Sections 12 (a)(1) and (c)(3) provide for selections by regional corporations; and sections 14 (e), (f), (h), (1), (2), (3), (5), and (8), provide for the conveyance to regional corporations of the selected surface and subsurface estates, as appropriate.
(a) Eligible regional corporations may select the maximum acreage granted pursuant to section 12(c) of the Act. They will be notified by the Secretary of their entitlement as expeditiously as possible.
(b) Where subsurface rights are not available to the eligible regional corporations in lands whose surface has been conveyed under section 14 of the Act, the regional corporations may select an equal subsurface acreage from lands withdrawn under sections 11(a) (1) and (3) of the Act, within the region, if possible.
(c) As appropriate, the regional corporations will receive title to the subsurface estate of lands, the surface estate of which is conveyed pursuant to section 14 of the Act.
(d) If a 13th regional corporation is organized under section 7(c) of the Act, it will not be entitled to any grant of lands.
All regional corporations must file their selection applications not later than December 18, 1975, for lands other than those allocated under section 14(h)(8) of the Act.
(a) To the extent necessary to obtain its entitlement, each regional corporation must select all available lands withdrawn pursuant to sections 11(a)(1)(B) and (C) of the Act, before selecting lands withdrawn pursuant to section 11(a)(3) of the Act, except that regional corporations selecting lands withdrawn pursuant to sections 11(a)(1) (B) and (C) may select only even-numbered townships in even-numbered ranges and only odd-numbered townships in odd-numbered ranges.
(b) Village corporation selections within section 11(a)(1) and section 11(a)(3) areas shall be given priority over regional corporation selections for the same lands.
(c) Whenever a regional selection is made in any township, the regional corporation shall select all available lands in that township: Provided, That such selection would not exceed the entitlement of that regional corporation.
(d) Subsurface selections made by a regional corporation pursuant to section 12(a) of the Act shall be contiguous and the total area selected shall be reasonably compact, except as separated by subsurface interests that are not the property of the United States including subsurface interests under bodies of water, and the selection shall be in whole sections where they are available, or shall include all available subsurface interests in less than whole sections and, wherever feasible, shall be in units of not less than 1,280 acres. The total area selected shall not be considered to be reasonably compact if (1) it excludes other subsurface interests available for selection within its exterior boundaries; or (2) an isolated tract of subsurface interests owned by the United States of less than 1,280 acres remains after selection.
(e) Regional corporations are not required to select lands within unpatented mining claims or millsites, as provided in § 2651.4(e) of this chapter.
(f) Regional corporations may file applications in excess of their total entitlement. To insure that a regional corporation acquires its selections in the order of its priorities, it should identify its choices numerically in the order it wishes them granted.
In addition to the conveyance reservations in § 2650.4 of this chapter, conveyances issued to regional corporations for the subsurface estate of lands whose surface has been conveyed to village corporations shall provide that the right to explore, develop, or remove minerals from the subsurface estate in the lands within the boundaries of any Native village shall be subject to the consent of the village corporation.