The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation of North Dakota wants federal officials to speed up review of oil leases on the Fort Berthold Reservation.

The reservation is part of the Bakken formation, a large deposit of oil that has generated a development boom in North Dakota. But only two wells have been drilled on the reservation so far.

"The permits are still taking too long," Chairman Marcus Wells Jr. told Bismarck Tribune.

To speed up the process, Wells wants the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land Management, the Minerals Management Service, and the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians to create a "one-stop" office on the reservation. A similar office has been credited with improving services on the Navajo Nation.

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), the chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, backed the request in a letter to the BIA.

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Tribal chairman wants 'one-stop' oil shop (The Bismarck Tribune 10/21)