H.R. 3903 — Chugach Alaska Land Exchange Oil Spill Recovery Act of 2025

This section sets forth the purposes of the Act as (1) authorizing, directing, and expediting the exchange of land and interests in land between Chugach Alaska and the United States; and (2) consolidating federal ownership of the surface and subsurface estate of federal land and interests acquired under the Program.

This section defines terms used in the Act, including (1) Native Corporation, Regional Corporation, and Village Corporation, which have the meanings given in section 3 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602); (2) Chugach Alaska, meaning the Chugach Alaska Corporation (a Regional Corporation); (3) Chugach Region Land Study Report, meaning the report submitted to Congress by the Secretary pursuant to section 1113 of Public Law 116-9 (133 Stat. 614); (4) Federal exchange land, meaning approximately 65,374 acres of fee simple land in the Chugach Region as described in section 4(e); (5) non-Federal land, meaning approximately 231,000 acres of subsurface parcels owned by Chugach Alaska under ANCSA (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), as described in section 4(f), for which the United States or State has acquired surface fee title or a conservation easement under the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Habitat Protection and Acquisition Program; (6) Program, meaning that Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council program; (7) Secretary, meaning the Secretary of the Interior; and (8) State, meaning the State of Alaska.

This section directs the Secretary of the Interior to accept, if offered by Chugach Alaska Corporation within one year of enactment, approximately 130,470 acres of specified non-Federal subsurface estate in exchange for approximately 65,374 acres of specified Federal land—comprising 63,414 acres of National Forest System land administered by the Forest Service and 1,960 acres of land administered by the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service, as identified in the Chugach Regional Land Study and Report—pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), subject to (1) reservation of public easements required under ANCSA section 17(b) (43 U.S.C. 1616(b)), (2) valid existing rights, and (3) acceptable title to the non-Federal land. Land conveyed to Chugach is treated as ANCSA conveyance land. (As background, ANCSA resolved Alaska Native land claims by conveying public lands and funds to 12 Regional Corporations, including Chugach, and section 22(j) authorizes such exchanges to consolidate holdings or fulfill settlement objectives.)

This section authorizes the Secretary and Chugach Alaska to correct, by mutual agreement, minor errors in any map, acreage estimate, or description of land conveyed or exchanged under this Act. The section further establishes that, in the event of a conflict between such a map, acreage estimate, or description, the map controls unless the Secretary and Chugach Alaska mutually agree otherwise.