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Earler this year, The Osage Nation rejected sweeping new rules proposed by the US Department of Interior covering the tribe’s massive mineral estate.

 

Now, Senator James Lankford (R-OK) is challenging the Biden Administration’s proposed rule which could destroy oil and gas production on the Osage Mineral Estate and negatively impact headright owners who depend on mineral production for their livelihoods. Lankford was joined in sending the letter to the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland by Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Representative Frank Lucas (R-OK).

 

Much of the Osage oil and gas production is now small-scale, and tribal leadership said that they’re concerned that some of the new rules will increase production costs to the point of shutting down marginal wells.

 

They also want more control of the estate, which is managed by the BIA, and they want the local BIA superintendent to have more flexibility in dealing with issues.

 

“As drafted, this would negatively impact all headright owners’ ability to utilize their own resources on their own land. We ask for a delay in the implementation of the rules, as well as increased consultation with the Osage Minerals Council, the Osage Nation, and producers within the estate,” the Members wrote in the letter.  

 

The draft rules would hamper oil and gas production, according to Osage Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear, reducing a critical source of income for many of the tribal nation’s shareholders in the Osage Mineral Estate, a nearly 1.5-million-acre collection of oil and gas rights.