Sponsors
The bill returns specific TVA lands to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and clarifies trust status to secure cultural preservation, access, and educational benefits, but does so with constraints (existing easements, TVA operational rights, development limits), local tax/jurisdictional impacts, flood and cost risks, and a ban on gaming on those lands that will reduce tribal revenue and jobs.
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians: Gain clarified legal trust title and definition for specified TVA lands (~76 acres and additional easements), enabling tribal control, stewardship, and formal management of cultural sites.
Tribal and local communities: Establishment of memorials, museum/interpretation programs, trails, and support facilities will preserve culture, expand education about Sequoyah/Chota/Tanasi/Trail of Tears, and can boost heritage tourism and local jobs.
Eastern Band and the public: Formal easements, ingress/egress rights, recreational amenities, and ability (with TVA consent) to build certain water-use facilities improve practical access and on‑the‑ground usability of the peninsula for tribal programs and recreation.
Eastern Band and tribal programs: Existing third-party rights (rights-of-way/easements), TVA retained entry/operational authority (dredging, chemicals, structures), and compensation rules for hydropower capacity substantially limit tribal control and development of the taken-into-trust lands.
Tribal members and services: Prohibiting Class II/III gaming on the covered lands eliminates a source of tribal revenue and employment, risking cuts to health, education, housing programs and imposing an economic blow to households.
Local governments and homeowners: Taking parcels into trust will reduce local taxing and zoning authority and create uncertainty about jurisdiction and tax base, potentially shifting fiscal burdens to other taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Conveys specified TVA lands in Monroe County into trust for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians for memorial, cultural, and recreational uses with TVA operational conditions and a ban on Class II/III gaming.
Transfers specified Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) federal lands in Monroe County, Tennessee, into trust for the benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians for memorial, cultural, educational, and recreational uses, subject to recorded third-party rights and TVA operational conditions. Two additional parcels below the 820-foot contour are taken as permanent easements for trails and related recreational access. Preserves TVA authority to operate the reservoir (including temporary flooding and drawdowns), requires TVA to perform and fund environmental assessments and remediation on the lands taken into trust, allows limited Tribe-built water-use facilities with TVA consent, requires compensation to TVA for lost hydropower capacity for future development unless TVA agrees otherwise, and expressly prohibits Class II and Class III gaming on the lands covered by the Act.
Introduced January 7, 2025 by Chuck Fleischmann · Last progress February 5, 2025