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