Have you seen the full page warning by the Osage Producers Association titled, "Time is running out for Osage County Mineral Holders" in the January 15, 2015 edition of the Bigheart Times? Bone chilling despite what the "blinders on" negators of the facts of doing business will be for the oil producers. Cited are the new NEGREGS, the Donelson lawsuit and the new BIA mandated Environmental Assessment that is 72 pages in length and has 64 regulations that are financially ruinous to Osage Producers... This warning includes the fact that the, "wells and production that will be terminated due to these factors will be lost forever." Call the Minerals Council and BIA to protest.
If you ask me this could turn our oil patch around for us.I think it why past time.as in we should be producing our oil. 100 percent is hell better than 20 percent an less. What I'm saying is subcontracting the drilling out or buying our own rig. We are living in the 21 century not 1800 or the 1900. I not scared to try or you!!
I am in the same boat as most. We are in the 21st Century, as we Shareholder's do not have all the facts, basically the logistics (WHAT COMES DOWN TO IT)...we know pretty much what needs to be done.We what hasn't been done, what is working and what is not working. We understand a lot more needs to happen and reading Ray McClains lastest opinion ( The M.C has a lot on their plate) equally what is not on our Plate? We shouldn't be always in this perpetuate cycle of operating like we are always in crisis mode...like I have said before their is never an excuse to be lazy and wait for some miracle, we have to pull ourselves by the boot trap and except no less than exceptional service from our M.C...the past is our future and here we are today no further ahead...3 yrs after the HPP payout, still on the losing end....This sound acceptable? We need our own "Petroleum" office and a Shareholder's Board comprised of no one from the Nation voted by the SHAREHOLDER'S only...to guarantee net neutrality. It is incumbant of all of us to educate yourselves, ourselves however you see it to educate is knowledge though you may not know everything you will not be unarmed ...essentially we need to be equipped and some of us are fit to be tied with the procrastination, so one wants to know why have we not moved on forward with forward thinking and we need a Council who will step up and lead and not by the arm chair...we shouldn't be having this conversation but we are...this is a billion dollar Estate.....
What do we need to be hiring and equipping an office for when we won't even need it. The BIA, with all these new regulations and the EA regulations, is putting to death the mineral estate income because there won't be any producers to bring out the oil and gas out of the ground. DO YOU GET THIS YET OR DO YOU NEED TO BE BLUDGEONED WITH THESE FACTS AFTERWARD WHEN YOUR CHECK DROPS TO $10.00 A QUARTER?
To TDTNB--You are absolutely correct! But first, the MC must hire an engineer/geologist as a director of operations. Only three or four of the MC we elected last year would even know where to start.
I happen to disagree with poster@ 2:08 pm....To do nothing is like asking for more trouble without saying and I for one want our money working for us...and at This point we can't sit and watch what is happening. ..I as a major Shareholder have a lot to lose and a lot to gain. by moving forward with a full running Petroleum office...it is a proven fact The Bureaucracy stinks...and the list can grow....The M.E is where it is at because no one was steering the ship...proven fact....care to anser to these facts poster @ 2:08 pm...
You're not a major shareholder any more. Your share just fell through the floor and it's the China Syndrome. Don't you understand that it's the small producers who pull the oil and gas out of ground and it's 1983 all over again? Fracking? Over. Oil Shale? Over. Drilling? Over. Exploration? Over. Producing wells plugged if not above so many barrels per day. This is scorched earth here and you're writing nonsense in view of where we are today and where this is going. The BIA is supposed to be acting in our best financial interest as a fiduciary and burdening the producers with more and more rules and regulations and penalties and fines and so forth, creates a situation where they are acting in the opposite capacity than they should be. It's totally mystifying especially after they took such a financial hit for having failed so badly where the Trust duties and obligations were concerned that were enumerated in the HPP lawsuit. I'm not confident that they even understand what they are supposed to be doing on a daily basis under the law as a Trust fiduciary and that in and of itself, at this late date, is utterly appalling.
