Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 104 Part 1.djvu/606

This page needs to be proofread.

104 STAT. 572 PUBLIC LAW 101-380 —AUG. 18, 1990 "(2) Nothing in this section shall affect or modify in any way the obligations or liabilities of any person under other Federal or State law, including common law, with respect to discharges of oil.". Subtitle C—Provisions Applicable to Alaska Natives Claims. 43 USC 1642. Canada. SEC. 8301. LAND CONVEYANCES. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (Public Law 96-487) is amended by adding the following after section 1437: "SEC. 1438. Solely for the purpose of bringing claims that arise from the discharge of oil, the Congress confirms that all right, title, and interest of the United States in and to the lands validly selected pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) by Alaska Native corporations are deemed to have vested in the respective corporations as of March 23, 1989. This section shall take effect with respect to each Alaska Native corporation only upon its irrevocable election to accept an interim convey- ance of such land and notice of such election has been formally transmitted to the Secretary of the Interior.". SEC. 8302. IMPACT OF POTENTIAL SPILLS IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN ON ALASKA NATIVES. Section 1005 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (16 U.S.C. 3145) is amended— (1) by amending the heading to read as follows: "WILDLIFE RESOURCES PORTION OF STUDY AND IMPACT OF POTENTIAL OIL SPILLS IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN"; (2) by inserting "(a)" after "SEC 1005."; and (3) by adding at the end the following: "(b)(1) The Congress finds that— "(A) Canada has discovered commercial quantities of oil and gas in the Amalagak region of the Northwest Territory; "(B) Canada is exploring alternatives for transporting the oil from the Amalagak field to markets in Asia and the Far East; "(C) one of the options the Canadian Government is exploring involves transshipment of oil from the Amalagak field across the Beaufort Sea to tankers which would transport the oil overseas; "(D) the tankers would traverse the American Exclusive Economic Zone through the Beaufort Sea into the Chuckchi Sea and then through the Bering Straits; "(E) the Beaufort and Chuckchi Seas are vital to Alaska's Native people, providing them with subsistence in the form of walrus, seals, fish, and whales; "(F) the Secretary of the Interior has conducted Outer Continental Shelf lease sales in the Beaufort and Chuckchi Seas and oil and gas exploration is ongoing; "(G) an oil spill in the Arctic Ocean, if not properly contained and cleaned up, could have significant impacts on the indigenous people of Alaska's North Slope and on the Arctic environment; and