Chugach Alaska Land Exchange Oil Spill Recovery Act of 2025

The Chugach Alaska Land Exchange Oil Spill Recovery Act of 2025 aims to resolve a long-standing land ownership conflict stemming from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Following the spill, the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council (EVOSTC) used settlement funds to acquire over 600,000 acres for conservation, including 241,000 acres of surface estate and conservation easements in the Chugach Region. A significant issue arose because, under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA), Chugach Alaska Corporation, a Regional Corporation, retained the subsurface estate for approximately 231,000 acres of this land, while the federal government acquired the surface estate . This split ownership created a direct conflict between the conservation goals of the EVOSTC Program and Chugach Alaska's responsibility to develop its subsurface resources for its Native shareholders. To address this, Congress mandated a study by the Bureau of Land Management, which identified viable federal land for an exchange. This bill now authorizes and directs the Secretary of the Interior to exchange approximately 231,000 acres of Chugach Alaska's subsurface estate for about 65,374 acres of federal fee simple land within one year of enactment. The federal land to be conveyed to Chugach Alaska includes specific parcels of National Forest System land and land administered by the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service. Conversely, Chugach Alaska will convey its subsurface interests in areas where the United States holds surface fee title or conservation easements, or where the State holds fee title and the United States holds a conservation easement. This exchange is intended to consolidate federal ownership of both surface and subsurface estates for conservation purposes, thereby perfecting the Program's goals. It also supports ANCSA objectives by balancing cultural and economic land values for Native corporations, and is deemed to be in the public interest.