Political Quotes

“This important and bipartisan bill has as its single goal the promotion of economic development on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, home to the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Indian tribes. Their reservation sits on the oil-rich Williston Basin, and the tribes seek to gain much-needed revenues through a development agreement with the Alberta Energy Company. The lands surrounding the reservation have been the subject of much exploratory activity. That agreement would allow these tribes to develop oil and gas reserves on tribal lands as well as lands allotted to tribal members. But congressional approval of mineral leasing rights is required in this instance in order to overcome the problem of fractionated heirship, a problem that is widespread throughout Indian country. Basically, fractionated heirship is the result of Federal and Indian policy which provides that lands held in trust for Indians are passed down from generation to generation so that each successive generation of heirs owns an undivided interest in the original lands. Thus, parcels of lands such as those allotted in Fort Berthold have as many as 200 owners. Seventy percent of the Fort Berthold allotments have 20 owners. So in order to execute a lease, every individual with an ownership interest in a parcel of land has to agree to the lease. If one person objects, the lease will fail.”