Chugach Alaska Land Exchange Oil Spill Recovery Act of 2025
Key claim: The bill authorizes a land exchange under which the Chugach Alaska Corporation would convey about 231,000 acres of subsurface estate to the Department of the Interior in return for about 65,374 acres of federal fee-simple land in the Chugach region of Alaska, with limited exclusions for village development rights and shareholder homesites.
Abstract
(HR3903 · 119th Congress) Chugach Alaska Land Exchange Oil Spill Recovery Act of 2025 This bill authorizes a land exchange between the Chugach Alaska Corporation (also known as Chugach, an Alaska Native regional corporation in southcentral Alaska) and the federal government. Specifically, if Chugach offers to convey to the Department of the Interior all right, title, and interest of Chugach in and to approximately 231,000 acres of subsurface estate within one year of the bill’s enactment, then Interior must accept the offer and convey all right, title, and interest of the federal government in and to approximately 65,374 acres of fee simple land located in the Chugach region. (The Chugach region includes portions of land on the Kenai Peninsula and the coast of Prince William Sound in Alaska.) The bill directs Chugach to exclude from its conveyance to Interior all right, title, and interest in any land, not to exceed a total of 209 acres, for which a village corporation has retained development rights (other than timber development rights) or that has been designated for a shareholder homesite program. Latest action (2026-03-04): Received in the Senate.
Why this matters
Land exchanges with Alaska Native regional corporations restructure who controls surface and subsurface estates across large tracts of Alaska, shaping which lands are available for future housing, village expansion, and resource development versus federal conservation. For builders and shareholders in the Chugach region, the deal clarifies title on ~65,374 acres of formerly federal land while consolidating subsurface holdings under Interior, a pattern relevant to broader federal–Native land conveyance practice.