Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 119.djvu/726

 119 STAT. 708

PUBLIC LAW 109–58—AUG. 8, 2005

‘‘(II) waive administration of the lease that covers the subsurface estate conveyed to the Corporation; and ‘‘(iii) the segregation of the lease described in clause (ii)(I) has no effect on the obligations of the lessee under either of the resulting leases, including obligations relating to operations, production, or other circumstances (other than payment of rentals or royalties); and ‘‘(C) nothing in this subsection limits the authority of the Secretary of the Interior to manage the federallyowned surface estate within the Reserve.’’. (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 104 of the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976 (42 U.S.C. 6504) is amended— (1) by striking subsection (a); and (2) by redesignating subsections (b) through (d) as subsections (a) through (c), respectively. Alaska. 42 USC 15906.

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SEC. 348. NORTH SLOPE SCIENCE INITIATIVE.

(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior shall establish a long-term initiative to be known as the ‘‘North Slope Science Initiative’’ (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Initiative’’). (2) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Initiative shall be to implement efforts to coordinate collection of scientific data that will provide a better understanding of the terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems of the North Slope of Alaska. (b) OBJECTIVES.—To ensure that the Initiative is conducted through a comprehensive science strategy and implementation plan, the Initiative shall, at a minimum— (1) identify and prioritize information needs for inventory, monitoring, and research activities to address the individual and cumulative effects of past, ongoing, and anticipated development activities and environmental change on the North Slope; (2) develop an understanding of information needs for regulatory and land management agencies, local governments, and the public; (3) focus on prioritization of pressing natural resource management and ecosystem information needs, coordination, and cooperation among agencies and organizations; (4) coordinate ongoing and future inventory, monitoring, and research activities to minimize duplication of effort, share financial resources and expertise, and assure the collection of quality information; (5) identify priority needs not addressed by agency science programs in effect on the date of enactment of this Act and develop a funding strategy to meet those needs; (6) provide a consistent approach to high caliber science, including inventory, monitoring, and research; (7) maintain and improve public and agency access to— (A) accumulated and ongoing research; and (B) contemporary and traditional local knowledge; and

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