Chugach Alaska Land Exchange Oil Spill Recovery Act of 2024

The Chugach Alaska Land Exchange Oil Spill Recovery Act of 2024 resolves a land ownership conflict stemming from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill cleanup efforts. The bill authorizes a land exchange where Chugach Alaska (a Native Regional Corporation) would convey approximately 231,000 acres of subsurface rights to the Federal Government in exchange for about 65,400 acres of surface land. This addresses a longstanding split ownership issue where the Federal Government owned surface rights acquired through oil spill settlement funds, but Chugach Alaska retained subsurface rights, creating management challenges. The exchange implements recommendations from a 2022 Bureau of Land Management study and aims to consolidate surface and subsurface ownership to better manage conservation areas while allowing Chugach Alaska to develop its subsurface resources as required by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.