
statutory approval of pending applications for Alaska Native
allotments, if certain conditions are met, unless a timely and
sufficient protest was filed. In the O'Leary case, 132 IBLA 337 (1995),
the IBLA ruled that the BLM was required to adjudicate an allotment
application even though a protest to the allotment application had been
withdrawn. The petition asserts that the IBLA incorrectly interpreted
Sec. 905 in reaching this result. The petitioner believes that
allotment applications qualify for automatic approval under Sec. 905 if
and when a protest which prevented such approval is withdrawn.
The Secretary is favorably disposed to granting that portion of the
petition which would have Sec. 905 approval vest upon withdrawal of
protests to allotment applications. This action would require the
Secretary to overrule the IBLA interpretation of Sec. 905, which is
that allotment applications must be adjudicated if a sufficient protest
was filed even though the protest was subsequently withdrawn.
If the Secretary takes this action, the withdrawal of a protest
against an allotment application will have the effect of regarding that
application as approved under Sec. 905.
This result would arguably fulfill the purposes for which Sec. 905
was enacted: to expedite the approval of allotment applications and to
fulfill the commitments of the 1971 ANCSA where no countervailing
interests requiring full adjudication were presented.
The Secretary has requested that the Solicitor review Sec. 905 of
ANILCA, ANCSA, relevant regulations and caselaw, and the IBLA
decisions, specifically including the decision that first articulates
IBLA's holding, Steven Northway, 96 IBLA 301 (1987), in order to
determine the authority of the Secretary to pursue this course of
action and to evaluate the effects of lifting the bar to Sec. 905
approval of Alaska Native Allotment Applications.
While the Solicitor conducts his review, interested persons and
organizations may submit their legal and factual arguments on the
authority of the Secretary to pursue this course of action and on the
effects of applying Sec. 905 this way. Although comments on any
possible or potential effects will be welcomed, comments are encouraged
concerning the effect that this application of Sec. 905 would have on
public access across allotments that would be approved under this
course of action. Specific comments also are requested on whether a
Secretarial decision along these lines should be applied to all open
Native allotment applications, regardless of the stage of the
application, or whether it should be limited to applications that have
not been processed beyond a certain stage; for example, on which no
contest proceeding has been held.
Dated: February 7, 1997.
Bob Armstrong,
Assistant Secretary of the Interior.
[FR Doc. 97-3700 Filed 2-13-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-84-P