[House Report 106-338]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



                                                                       
106th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session                                                    106-338

======================================================================



 
          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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