Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation wants new deal for oil tax

Friday, April 5, 2013  

The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation wants to negotiate a new oil tax agreement with the state of North Dakota.

An agreement signed in 2008 requires oil companies to pay a 6.5 percent extraction tax and a 5 percent production tax for activity on the Fort Berthold Reservation. Those are the same rates as the state's.

Revenue from oil drilling on the reservation is split between the tribe and the state. The tribe receives 50 percent from trust lands and 20 percent from fee lands.

The new deal would raise the revenue sharing on fee lands to a 50-50 split. That could bring an additional $313 million to the tribe over the next four years.

State lawmakers are considering the terms but some want to dictate how the tribe spends it share of the revenues.

Get the Story:
ND, tribal leaders work on oil tax agreement (Prairie Business Magazine 4/5)
Senator visits tribes (The Minot Daily News 4/5)