I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 226
To take certain Federal lands in Tennessee into trust for the benefit of
the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY7, 2025
Mr. F
LEISCHMANNintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To take certain Federal lands in Tennessee into trust for
the benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Eastern Band of Cher-4
okee Historic Lands Reacquisition Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. LAND TAKEN INTO TRUST FOR THE EASTERN BAND 6
OF CHEROKEE INDIANS. 7
(a) L
ANDSINTOTRUST.—Subject to such rights of 8
record as may be vested in third parties to rights-of-way 9
or other easements or rights-of-record for roads, utilities, 10
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or other purposes, the following Federal lands managed 1
by the Tennessee Valley Authority and located on or above 2
the 820-foot (MSL) contour elevation in Monroe County, 3
Tennessee, on the shores of Tellico Reservoir, are declared 4
to be held in trust by the United States for the use and 5
benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians: 6
(1) S
EQUOYAH MUSEUM PROPERTY .—Approxi-7
mately 46.0 acres of land generally depicted as 8
‘‘Sequoyah Museum’’, ‘‘Parcel 1’’, and ‘‘Parcel 2’’ 9
on the map titled ‘‘Eastern Band of Cherokee His-10
toric Lands Reacquisition Map 1’’ and dated April 11
30, 2015. 12
(2) S
UPPORT PROPERTY .—Approximately 11.9 13
acres of land generally depicted as ‘‘Support Parcel’’ 14
on the map titled ‘‘Eastern Band of Cherokee His-15
toric Lands Reacquisition Map 2’’ and dated April 16
30, 2015. 17
(3) C
HOTA MEMORIAL PROPERTY AND TANASI 18
MEMORIAL PROPERTY .—Approximately 18.2 acres of 19
land generally depicted as ‘‘Chota Memorial 1’’ and 20
‘‘Tanasi Memorial’’ on the map titled ‘‘Eastern 21
Band of Cherokee Historic Lands Reacquisition Map 22
3’’ and dated April 30, 2015, and including the 23
Chota Memorial and all land within a circle with a 24
radius of 86 feet measured from the center of the 25
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Chota Memorial without regard to the elevation of 1
the land within the circle. 2
(b) P
ROPERTY ONLANDS.—In addition to the land 3
taken into trust by subsection (a), the improvements on 4
and appurtenances thereto, including memorials, are and 5
shall remain the property of the Eastern Band of Cher-6
okee Indians. 7
(c) R
EVISEDMAPS.—Not later than 1 year after the 8
date of a land transaction made pursuant to this section, 9
the Tennessee Valley Authority, after consultation with 10
the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the Secretary 11
of the Interior, shall submit revised maps that depict the 12
land taken into trust under this section, including any cor-13
rections made to the maps described in this section to the 14
Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Rep-15
resentatives and the Committee on Indian Affairs of the 16
Senate. 17
(d) C
ONTOURELEVATIONCLARIFICATION.—The 18
contour elevations referred to in this Act are based on 19
MSL Datum as established by the NGS Southeastern 20
Supplementary Adjustment of 1936 (NGVD29). 21
(e) C
ONDITIONS.—The lands taken into trust under 22
this section shall be subject to the conditions described 23
in section 5. 24
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SEC. 3. PERMANENT EASEMENTS TAKEN INTO TRUST FOR 1
THE EASTERN BAND OF CHEROKEE INDIANS. 2
(a) P
ERMANENTEASEMENTS.—The following perma-3
nent easements for land below the 820-foot (MSL) con-4
tour elevation for the following Federal lands in Monroe 5
County, Tennessee, on the shores of Tellico Reservoir, are 6
declared to be held in trust by the United States for the 7
benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians: 8
(1) C
HOTA PENINSULA .—Approximately 8.5 9
acres of land generally depicted as ‘‘Chota Memorial 10
2’’ on the map titled ‘‘Eastern Band of Cherokee 11
Historic Lands Reacquisition Map 3’’ and dated 12
April 30, 2015. 13
(2) C
HOTA-TANASI TRAIL.—Approximately 11.4 14
acres of land generally depicted as ‘‘Chota-Tanasi 15
Trail’’ on the map titled ‘‘Eastern Band of Cherokee 16
Historic Lands Reacquisition Map 3’’ and dated 17
April 30, 2015. 18
(b) R
EVISEDMAPS.—Not later than 1 year after the 19
date of a land transaction made pursuant to this section, 20
the Tennessee Valley Authority, after consultation with 21
the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the Secretary 22
of the Interior, shall submit to the Committee on Natural 23
Resources of the House of Representatives and the Com-24
mittee on Indian Affairs of the Senate revised maps that 25
