Osage shareholders discuss new Trump administration, legislation and Minerals Council

WRITTEN BY: Allison Herrera

(OSAGE RESERVATION) Between 50-100 shareholders ate a Thanksgiving lunch at the Osage Casino in Skiatook during the Nov. 18 Osage Shareholders Association’s meeting, the last one of the year. During the post meal and dessert chit chat, headright holders had a chance to ask questions about the Enel lawsuit and a bill to protect the minerals estate.

Read this story on Osage News here. 

The latest quarterly payment is $4,470. The last quarterly payment for a full headright posted to the Osage Minerals Council website was $4,290.

OSA President Maria Whitehorn made an announcement before convening the meeting. She said she was appearing in her position as the president of the association, not in her role as an Osage Nation Congresswoman.

“Anything I say today is Maria Whitehorn’s own personal opinions, not to be reflected that of the Osage Nation Congress whatsoever,” Whitehorn said as the meeting was getting started.  

One of the main items on the agenda was a Congressional bill Whitehorn sponsored on Nov. 14. Bill number ONCA 25-21 defines pore space and establishes it legally as part of the Osage Minerals Estate. Whitehorn told the association the Minerals Council, Congress and the Executive Branch are working on the bill to combat new threats by the state of Oklahoma. Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear signed the bill into law on Nov. 25.

Pore space is defined as the empty space between particles of sand and sediment or the space within and between rocks. The technology of carbon sequestration relies on pore space to inject CO2 back into the ground. Carbon capture has been floated as a possibility on the minerals estate to increase shareholder payments.

Whitehorn said the bill was to establish that the pore space belongs to the Minerals Estate. She said she brought the issue up because of a resolution drafted by the Minerals Council. 

“The Minerals Council actually requested that Congress address this legislation in code and so the piece of legislation is a result of that.” Whitehorn expressed her optimism that all branches were working together closely to protect the minerals estate.

Information about the orphan well program was also shared. According to literature distributed at the meeting, funds from a multi-million dollar program have been used to hire staff, use drones to identify undocumented wells and hire contractors to plug them. The Nation’s Department of Natural Resources has submitted 139 permits to the Bureau of Indian Affairs Osage agency for well plugging. The DNR will continue to locate wells needing to be plugged and says they are collaborating with the Minerals Council to identify which ones are in need of plugging and which ones still contain oil.

Whitehorn also invited Chuck Spurgeon to the meeting. Spurgeon is the President of the Osage Producers Association. He spoke to shareholders about new EPA rules regarding emissions and what kind of an impact a second Trump Presidency will have on oil production, if any.

OMC Chairman Myron Red Eagle also spoke about a second Trump administration, saying his election could be a positive thing for oil production. He said it would be good to visit and meet with the new Trump administration after inauguration next year.

“I think we need to go straight to the top and meet with one of his advisors,” Red Eagle said. He wants the incoming administration to be aware of new regulations and their potential to hurt production on the reservation.

It’s not clear if President-elect Trump helped increase production for the benefit of Osage Shareholders during his first term.  

Red Eagle was elected chairman in September, replacing Everett Waller. He also updated shareholders about the Enel lawsuit saying there wasn’t a lot he could share other than it was still in the hands of federal judge Jennifer Cho-Groves.

The Enel lawsuit over the wind turbines went through a nearly two week trial over damages last summer but no amount has been settled on yet, despite last year’s decision that the turbines should be removed as part of the decision that Enel committed continued trespass.

Red Eagle said the Minerals Council met with the EPA and made some strides.

Oil isn’t going away, he told shareholders at the meeting.

Minerals Council members Stephanie Erwin and Paul Revard also spoke to the shareholders. Erwin is pleased with Whitehorn sponsoring the pore space legislation.

“You just don’t know how threatened this minerals estate is over the CO2,” Erwin said.

Revard talked about his concerns over the pore space issue saying that an Oklahoma State Statute says pore space is not part of the subsurface and instead is owned by the surface owners of the land. Revard said he is glad a bill went through the ON Congress, it is the first step to correcting that and making sure the state knows the Osage Minerals Estate is an exception to that.

The meeting ended by going over some old business, helping to get out the word and increase membership. For the next meeting, Whitehorn said she would like current shareholders to bring their heirs so they know about the organization

She also gave a status update of the case Osage Nation v. the U.S. Department of the Interior. She said the association voted to send a statement letter to several agencies, including the BIA about their stance on the lawsuit. She said there seemed to be a misunderstanding about the letter the OSA sent.

“All that was, it was a statement letter by the Osage Shareholders organization,” Whitehorn said. 

“We didn’t ask for anybody to take action on what we said to them. It was just the statement our organization made.”

The meeting adjourned after a raffle.

The next meeting will be Feb. 16, 2025, at 1 p.m. at a location to be announced.