Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 85.djvu/726

 696

PUBLIC LAW 92-203-DEC. 18, 1971

[85 STAT.

STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS

Jurisdiction,

Land selection, suspension of rights* 7 2 Stat. 339. 48 USC prec. 21 note.

Extension. 72 Stat. 340; 78 Stat. 168.

SEC. 10. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any civil action to contest the authority of the United States to legislate on the subject matter or the legality of this Act shall be barred unless the complaint is filed within one year of the date of enactment of this Act, and no such action shall be entertained unless it is commenced by a duly authorized official of the State. Exclusive jurisdiction over such action is hereby vested in the United States District Court for the District of Alaska. The purpose of this limitation on suits is to insure that, after the expiration of a reasonable period of time, the right, title, and interest of the United States, the Natives, and the State of Alaska will vest with certainty and finality and may be relied upon by all other persons in their relations with the State, the Natives, and the United States. (b) I n the event that the State initiates litigation or voluntarily becomes a party to litigation to contest the authority of the United States to legislate on the subject matter or the legality of this Act, all rights of land selection granted to the State by the Alaska Statehood Act shall be suspended as to any public lands which are determined by the Secretary to be potentially valuable for mineral development, timber, or other commercial purposes, and no selections shall be made, no tentative approvals shall be granted, and no patents shall be issued for such lands during the pendency of such litigation. In the event of such suspension, the State's right of land selection pursuant to section 6 of the Alaska Statehood Act shall be extended for a period of time equal to the period of time the selection right was suspended. WITHDRAWAL OF PUBLIC LANDS

Exceptions,

SEC. 11. (a)(1) The following public lands are withdrawn, subject to valid existing rights, from all forms of appropriation under the public land laws, including the mining and mineral leasing laws, and from selection under the Alaska Statehood Act, as amended: (A) The lands in each township that encloses all or part of any Native village identified pursuant to subsection (b); (B) The lands in each township that is contiguous to or corners on the township that encloses all or part of such Native village; and (C) The lands in each township that is contiguous to or corners on a township containing lands withdrawn by paragraph (B) of this subsection. The following lands are excepted from such withdrawal: lands in the National Park System and lands withdrawn or reserved for national defense purposes other than Naval Petroleum Reserve Numbered 4. (2) All lands located within the townships described in subsection (a)(1) hereof that have been selected by, or tentatively approved to, but not yet patented to, the State under the Alaska Stateliood Act are withdrawn, subject to valid existing rights, from all forms of appropriation under the public land laws, including the mining and mineral leasing laws, and from the creation of third party interests by the State under the Alaska Statehood Act. (3)(A) If the Secretary determines that the lands withdra^^n by subsections (a)(1) and (2) hereof are insufficient to permit a Village or Regional Corporation to select the acreage it is entitled to select, the Secretary shall withdraw three times the deficiencv from the nearest unreserved, vacant and unappropriated public lands. In making this withdrawal the Secretary shall, insofar as possible, withdraw public lands of a character similar to those on which the village is located and

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