§3141 Overall study program

Summary

The Secretary must study all federal lands in Alaska north of 68 degrees north latitude and east of the western edge of the National Petroleum Reserve—Alaska, except lands inside the Reserve itself and lands already put into conservation units. The study must use many kinds of scientific and resource information to estimate oil and gas potential (including needed transport routes), review land qualities for possible wilderness designation, and look at wildlife needs and how to protect them. The Secretary must work with federal and state agencies, Native villages and corporations, the North Slope Borough, the Alaska Land Use Council, and Canada. The public must be able to review and comment on a draft before the study is final. The study and findings must be sent to the President and Congress no later than eight years after December 2, 1980, and the Secretary must send yearly progress reports to Congress. The study must not stop or change land transfers to the State under the Alaska Statehood Act or to Native groups under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and this Act.