[House Report 106-338]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
106th Congress Report
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
1st Session 106-338
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MINERAL LEASING OF CERTAIN INDIAN LANDS IN OKLAHOMA
_______
September 27, 1999.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on
the State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Young of Alaska, from the Committee on Resources, submitted the
following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 944]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill (S.
944) to amend Public Law 105-188 to provide for the mineral
leasing of certain Indian lands in Oklahoma, having considered
the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and
recommend that the bill do pass.
Purpose of the Bill
The purpose of S. 944 is to amend Public Law 105-188 to
provide for the mineral leasing of certain Indian lands in
Oklahoma.
Background and Need for Legislation
S. 944 would amend Public Law 105-188 to provide for the
mineral leasing of certain Indian lands in southwestern
Oklahoma. Public Law 105-188 was enacted in 1998 to amend the
Indian Leasing Act (25 U.S.C. 396) to authorize the Secretary
of the Interior to approve any mineral lease which affects an
individually-owned Indian tract of land within the Fort
Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota if two conditions
were met: (1) the Indian owners of a majority of the undivided
restricted interests in the tract of land consent to the
mineral lease; and (2) the Secretary determines that approving
the lease is in the best interest of the Indian owners. Public
Law 105-188 also made the approval of a lease binding on all
owners of interests in the leased tract and provided for the
distribution of proceeds of the lease to all owners in
accordance with the interest owned by each owner.
S. 944 would amend Public Law 105-188 to include
individually owned Indian lands within the former reservations
of the Comanche, Kiowa, Apache, Fort Sill Apache, Wichita,
Keechi, Waco and Tawakonie Tribes in Oklahoma.
S. 944 would facilitate oil and gas exploration on these
individual Indian owned lands 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 interest consent to that mineral lease. S. 944 would
thereby 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.
The requirements of the 1909 law have proven to be so
difficult to meet that very little oil production has taken
place on some individually-owned Indian land within certain
geological basins. One exploration and development project has
been proposed in southwestern Oklahoma which would cover 18
sections of land which include 4,475 acres of restricted Indian
lands owned by members of the Tribes specified in S. 944. The
ownership of these Indian lands has been fractionated among 619
restricted Indian owners. Twenty-four of the Indian tracts
contain interests which are currently part of at least 29
unprobated estates. Many of the individual Indians involved
have not been identified. To date, obtaining the leases
necessary to drill and develop this area has proven to be
infeasible. The resultant economic loss to individual Indian
owners as well as the aforementioned Indian Tribes has been
significant.
The Administration supports S. 944 as do all of the Tribes
specified in the bill.
Committee Action
S. 944 was introduced by Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) on May
3, 1999. The bill was passed by the Senate on August 5, 1999,
by unanimous consent, and referred to the Committee on
Resources. On September 22, 1999, S. 944 was ordered favorably
reported from the Committee on Resources by voice vote with no
amendments.
Committee Oversight Findings and Recommendations
Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
Committee on Resources' oversight findings and recommendations
are reflected in the body of this report.
Constitutional Authority Statement
Article I, section 8 of the Constitution of the United
States grants Congress the authority to enact this bill.
Compliance With House Rule XIII
1. Cost of Legislation.--Clause 3(d)(2) of rule XIII of the
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(3)(B)
of that rule provides that this requirement does not apply when
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
2. Congressional Budget Act.--As required by clause 3(c)(2)
of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and
section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this
bill does not contain any new budget authority, spending
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in
revenues or tax expenditures.
3. Government Reform Oversight Findings.--Under clause
3(c)(4) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives, the Committee has received no report of
oversight findings and recommendations from the Committee on
Government Reform on this bill.
4. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate.--Under clause
3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives and section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act
of 1974, the Committee has received the following cost estimate
for this bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget
Office:
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, September 27, 1999.
Hon. Don Young,
Chairman, Committee on Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman. The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 944, an act to amend
Public Law 105-188 to provide for the mineral leasing of
certain Indian lands in Oklahoma.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Megan
Carroll.
Sincerely,
Barry B. Anderson
(For Dan L. Crippen, Director).
Enclosure.
S. 944--An act to amend Public Law 105-188 to provide for the mineral
leasing of certain Indian lands in Oklahoma
S. 944 would modify the conditions under which the
Secretary of the Interior may approve a mineral lease or
agreement that affects individually owned Indian land on
certain former Indian reservations in Oklahoma. Under current
law, approval of such leases requires the consent of all of the
individuals that have an undivided interest in a property. This
legislation would ease that requirement by making the
Secretary's approval contingent upon the consent of a simple
majority of individual owners. Once approved by the Secretary,
an agreement would be binding on all owners of the property,
and any receipts would be distributed in proportion to each
owner's interest in the property.
Based on information from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, CBO
estimates that implementing this act would not significantly
affect discretionary spending. CBO estimates that implementing
S. 944 would have no effect on direct spending or receipts,
because any income resulting from agreements approved under
this legislation would be paid directly to the Indian owners or
to the appropriate tribal government. Hence, pay-as-you-go
procedures would not apply to the act.
S. 944 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
On June 22, 1999, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S.
944, as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Indian
Affairs on June 16, 1999. The two versions of the legislation
are identical, as are the two cost estimates.
The CBO staff contact is Megan Carroll. This estimate was
approved by Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy Assistant Director for
Budget Analysis.
Compliance With Public Law 104-4
This bill contains no unfunded mandates.
Preemption of State, Local or Tribal Law
This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or
tribal law.
Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported
In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (existing law
proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets, new
matter is printed in italic, existing law in which no change is
proposed is shown in roman):
ACT OF JULY 7, 1998
AN ACT To permit the mineral leasing of Indian land located within the
Fort Berthold Indian Reservation and certain former Indian reservations
in Oklahoma in any case in which there is consent from a majority
interest in the parcel of land under consideration for lease.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
[SECTION 1. LEASES OF ALLOTTED LANDS OF THE FORT BERTHOLD INDIAN
RESERVATION.]
SECTION 1. LEASES OF CERTAIN ALLOTTED LANDS.
(a) In General.--
(1) Definitions.--In this section:
(A) Indian land.--The term ``Indian land''
means an undivided interest in a single parcel
of land that--
[(i) is located within the Fort
Berthold Indian Reservation in North
Dakota; and]
(i) is located within--
(I) the Fort Berthold Indian
Reservation in North Dakota; or
(II) a former Indian
reservation located in Oklahoma
of--
(aa) the Comanche
Indian Tribe;
bb) the Kiowa Indian
Tribe;
(cc) the Apache
Tribe;
(dd) the Fort Sill
Apache Tribe of
Oklahoma;
(ee) the Wichita and
Affiliated Tribes
(Wichita, Keechi, Waco,
and Tawakonie) located
in Oklahoma;
(ff) the Delaware
Tribe of Western
Oklahoma; or
(gg) the Caddo Indian
Tribe; and
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