ON Congress to consider Standing Bear’s plan for Mineral Estate

Photo Credit: Echo Reed/Osage News

Written By: Allison Herrera

(OSAGE RESERVATION) Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear penned a letter in early June to Osage Minerals Council Chairman Myron Red Eagle, explaining that the Nation is working with the Osage Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to assume control over leasing, production and permitting of the Mineral Estate. All self-governance functions that will not disrupt the trust relationship between the Nation and the federal government.

Read this story on Osage News here.

And he believes those functions should fall under the Minerals Council.

According to the letter, the Nation estimates it would receive around $1.3 million in federal funds for the functions. The letter also outlined several positions that would be part of the plan to assume control of the Mineral Estate, including that of a Minerals Director. The plan includes permitting, personnel and technicians experienced in oil and gas production.

“This will better enable the OMC to fulfill its duties to administer and develop the Osage Minerals Estate under Article XV Section 4 of the Osage Nation Constitution,” Standing Bear wrote in the letter.

If Congress agrees, everything the federal government performs as part of its trust obligation would now be in the hands of the OMC. Congresswoman Maria Whitehorn, who is also the chairwoman of the Osage Shareholders Association (OSA), has sponsored legislation against the proposal in part, ONCR 25-18. The ON Congress convened for its 2025 Tzi-Sho Session on Sept. 2 and will discuss the issue again during the Congressional Government Operations Committee on Sept. 8 at 2 p.m.

Minerals Council opposed

Minerals Council Chairman Myron Red Eagle opposes Standing Bear’s plan, along with other members of the council. In late May, the Minerals Council passed a resolution rejecting the Nation’s plan to assume control of the minerals functions.

“The Osage Minerals Council rejects and opposes any attempt by the Osage Nation to amend its self-governance compact with the Bureau of Indian Affairs,” the resolution stated.

At the Aug. 17 Osage Shareholders Association meeting, OSA President Whitehorn encouraged shareholders to pick up a telephone and talk to their Congress members to voice concern over accepting the funding.

Whitehorn said, “They’re going to tell you, ‘this doesn’t have anything to do with compacting.’”

“Anytime you pull a federal function away from the federal government in a self-government act, that is compacting … and our law said the Minerals Council has to authorize that by resolution, which they’ve already passed a resolution back in May saying no, in no way, shape or form do we want to do this or are we ready to do this.”

The Nation filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior in March of 2024, alleging unlawful excessive oversight over the Mineral Estate. This caused the negotiations to begin between Standing Bear and the BIA.

Standing Bear has already included the cost of running the “programs, services, functions and activities” or PSFAs, of the BIA Osage Agency Office and the Eastern Oklahoma Regional Office. Those costs were outlined in the Executive Branch’s proposed budget handed to Congress on Aug. 15. Congress will consider and take action on the Nation’s 2026 fiscal year government budgets, which will take effect on Oct. 1 once approved.

“We’re not compacting”

According to a letter written by Jason Bruno, the acting director of the BIA Office of Self-Governance, the Department of the Interior can negotiate the following:

A. Real Estate Services
B. Probate
C. Executive Direction
D. Trust Services
E. Minerals and Mining

Standing Bear said there has been a lot of confusion over what it is he and the Office of Self-Governance are doing. He said, “We’re not compacting,” referring to the 638 compacts that are outlined as part of self-determination.

He also wants to make it clear that he doesn’t intend to interfere with headright income or diminish the Mineral Estate; he and his wife are both shareholders.

“This has nothing to do with headright income or diminishing the headright,” Standing Bear said.

The Nation wants to assume control of what the Bureau of Indian Affairs says is a “non-inherent federal function. That means anybody can do it.”

He said what he is doing is not in violation of the federal trust responsibility.

“It’s not taking control of that trust responsibility – that has to be in place,” Standing Bear said.

“Part of the trust responsibility is working with not only the federal government, but with the producers to figure out what’s the best way to work on this rapidly depleting mineral estate.”

The amount that the Nation would assume would be over $1.3 million and multiple staff positions – this would allow the Osage Minerals Council more control over the estate.

Standing Bear has heard opposition from certain members of the Minerals Council over accepting the money and said he doesn’t understand why they wouldn’t want to assume control. Especially after the low performance in recent years.

Last quarter’s payment was $3,645 for a full headright.

“In my opinion, the Osage Minerals Council is not doing anything to increase our value by hiring professionals which can work this still valuable mineral estate,” Standing Bear said.

He also blames excessive federal regulation that has led to the diminishing value of the estate.

“We think it’s our property, the shareholders should get the benefit from it, and we should run it with professionals, not the federal government. And the federal government has agreed.”

Acting Assistant Secretary pays a visit

In continuing talks with federal government officials, the Nation welcomed Scott Davis (Standing Rock Sioux), who is the Department of the Interior’s Acting Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs during an Aug. 21 visit to Pawhuska. Davis is a former North Dakota Indian Commission Affairs executive director who worked with three state governors, including current Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

Davis visited with Standing Bear, Osage Agency BIA Superintendent Adam Trumbly, the eight-member Osage Minerals Council and some members of Congress during his stay. The discussions included presentations by OMC Chairman Red Eagle, who discussed a history overview of the Nation, and Councilman Paul Revard discussed oil and gas regulations and concerns as the visit took place in the Minerals Council Chambers at the Nation’s campus.

Davis, who introduced himself using his respective Sioux language to the attendees in the chambers, said he joined the Interior in March and said he knew the job would be “very challenging, but also an opportunity for us as relatives, as nations to look at things a different way … So here we are today as government to government, if you will, in this capacity. I’m trying to figure out what is the best path forward for your nation and in particular the oil and gas area, which is (a) priority for the President (Trump) and Secretary Burgum and for myself.”

“You have a huge open door here with this administration to develop your minerals and so forth,” Davis said, also adding “it’s not open for very long, so I would encourage you as leaders wanting to work collectively with us and our local leadership here of what that looks like … This, to me is a true form of consultation because it’s nation to nation, for me it’s relative to relative.”

The visit included lunch served at the Nation’s Harvest Land in Pawhuska, where Department of Natural Resources officials delivered presentations on the Nation’s food sovereignty initiatives and tours of the operations to Davis and accompanying federal staffers.

Assistant Editor Benny Polacca contributed to this report.