Sec. 2988. RESOLUTION OF WALKER RIVER PAIUTE TRIBE CLAIMS
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## SEC. 2988 RESOLUTION OF WALKER RIVER PAIUTE TRIBE CLAIMS ###
(a)Payment to Tribe Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this subtitle and subject to the availability of appropriations, the Secretary of the Navy shall transfer $20,000,000 of amounts appropriated to the Secretary of the Navy for operation and maintenance to an account designated by the Walker River Paiute Tribe (referred to in this section as the “Tribe”) to resolve the claims of the Tribe against the United States for the contamination, impairment, and loss of use of approximately 6,000 acres of land that is within the boundaries of the reservation of the Tribe. ###
(b)Limitation on Use of Land Prior to Completion of Payment The Secretary of the Navy shall not make operational use of the expanded areas of the B–16, B–17, and B–20 Ranges that were not subject to previous withdrawals comprising the Fallon Range Training Complex and that are withdrawn and reserved by section 2981 until the date on which the amount is transferred under subsection (a). ###
(c)Additional Trust Land ####
(1)Environmental site assessment Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this subtitle and prior to taking the land described in paragraph
(4)into trust for the benefit of the Tribe under paragraph (3)(A), the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (referred to in this subsection as the “Director”) shall complete an environmental site assessment to determine with respect to the land— #####
(A)the likelihood of the presence of hazardous substance-related or other environmental liability; and #####
(B)if the Director determines the presence of hazardous substance-related or other environmental liability is likely under subparagraph (A)— ######
(i)the extent of the contamination caused by such hazardous substance or other environmental liability; and ######
(ii)whether that liability can be remediated by the United States. ####
(2)Contaminated land #####
(A)In general If the Director determines pursuant to the environmental site assessment completed under paragraph
(1)that there is a likelihood of the presence of hazardous substance-related or other environmental liability on the land described in paragraph (4), the Director shall consult with the Tribe on whether the land is still suitable for transfer into trust for the benefit of the Tribe. #####
(B)Determination If the Tribe determines land identified as contaminated under subparagraph
(A)is still suitable to take into trust for the benefit of the Tribe, the Director, notwithstanding any other provision of law, shall take the land into trust for the benefit of the Tribe in accordance with paragraph (3). ####
(3)Land to be held in trust for the tribe; identification of alternative land #####
(A)In general If the Tribe determines pursuant to paragraph
(2)that the land described in paragraph
(4)should be taken into trust for the benefit of the Tribe (including if such land is determined to be contaminated), subject to valid existing rights, all right, title, and interest of the United States in and to the land shall be— ######
(i)held in trust by the United States for the benefit of the Tribe; and ######
(ii)made part of the existing reservation of the Tribe. #####
(B)Identification of suitable and comparable alternative land If the Tribe determines pursuant to paragraph (2), due to discovered environmental issues that the land described in paragraph
(4)is not suitable to be taken into trust for the benefit of the Tribe, not later than 1 year after the date on which the Tribe makes that determination, the Director and the Tribe shall enter into an agreement to identify suitable and comparable alternative land in relative distance and located in the same county as the land described in paragraph
(4)to be withdrawn from Federal use and taken into trust for the benefit of the Tribe. #####
(C)Environmental liability ######
(i)In general Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the United States shall not be liable for any soil, surface water, groundwater, or other contamination resulting from the disposal, release, or presence of any environmental contamination on any portion of the land described in paragraph
(4)that occurred on or before the date on which the land was taken into trust for the benefit of the Tribe. The United States shall not fund or take any action to remediate such land after such land has been so taken into trust. ######
(ii)Environmental contamination description An environmental contamination described in clause
(i)includes any oil or petroleum products, hazardous substances, hazardous materials, hazardous waste, pollutants, toxic substances, solid waste, or any other environmental contamination or hazard as defined in any Federal law or law of the State of Nevada. ####
(4)Land described Subject to paragraph (5), the land to be held in trust for the benefit of the Tribe under paragraph (3)(A) is the approximately 8,170 acres of Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Reclamation land located in Churchill and Mineral Counties, Nevada, as generally depicted on the map entitled “Walker River Paiute Trust Lands” and dated April 19, 2022, and more particularly described as follows: #####
(A)Fernley east parcel The following land in Churchill County, Nevada: ######
(i)All land held by the Bureau of Reclamation in T. 20 N., R. 26 E., sec. 28, Mount Diablo Meridian. ######
(ii)All land held by the Bureau of Reclamation in T. 20 N., R. 26 E., sec. 36, Mount Diablo Meridian. #####
(B)Walker lake parcel The following land in Mineral County, Nevada: ######
(i)All land held by the Bureau of Land Management in T. 11 N., R. 29 E., secs. 35 and 36, Mount Diablo Meridian. ######
(ii)All land held by the Bureau of Reclamation in T. 10 N., R. 30 E., secs. 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 16, 17, 20, 21, 28, 29, 32, and 33, Mount Diablo Meridian. ######
(iii)All land held by the Bureau of Land Management in T. 10.5 N., R. 30 E., secs. 31 and 32, Mount Diablo Meridian. ####
(5)Administration #####
(A)Survey Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this subtitle, the Secretary of the Interior (referred to in this paragraph as the “Secretary”) shall complete a survey to fully describe, and adequately define the boundaries of, the land described in paragraph (4). #####
(B)Legal description ######
(i)In general Upon completion of the survey required under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register a legal description of the land described in paragraph (4). ######
(ii)Technical corrections Before the date of publication of the legal description under this subparagraph, the Secretary may correct any technical or clerical errors in the legal description as the Secretary determines appropriate. ######
(iii)Effect Effective beginning on the date of publication of the legal description under this subparagraph, the legal description shall be considered to be the official legal description of the land to be held in trust for the benefit of the Tribe under paragraph (3)(A). ####
(6)Use of trust land The land taken into trust under paragraph (3)(A) shall not be eligible, or considered to have been taken into trust, for class II gaming or class III gaming (as those terms are defined in section 4 of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 2703)). ###
(d)Eligibility for Federal and Federally Funded Programs Funds paid to the Tribe pursuant to this section, including any interest or investment income earned, may not be treated as income or resources or otherwise used as the basis for denying or reducing the basis for Federal financial assistance or other Federal benefit (including under the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 301 et seq.)) to which the Tribe, a member of the Tribe, or a household would otherwise be entitled.
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