The Petersburg Borough Assembly has voted to write a letter opposing federal legislation that would transfer federal land to new Native corporations proposed for Petersburg, Wrangell, Haines, Ketchikan and Tenakee Springs.

The assembly action was prompted by a request from Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski for a Senate committee hearing on legislation to create the corporations as an amendment to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

The bill would allow the so-called “landless Native communities” to form corporations and receive 23,040 acres of land each, similar to the 200 village corpora...