Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 68 Part 1.djvu/760

 728 Leases, etc.

Rides and regulations.

Repeals. 48 Stat. 984. 25 USC 461-479. Separability.

PUBLIC LAW 589-AUG. 13, 1954

SEC. 17. Nothing in this Act shall abrogate any valid lease, permit, license, right-of-way, lien, or other contract heretofore approved. Whenever any such instrument places in or reserves to the Secretary any powers, duties, or other functions with respect to the property subject thereto, the Secretary may transfer such functions, in whole or in part, to any Federal agency with the consent of such agency. SEC. 18. The Secretary is authorized to issue rules and regulations necessary to effectuate the purposes of this Act, and may in his discretion provide for tribal referenda on matters pertaining to management or disposition of tribal assets. SEC. 19. All Acts or parts of Acts inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed insofar as they affect a tribe or its members. The Act of June 18, 1934 (48 Stat. 948), as amended by the Act of June 15, 1935 (49 Stat. 378), shall not apply to a tribe and its members after the date of the proclamation provided for in section 13 of this Act. SEC. 20. If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of the Act and the application of such provision to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby. Approved August 13, 1954. Public Law 589

August 13, 1954 [H. R. 2098]

L a k e of the Woods, Minn. Water l e v e l damages.

44 Stat. 2108.

Report to Congress.

[68 S T A T.

CHAPTER 734

AN ACT To provide for the compensation of certain persons whose lands have been flooded and damaged by reason of fluctuations in the water level of the Lake of the Woods. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Army is authorized and directed to investigate, as soon as practicable, all claims filed within six months from the date of the enactment of this Act for losses and damages caused after August 26, 1937, to inhabitants of the United States by fluctuations in the water level of the Lake of the Woods due to artificial obstructions placed in the outlets of such lake pursuant to the convention (signed at Washington on February 24, 1925) between the Governments of the United States and Great Britain providing for the regulation of the level of such lake. SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Army, after due notice and opportunity for hearing, shall ascertain and determine the loss or damage, if any, that may have been sustained by the respective claimants, and to report to the Congress for its consideration the amount or amounts which he finds to be equitably due such claimants, together with a statement in each case of the substantial facts upon which the conclusion is based. The amounts found to be due the respective claimants for such loss or damage may be based upon any flooding exceeding elevation one thousand and sixty-four sea-level datum, and upon any flooding between elevations one thousand sixty-two and fivetenths and one thousand and sixty-four sea-level datum unaffected by winds, as provided in the convention (signed at Washington on February 24, 1925) between the Governments of the United States and Great Britain providing for the regulation of the level of such lake. Approved August 13, 1954.

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