depict the lands subject to easements taken into trust 26
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under this section, including any corrections necessary to 1
the maps described in this section. 2
(c) C
ONDITIONS.—The lands subject to easements 3
taken into trust under this section shall be subject to the 4
use rights and conditions described in section 5. 5
SEC. 4. TRUST ADMINISTRATION AND PURPOSES. 6
(a) A
PPLICABLELAWS.—Except as described in sec-7
tion 5, the lands subject to this Act shall be administered 8
under the laws and regulations generally applicable to 9
lands and interests in lands held in trust on behalf of In-10
dian tribes. 11
(b) U
SE OFLAND.—Except the lands described in 12
section 2(a)(2), the lands subject to this Act shall be used 13
principally for memorializing and interpreting the history 14
and culture of Indians and recreational activities, includ-15
ing management, operation, and conduct of programs of 16
and for— 17
(1) the Sequoyah birthplace memorial and mu-18
seum; 19
(2) the memorials to Chota and Tanasi as 20
former capitals of the Cherokees; 21
(3) the memorial and place of reinterment for 22
remains of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians 23
and other Cherokee tribes, including those trans-24
ferred to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and 25
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other Cherokee tribes and those human remains and 1
cultural items transferred by the Tennessee Valley 2
Authority to those Cherokee tribes under the Native 3
American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act 4
(25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq.); and 5
(4) interpreting the Trail of Tears National 6
Historic Trail. 7
(c) U
SE OFSUPPORTPROPERTY.—The land de-8
scribed in section 2(a)(2) shall be used principally for the 9
support of lands subject to this Act and the programs of-10
fered by the Tribe relating to such lands and their pur-11
poses including— 12
(1) classrooms and conference rooms; 13
(2) cultural interpretation and education pro-14
grams; 15
(3) temporary housing of guests participating 16
in such programs or the management of the prop-17
erties and programs; and 18
(4) headquarters offices and support space for 19
the trust properties and programs. 20
(d) L
ANDUSE.—The principal purposes of the use 21
of the land described in section 3(a)— 22
(1) paragraph (1), shall be for a recreational 23
trail from the general vicinity of the parking lot to 24
the area of the Chota Memorial and beyond to the 25
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southern portion of the peninsula, including inter-1
pretive signs, benches, and other compatible im-2
provements; and 3
(2) paragraph (2), shall be for a recreational 4
trail between the Chota and Tanasi Memorials, in-5
cluding interpretive signs, benches, and other com-6
patible improvements. 7
SEC. 5. USE RIGHTS, CONDITIONS. 8
(a) F
LOODING OF LAND ANDROADS.—The Ten-9
nessee Valley Authority may temporarily and intermit-10
tently flood the lands subject to this Act that lie below 11
the 824-foot (MSL) contour elevation and the road access 12
to such lands that lie below the 824-foot (MSL) contour 13
elevation. 14
(b) F
ACILITIES ANDSTRUCTURES.—The Eastern 15
Band of Cherokee Indians may construct, own, operate, 16
and maintain— 17
(1) water use facilities and nonhabitable struc-18
tures, facilities, and improvements not subject to se-19
rious damage if temporarily flooded on the land ad-20
joining the Tellico Reservoir side of the lands subject 21
to this Act that lie between the 815-foot and 820- 22
foot (MSL) contour elevations, but only after having 23
received written consent from the Tennessee Valley 24
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Authority and subject to the terms of such approval; 1
and 2
(2) water use facilities between the 815-foot 3
(MSL) contour elevations on the Tellico Reservoir 4
side of the lands subject to this Act and the adjacent 5
waters of Tellico Reservoir and in and on such 6
waters after having received written consent from 7
the Tennessee Valley Authority and subject to the 8
terms of such approval, but may not construct, own, 9
operate, or maintain other nonhabitable structures, 10
facilities, and improvements on such lands. 11
(c) I
NGRESS ANDEGRESS.—The Eastern Band of 12
Cherokee Indians may use the lands subject to this Act 13
and Tellico Reservoir for ingress and egress to and from 14
such land and the waters of the Tellico Reservoir and to 15
and from all structures, facilities, and improvements main-16
tained in, on, or over such land or waters. 17
(d) R
IVERCONTROL ANDDEVELOPMENT.—The use 18
