[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ANILCA if protests against such applications have been withdrawn.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