My point is a lot of Osages depend on this money as supplemental income....and are not so fortunate and I am an Optimistic being and I have created and crafted business to where they respond to the Market. Never say never...made mountains from mole holes...excuses are like everyone has one but never the ecuse do here we can....and we will we are Osage...it cannot be business the old way any longer. Look at the hole we are in again and I do put the Blame where it counts...but at this juncture what does it solve or show? Incompetence from the BIA to the M.C had we trended as we should have been the impact of the situation (always looks worse than it is) would have not been so severe had we planned. Someone had mentioned the M.C wouldn't even no where to begin and it starts with pen and paper. And a few good men who will take the risk and do what is long over due...if they can't put it together or pull us out by the boot strap...then we Shareholder's will have to stand United...we need hard negotiating and stop playing footsie under the table and get this ball rolling...Anything the Gov knows how to do is spend and its obvious that the Gov. is always in crises mode covering up instead of making it work thats politics at its finest wouldn't you say....well I say vest in an office ...that works for the Shareholder's. ...study the History of the BIA...who gave them all the power not the 1906 act....and all they were was an Agency that worked as a liason to the Gov. for communication purposes. We have nothing more to lose and everything to gain....
From the Osage News: "BREAKING: Osage Nation Attorney General Jeff Jones has filed ethics complaints in tribal court against seven Osage Minerals Council members “to determine whether Osage Nation law, specifically the Osage Nation ethics law, applies to the Osage Minerals Council.”
Exeecutive Branch legal harassment iff you ask me. Why arent't they going after Ray-Ray Red Corn ffor splitting the moneey withh is brother Frrank on the lawn mowing of the villages when the mowing equipmentt came from Ray-ray? We been waiting twoo years for DA DA Jones to get that show on the rroad and it aintt tthere yet.
Well my guess, for what ever reason Jones is doing this is there are rules and so forth but no where in the 1906 act does it say you have to report your gifts right? And what, our M.C is now on radar?
Minerals meeting today: What the heck is BLM doing conducting training sessions for the BIA? Talee and Kathryn stated they don't want BLM involved in the Osage and Talee asked for a report from the BIA as to exactly what the BLM is doing with the BIA. http://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/news-events/news/minerals-council-meeting-agenda http://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/multimedia/live-media
Assistant Superintendent of the BIA was there today instead of Robin Phillips? If this is true, why can't that little gal make the Mineral Council meetings twice a month? Is she afraid to show up or just being stubborn? We need someone who understands the fiduciary relationship and holds up their end to the Osage Headright owners and the Osage Nation.
Watch out Osage County land owners! If the wind farm company doesn't pay their subcontractors, you may be subject to liens filed on your properties making it difficult to complete real estate or financial transactions. IKEA is a huge company from Sweden and they don't pay their bills according to this information: http://www.windaction.org/posts/42013-ikea-apex-wind-farm-non-payment-causes-liens-filed-against-local-farmers#.VMGyoUaVe6V
Hey land owners, this is what it may become like to deal with the Italian government and their government owned company ENEL in the future: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-17/enel-s-slovak-unit-raided-by-police-for-second-time-in-5-months.html
Read this landowners,.....add this to the l ist of what is happening with the wind industry.....http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/01/23/america-first-offshore-wind-project-dealt-major-setback-after-utilities-bolt/
Not just that the Energy Dept is required by law to have a certain amount of percentage of green projects...which in turns the cost is past on to the consumer and the same for the landowners....Even Obama's number during his State of the Union address about Global warming is junk science. Everything cycles...Talk about global warming lets add a few more solar systems to the mix...and the truths that are unspoken. ..
I knew a guy once that invented a real perpetual motion machine. The problem is that it was an illusion, the scale of the experiment was adjusted to manage the drag coefficient which would eventually bring the system to a stall. By adding energy when no one was looking it appeared to run without the input of additional energy.
Wind has a similar problem. Although it sounds "renewable" it requires such a significant cost to manufacture and maintain that "renewable" energy tends to fail when it comes to effectively harnessing the wind due to a variety of factors including good old friction and drag. They just never operate efficiently enough for a long enough period of time, without substantial additions of energy in the form of maintenance, to keep the system operating. They don't produce enough energy to ever replace the energy spent on them in the first place.
They are in fact an energy sink. Maybe with the proper gearing...just thought his blog could add more light to the subject.
Interesting. Why am I not surprised? The corridor on I-70 coming up to I-35 has a ton of them to the North of the freeway in Kansas and it's surprising how many of them appear to be out of commission when the other turbines are moving. I suppose this will be true in Osage County soon enough.
