John Chenoweth: “S. 1079 would facilitate the oil and gas exploration on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation by allowing the Secretary…”

“S. 1079 would facilitate the oil and gas exploration on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation by allowing the Secretary of the Interior to approve mineral leases affecting individually owned Indian land if a majority of the owners of the undivided mineral interests consent. S. 1079 would supersede a 1909 law which provides that the Secretary may not approve a mineral lease affecting individually owned Indian land unless every single person who has an undivided mineral interest in that land consents. Approximately 70 percent of the individually owned tracts of Indian land on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation are owned by groups of 20 or more individuals, and some tracts are owned by 200 individuals. In many instances, these individuals have not been identified or cannot be located. The requirements of the 1909 law have proven to be so difficult to meet that very little oil production has taken place on individually owned Indian land within a geological basin which has produced over 1 billion barrels of oil. The Mandan Indian Nation and the Hidatsa Indian Nation and the Arikara Indian Nation all support S. 1079. The administration supports S. 1079. And the gentleman from North Dakota [Mr. Pomeroy], who has introduced a companion bill, H.R. 2309, also supports S. 1079.”