Cherokee Nation News Release (918) 456-0671, Ext. 2210 FAX (918)458-5580 Cherokee Nation Director of Communications@cherokee.org © Cherokee Nation - All Rights Reserved October 01, 2002

Letter From Chief Smith To Senator Inhofe

September 30, 2002

Honorable James M. Inhofe
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Inhofe:

This letter is in regard to some recent objections and concerns you have received for HR 2880, the Five Nations Indian Land Reform Act. We respectfully request that you release the bill and move for its passage prior to adjournment.

Both the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association have written to you expressing their last minute concerns. While we were surprised and dismayed that these concerns were not communicated until now, we have responded to each issue and include these responses as attachments herein.

The problems addressed with this proposed legislation were analyzed and reported in hearings before the House Subcommittee on Appropriations for Interior and Insular Affairs in the late 1980s, and again before the Special Committee on Investigations of the Select Committee on Indian Affairs in November, 1989. The process by which descendants of the Five Nations have oil and gas leases and other conveyances approved is difficult. The process of conveyancing by the Five Nations members was described in the University of Tulsa Law Journal (Fall 1989).

Historically, by all accounts the current process has no precedent in common law dealing with lands or resources of Indian Tribes. Further, the current process is capricious, difficult to chart, complex and confusing. In Walker v. United States, No. 85-547-C (E.D. Okla. Filed August 13, 1985), a case involving a Creek Indian, the Court said,

"The Court finds that the procedural aspects of the state court process are fatally flawed."
(note: The state court processes referenced here are mandated by federal law, not by state law. The state courts are required to carry out a federal trust function that is defective.)

Since then the Five Nations have been working with the government and Congress to address the fatally flawed system. It is important to note the bill does not turn back the clock - it only applies to new leases entered into after January 2004, estimated at only 100 new leases per year. This is a drop in the bucket when compared with total oil and gas activity statewide. In fact, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission reported in 1999 that three counties within the Cherokee Nation have no active oil and gas leases at all. Of the original 16 million acres allotted to citizens of the Five Nations, only 2 hundredths of one percent remain in restricted status. Only a small portion of these acres has oil and gas development potential. The proposed Act will not affect the existing 106,622 oil and gas leases in Oklahoma. Finally, persons who have vested property rights by virtue of adverse possession are protected by HR 2880.

We urgently request you to rejoin us in this basic legislative reform to protect the last two hundredths of one percent of the original allotments. It is not a threat to the oil and gas industry. It is simply a good faith measure that will afford some measure of protection for the small remaining interest of original Indian landowners, and treat the citizens of the Five Nations similarly to members of other tribes in Oklahoma.

The protections and benefits to the individual Indian landowners provided by this bill substantially outweigh any minimal inconvenience and are negligible to oil and gas producers. Senator, you understand, time is of the essence. Please join with us and lead your colleagues to pass this bill. I am,

Sincerely,

Chad Smith
Principal Chief

cc:   Honorable Don Nickles, U.S. Senate
Honorable Brad Carson, U.S. House of Representatives
Honorable Wes Watkins, U.S. House of Representatives
Honorable Gregory Pyle, Principal Chief, Choctaw Nation
Honorable Bill Anoatubby, Governor, Chickasaw Nation
Honorable R. Perry Beaver, Principal Chief, Muscogee (Creek) Nation
Honorable Jerry Haney, Principal Chief, Seminole Nation