Time to start watching the market: A good source of information is located at http://www.dailypfennig.com/ "Once again, let me repeat something I've said over and over again. And this week we had another example of it. Central Banks, mostly in the East and Middle East, but now Europe is joining in, have been adding to their reserves with Gold, and what really magnifies this worrisome feeling I have with these Central Bank moves, is the fact that the European Central Banks want their Gold in their own vaults and not in the U.S. These Central Banks know something that we Pfennig Readers can only guess at. But, the idea here is that they do know something we don't, and that scares the bejeebers out of me. But if they are buying and hoarding Gold, shouldn't we too?" Chuck Butler President EverBank World Markets
If you don't post the dared us fillers , while our shares are going to destruction in a hand basket A few things that has been muddling around upstairs to make All This Bad News, "Take a Spin for a Win"! #1Lease Sell, lease one, get second at half price must go by any guidelines ... #2 Assign each Osage Shareholder as a Agent ,Osage or Non, two leases to market at a price average from the pass year. #3 A Sales Commission to be determine by the active Leasing Agent. #4 This commission can come out of the pay, of the Mineral Council that should have seen this a coming. H
Another thing here is that the Osage News is again asleep at the wheel. We have the Mineral Estate blowing up in our faces as we speak and Christmas is still up there on the web site. Christmas is over and we would like some hard news with real reportage coming from a news source that gets thousands upon thousands of the Osage People's money. It should pay for more than one or two "soft" articles a week. Get these government officials, ONES Board Members and Minerals Council members interviewed as to what the plan is going forward and get it in the paper and online. I mean WTH! Crack the whip!!!!!!!!
For the lack of embarrassment is why they do not want to go front and center as opposed to doing what is right...and start communication that deal with the issues straight on because they will be also be held accountable. Getting any information and reliable seems as of late comes from RayRay posts...not in the OSA reports either...we as Shareholder's this is a huge wake up call to stand "United" and should only expect exceptional performance. What I would like to know what was the divided interest from the Hula lake fund? The only increase I saw in my Dec.check was 32 dollars...we have a right to know. If they bunched it in with the Royalty check it should show a break down so commingling does not give the appearance of illegal activity. This account had been siiting isince mid 1980's..if you break down the numbers it equals 160,000 dollars in 29 years, break it down further the fund per mo. that was being paid into monthly payments of somewhere at 459.78 cents a mo. As I said before was this in a revolving account who was responsible for making sure these payments were to be paid on time? This is incompetence completely and this is business the Osage way...do we have to file a open records act in court or get some kind of action from our M.C? Bottom line, we want to see the news in our newspaper not everyone else beforehand. Why are there some stories which are realative to the Shareholder's posted on there FB site the "Osage News" and not online? Not everyone has FB or care to join...for that matter.
I fail to understand your logic. Why would the reporters at the Osage News be embarrassed to interview our government officials in this time of crisis to find out what their take is on the situation and what they plan to do about it? They aren't being critical or damning of the government officials or do you think for some reason that they should be? I know for certain that Galen and Andrew are being pilloried and vilified for cooking up all these new CFRs with the BIA involving the BLM, not to mention opening the door for a ton more regulations with this Environmental Assessment requirement for new drilling that taken together will kill oil and gas production in Osage County. This seems to be a move on the part of the landowners to put wind farms all over Osage County so they can financially benefit thereby inhibiting and replacing oil and gas production as a producer of energy everywhere a wind farm exists. Do we need some other paper less invested in what is going on to give us hard news on the subject or a "puff piece" paper costing us an arm and a leg which lacks editorial substance and gravitas where the big issues that concern Osage shareholders are concerned? We are Osages too and we are constituents.
The wind farm issue will go away..with punitive damages. The regs are long over due..I support Yates and Galen...no pain no gain..nothing is for free. The Hpp comes with the New regs long over due just piss poor timing. The producers had 3 yrs to comply and prepare..since the HPP. I suspect cronyism played a huge roll in why we are where we are at..and just poor negotiating not in the favor for the Shareholder's. .we need qualified individuals to run a ship stuck in this same perpetuity ,a cycle on a roundabout...no more excuses. I've done my homework..and it doesn't take a rocket scientist. We need to operate and manage and start performing..this is where we are at, in crises mode. We shouldn't be..I am rained in many areas, master of them all though I am human just as the rest but, Ihave a trained eye as well...I read people very well...my expertise is making your business a success as well as i accounting as well...as Donald Trump would say there no business like show business and show me what we can do today not tomorrow and this is the mindset or should be..you all would be fired...this a multi-billion dollar "Estate" with much more potential and then some...The BIA, I am sure working feverishly to do the nessasary, but anything the Gov. touches goes south as that statement is factual...nah, My eyes are wide open.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/3j6ehyx2ucoog09/2014-0102_ConstSer_CareQualityQuestionaire-comb.pdf Help make our employes better by sending in your feedback.
