Senate bill would swap 65,000 acres of federal land for Chugach Alaska's underground rights beneath oil spill conservation lands

If Chugach Alaska Corporation offers all its rights in the covered underground land, the Interior Secretary must accept and trade the federal exchange land to it. Chugach Alaska would give up its subsurface rights to about 231,000 acres where the government or State holds the surface land or a conservation easement under the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council's habitat program. In return it would receive about 65,374 acres of federal land. Title to the land Chugach Alaska conveys must be acceptable to the Secretary. The trade is subject to valid existing rights of others and to public easements required by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Chugach Alaska may keep up to 209 acres where a Village Corporation kept development rights or that is set aside for shareholder homesites. The trade is due within 1 year after enactment.

Chugach Alaska would receive about 63,414 acres of national forest land and about 1,960 acres of Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service land. The national forest parcels include Drier Bay, Kushtaka Lake, Snow River, Hinchinbrook Island, Martin River, Johnson River, and Robinson Mountains. The other parcels are Taan Fjord, Kageet Point, and Thompson Pass. Land received would be treated as land conveyed under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. If a map, acreage estimate, or description conflicts, the map controls unless both sides agree otherwise. The Secretary must convey the federal land as soon as practicable after receiving title to the underground land.