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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 640d-10. Resettlement lands for Navajo Tribe
(a) Transfer of lands under jurisdiction of Bureau of Land
Management; State and private land exchanges; valuation; acquired
private lands; lands to be held in trust
The Secretary is authorized and directed to -
(1) transfer not to exceed two hundred and fifty thousand acres
of lands under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management
within the State (!1) of Arizona and New Mexico to the Navajo
Tribe: Provided, That, in order to facilitate such transfer, the
Secretary is authorized to exchange such lands for State or
private lands of equal value or, if they are not equal, the
values shall be equalized by the payment of money to the grantor
or to the Secretary as the circumstances require so long as
payment does not exceed 25 per centum of the total value of the
lands transferred out of Federal ownership. The Secretary shall
try to reduce the payment to as small an amount as possible.
(2) (!2) on behalf of the United States, accept title to not to
exceed one hundred and fifty thousand acres of private lands
acquired by the Navajo Tribe. Title thereto shall be taken in the
name of the United States in trust for the benefit of the Navajo
Tribe as a part of the Navajo Reservation.
Subject to the provisions of the following sentences of this
subsection, all rights, title and interests of the United States in
the lands described in paragraph (1), including such interests the
United States as lessor has in such lands under the Mineral Leasing
Act of 1920, as amended [30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.], will, subject to
existing leasehold interests, be transferred without cost to the
Navajo Tribe and title thereto shall be taken by the United States
in trust for the benefit of the Navajo Tribe as a part of the
Navajo Reservation. So long as selected lands coincide with pending
noncompetitive coal lease applications under the Mineral Leasing
Act of 1920, as amended, the Secretary may not transfer any United
States interests in such lands until the noncompetitive coal lease
applications have been fully adjudicated. If such adjudication
results in issuance of Federal coal leases to the applicants, such
transfer shall be subject to such leases. The leaseholders rights
and interests in such coal leases will in no way be diminished by
the transfer of the rights, title and interests of the United
States in such lands to the Navajo Tribe. If any selected lands are
subject to valid claims located under the Mining Law of 1872 the
transfer of the selected lands may be made subject to those claims.
(2) (!2) Those interests in lands acquired in the State of New
Mexico by the Navajo Tribe pursuant to subsection 2 (!3) of this
section shall be subject to the right of the State of New Mexico
to receive the same value from any sales, bonuses, rentals,
royalties and interest charges from the conveyance, sale, lease,
development, and production of coal as would have been received
had the subsurface interest in such lands remained with the
United States and been leased pursuant to the Mineral Lands
Leasing Act of 1920, as amended [30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.], or any
successor Act; or otherwise developed. The State's interest shall
be accounted for in the same manner as it would have been if a
lease had issued pursuant to the Mineral Lands Leasing Act of
1920, as amended.
(b) Proximity of lands to be transferred or acquired to Navajo
Reservation; lands to be used for exchanges
A border of any parcel of land so transferred or acquired shall
be within eighteen miles of the present boundary of the Navajo
Reservation: Provided, That, except as limited by subsection (g) of
this section, Bureau of Land Management lands anywhere within the
States of Arizona and New Mexico may be used for the purpose of
exchanging for lands within eighteen miles of the present boundary
of the reservation.
(c) Selection of lands to be transferred or acquired; time period;
consultation; restriction of New Mexico lands
Lands to be so transferred or acquired shall, for a period of
three years after July 8, 1980, be selected by the Navajo Tribe
after consultation with the Commissioner: Provided, That, at the
end of such period, the Commissioner shall have the authority to
select such lands after consultation with the Navajo Tribe:
Provided further, That not to exceed thirty-five thousand acres of
lands so transferred or acquired shall be selected within the State
of New Mexico.
(d) Progress and status of land transfer program; reports to
Congressional committees
The Commissioner, in consultation with the Secretary, shall
within sixty days following the first year of enactment of this
subsection report to the House Committee on Interior and Insular
Affairs and the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, on the
progress of the land transfer program authorized in subsection (a)
of this section. Sixty days following the second year of enactment
of this subsection the Commissioner, in consultation with the
Secretary, shall submit a report to the House Committee on Interior
and Insular Affairs and the Senate Select Committee on Indian
Affairs giving the status of the land transfer program authorized
in subsection (a) of this section, making any recommendations that
the Commissioner deems necessary to complete the land transfer
program.
(e) Entitlement lands payments
Payments being made to any State or local government pursuant to
the provisions of chapter 69 of title 31, on any lands transferred
pursuant to subsection (a)(1) of this section shall continue to be
paid as if such transfer had not occurred.
(f) Acquisition of title to surface and subsurface interest; time
period; public notice; report to Congressional committees; rights
of subsurface owner
(1) For a period of three years after July 8, 1980, the Secretary
shall not accept title to lands acquired pursuant to subsection
(a)(2) (!4) of this section unless fee title to both surface and
subsurface has been acquired or the owner of the subsurface
interest consents to the acceptance of the surface interest in
trust by the Secretary.
(2) If, ninety days prior to the expiration of such three year
period, the full entitlement of private lands has not been acquired
by the Navajo Tribe and accepted by the Secretary in trust for the
Navajo Tribe under the restrictions of paragraph (1) of this
subsection, the Commissioner, after public notice, shall, within
thirty days, make a report thereon to the House Committee on
Interior and Insular Affairs and the Senate Select Committee on
Indian Affairs.
(3) In any case where the Secretary accepts, in trust, title to
the surface of lands acquired pursuant to subsection (a)(2) (!4) of
this section where the subsurface interest is owned by third
parties, the trust status of such surface ownership and the
inclusion of the land within the Navajo Reservation shall not
impair any existing right of the subsurface owner to develop the
subsurface interest and to have access to the surface for the
purpose of such development.
(g) Lands not available for transfer
No public lands lying north and west of the Colorado River in the
State of Arizona shall be available for transfer under this
section.
(h) Administration of lands transferred or acquired
The lands transferred or acquired pursuant to this section shall
be administered by the Commissioner until relocation under the
Commission's (!5) plan is complete and such lands shall be used
solely for the benefit of Navajo families residing on
Hopi-partitioned lands as of December 22, 1974: Provided, That the
sole authority for final planning decisions regarding the
development of lands acquired pursuant to this subchapter shall
rest with the Commissioner until such time as the Commissioner has
discharged his statutory responsibility under this subchapter.
(i) Negotiations regarding land exchanges or leases
The Commissioner shall have authority to enter into negotiations
with the Navajo and Hopi Tribes with a view to arranging and
carrying out land exchanges or leases, or both, between such
tribes; and lands which may be acquired or transferred pursuant to
this section may, with the approval of the Commissioner, be
included in any land exchange between the tribes authorized under
section 640d-22 of this title.
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