rights under this section may not be exercised so as to 19
interfere in any way with the Tennessee Valley Authority’s 20
statutory program for river control and development. 21
(e) TVA A
UTHORITIES.—Nothing in this Act shall be 22
construed to affect the right of the Tennessee Valley Au-23
thority to— 24
(1) draw down Tellico Reservoir; 25
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(2) fluctuate the water level thereof as may be 1
necessary for its management of the Reservoir; or 2
(3) permanently flood lands adjacent to lands 3
subject to this Act that lie below the 815-foot (MSL) 4
contour elevation. 5
(f) R
IGHT OFENTRY.—The lands subject to this Act 6
shall be subject to a reasonable right of entry by the per-7
sonnel of the Tennessee Valley Authority and agents of 8
the Tennessee Valley Authority operating in their official 9
capacities as necessary for purposes of carrying out the 10
Tennessee Valley Authority’s statutory program for river 11
control and development. 12
(g) E
NTRYONTOLAND.—To the extent that the 13
Tennessee Valley Authority’s operations on the lands sub-14
ject to this Act do not unreasonably interfere with the 15
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians’ maintenance of an ap-16
propriate setting for the memorialization of Cherokee his-17
tory or culture on the lands and its operations on the 18
lands, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians shall allow 19
the Tennessee Valley Authority to enter the lands to clear, 20
ditch, dredge, and drain said lands and apply larvicides 21
and chemicals thereon or to conduct bank protection work 22
and erect structures necessary in the promotion and fur-23
therance of public health, flood control, and navigation. 24
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(h) LOSS OFHYDROPOWER CAPACITY.—All future 1
development of the lands subject to this Act shall be sub-2
ject to compensation to the Tennessee Valley Authority 3
for loss of hydropower capacity as provided in the Ten-4
nessee Valley Authority Flood Control Storage Loss 5
Guideline, unless agreed to otherwise by the Tennessee 6
Valley Authority. 7
(i) P
ROTECTIONFROMLIABILITY.—The United 8
States shall not be liable for any loss or damage resulting 9
from— 10
(1) the temporary and intermittent flooding of 11
lands subject to this Act; 12
(2) the permanent flooding of adjacent lands as 13
provided in this section; 14
(3) wave action in Tellico Reservoir; or 15
(4) fluctuation of water levels for purposes of 16
managing Tellico Reservoir. 17
(j) C
ONTINUINGRESPONSIBILITIES.—The Tennessee 18
Valley Authority shall— 19
(1) retain sole and exclusive Federal responsi-20
bility and liability to fund and implement any envi-21
ronmental remediation requirements that are re-22
quired under applicable Federal or State law for any 23
land or interest in land to be taken into trust under 24
this Act, as well as the assessments under paragraph 25
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(2) to identify the type and quantity of any potential 1
hazardous substances on the lands; 2
(2) prior to the acquisition in trust, carry out 3
an assessment and notify the Secretary of the Inte-4
rior and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians 5
whether any hazardous substances were stored on 6
the lands and, if so, whether those substances— 7
(A) were stored for 1 year or more on the 8
lands; 9
(B) were known to have been released on 10
the lands; or 11
(C) were known to have been disposed of 12
on the lands; and 13
(3) if the assessment under paragraph (2) 14
shows that hazardous substances were stored, re-15
leased, or disposed of on the lands, include in its no-16
tice under paragraph (2) to the Secretary of the In-17
terior and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians— 18
(A) the type and quantity of such haz-19
ardous substances; 20
(B) the time at which such storage, re-21
lease, or disposal took place on the lands; and 22
(C) a description of any remedial actions, 23
if any, taken on the lands. 24
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SEC. 6. LANDS SUBJECT TO THE ACT. 1
For the purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘lands subject 2
to this Act’’ means lands and interests in lands (including 3
easements) taken into trust for the benefit of the Eastern 4
Band of Cherokee Indians pursuant to or under this Act. 5
SEC. 7. GAMING PROHIBITION. 6
No class II or class III gaming, as defined in the In-7
dian Gaming Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.), 8
shall be conducted on lands subject to this Act. 9
Æ
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