Post by blackcrowheart on Jan 15, 2008 11:25:40 GMT -5
Tribes see potential in mineral income
www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/01/11/news/wyoming/28-tribe\
s.txt
<http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/01/11/news/wyoming/28-trib\
es.txt>
RIVERTON - Mineral development on the Wind River Indian Reservation
raises both frustration and hope among Eastern Shoshone and Northern
Arapaho tribal leaders.
Tribal leaders are frustrated because of ways they say they have been
strong-armed by state and federal governments and mineral companies over
the years. But they have hope for a future in which the tribes might one
day develop their own minerals instead settling for the royalties oil
and gas companies pay under lease agreements.
"In the past few decades, we've been pretty content being royalty
owners," Shoshone Business Council chair Ivan Posey said.
The tribes already have taken the first step toward independence,
creating Wind River Energy Co. several months ago. Former Shoshone
council member Wes Martel recently was named to head the company.
Speaking Wednesday at the initial Wind River Energy Summit, Posey
acknowledged that although there is a bigger payoff in developing
resources minus a third party, there is also more risk involved.
But he said that independence in energy development poses "a great
opportunity" for the tribes to provide training and jobs.
Jobs are sorely needed on the reservation, Arapaho Business Council
chair Rick Brannan said.
In a detailed presentation on the history of reservation mineral
development, Shoshone Business Council member Orville St. Clair said
that in 1863, under the initial treaty to establish the reservation, the
reservation consisted of 44 million acres in four states.
Five years later, the federal government shrunk the reservation to 4.4
million acres, with the government taking land on South Pass that would
later become part of the Shoshone National Forest. As a result, the
tribes never received royalties for the gold and iron later mined on
South Pass.
St. Clair also questioned why the state can tax minerals coming off the
reservation.
Brannan called the tax "a detriment" to mineral companies looking to
operate on the reservation.
St. Clair also cited an investigation conducted by the tribes in 1979
that revealed that of the 36 mineral companies operating on the
reservation at the time, 35 weren't providing accurate production data,
thereby shortchanging the tribes on their royalty payments.
Eighty-five percent of the royalty payments go directly to tribal
members and 15 percent goes to fund tribal government.
www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/01/11/news/wyoming/28-tribe\
s.txt
<http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/01/11/news/wyoming/28-trib\
es.txt>
RIVERTON - Mineral development on the Wind River Indian Reservation
raises both frustration and hope among Eastern Shoshone and Northern
Arapaho tribal leaders.
Tribal leaders are frustrated because of ways they say they have been
strong-armed by state and federal governments and mineral companies over
the years. But they have hope for a future in which the tribes might one
day develop their own minerals instead settling for the royalties oil
and gas companies pay under lease agreements.
"In the past few decades, we've been pretty content being royalty
owners," Shoshone Business Council chair Ivan Posey said.
The tribes already have taken the first step toward independence,
creating Wind River Energy Co. several months ago. Former Shoshone
council member Wes Martel recently was named to head the company.
Speaking Wednesday at the initial Wind River Energy Summit, Posey
acknowledged that although there is a bigger payoff in developing
resources minus a third party, there is also more risk involved.
But he said that independence in energy development poses "a great
opportunity" for the tribes to provide training and jobs.
Jobs are sorely needed on the reservation, Arapaho Business Council
chair Rick Brannan said.
In a detailed presentation on the history of reservation mineral
development, Shoshone Business Council member Orville St. Clair said
that in 1863, under the initial treaty to establish the reservation, the
reservation consisted of 44 million acres in four states.
Five years later, the federal government shrunk the reservation to 4.4
million acres, with the government taking land on South Pass that would
later become part of the Shoshone National Forest. As a result, the
tribes never received royalties for the gold and iron later mined on
South Pass.
St. Clair also questioned why the state can tax minerals coming off the
reservation.
Brannan called the tax "a detriment" to mineral companies looking to
operate on the reservation.
St. Clair also cited an investigation conducted by the tribes in 1979
that revealed that of the 36 mineral companies operating on the
reservation at the time, 35 weren't providing accurate production data,
thereby shortchanging the tribes on their royalty payments.
Eighty-five percent of the royalty payments go directly to tribal
members and 15 percent goes to fund tribal government.