Well! the un magical power of the four's as been reached, $44.44 on my yesterday Now a slow upward climb, some say eight years before the return of the past years. $20 to product a barrel in the Gulf , wouldn't land be cheaper? Time to provide a storage area for all those idle drilling rigs, start a drilling school, god knows the gov. has trained with your money enough truck drivers.OP drill those well in the Osage . Put R&R as Dean of OP.G & A can whatever. H
I know that we are still about two weeks away from finding out the actual dollar amount for our March Payment. Anyone care to speculate how much we will be down?
The Big Idea floating around out there about the Osage Nation running the Mineral Estate will meet with the same fate as the Domestic Violence grant audit where the Osage Nation was made to return $500,000. That's half a million bucks folks that they spent like water out of a spigot and never had a decent accounting system to keep track of the money. In addition to five others, the audit recommends that the Osage Nation adhere to the requirements of the Federal program. Imagine the Osage Nation having to make sure that the new EA requirements are met by the O/G producers as well as following the new CFRs or ones just like it. They can't even come in to work on time and stay there when they're supposed to be there. A holy royal mess up ahead if you ask me if the Chief and Eddy get this to happening. Self governance is self destruction for such as the like of these Osage Executive government types and they will take us all down with them. Watch out! Support your Minerals Council against such silliness and nonsense as this coming from the Osage Nation. No can do. Don't go there.
Name one program the Nation runs that they don't run into the ground. Always costs twice as much as it should and takes triple the amount of time. It won't change with trying to run the MIneral Estate. Big mistake to even think about it until they can get people who are willing to work hard and put in long hours because that's what it will take to do it right and it's just not there.
And I say heck no to the Nation touching the Estate...the Nation will run this dry to say the least...nothing but a money grab...You see the Casinos and the Nation woukd not exist on its own if it were not for the Osage Tribe which is the Shareholder's and 8 council memebers a Chief and a A.P Chief, not the Other way around...not a concept, just facts. Would take an Act of Congress....
http://osagenews.org/en/article/2015/02/02/hearing-set-wind-farm-case-feb-26-tulsa/....Why did it take so long for the M.C and or the BIA to respond to the Development of the Wind Farms? Why did the The Ok State Dept.know to follow the Federal Regs and an ouside Co. Can come in here and think it is ok to do what they are doing and be required to do the same, knowing we would have sais pound sand your not getting a permit...and in the end, who is going to pay for not protecting the Estate in the first is the BIA...ROBYN PHILLIPS? This happening on your watch and the M.C spells incompetence big time?
If you are not aware there has been a campaign going on to raise money to erect a James Bigheart statue on the grounds in front of the museum. Kathryn RedCorn has been in charge of the donations due to her ties to the museum. Recently questions have been asked for an accounting of these funds and there doesn't seem to be any reply on the subject. In talking to several people that should know this involves a number of thousand of dollars and no one, including Kathryn, can or will, explain where it has gone !!
We need and want to know, must we file an investigation or a open records act? If they do not want to play by the rules maybe a Osage constitutional convention might just need to happen and or maybe the the Tribe, the Osage Tribe and the eight member Council need to rethink about this Nation, after all, the Tribe as stated in the 1906 act declares as ameneded who is the TRIBE.
I propose, that that an audit be conducted by the Osage Attorney General concerning the money donated for the Bigheart Statue.. Further more if wrong doing is found that charges be filed! For now it looks like someones hand has been caught it the cookie jar ? We are talking about a lot of money that so far can't be accounted for. I doubt there has been any books kept on donations. Where is it? If anyone donated to the fund by check, I would suggest that if that check has cleared your account, you make a copy and send it to StandingBear so he can look into this.
The donations and revenue from fundraisers was deposited with the Osage Foundation, Mr. Webb. They are supposedly holding these funds in trust for the Museum and the Bigheart statute project.
I want everyone to know I did not post this entry on February 4, 2015 7:37 PM. I am not disagreeing with the Post, but when I post I do so under my name and don't hide under anonymous.
Thank you for your reports Ray McClain, even if I don't always agree with you, the info you give us is sooo much more than any thing from the MC! I heard on CBS news the spike in crude was steel strikes, which were at some refineries. This down turn of crude is hurting OPEC too. I think its short lived ,and too, trying to break the small producers. I think big money in crude is to come in the future.
Just read Ray McClains update @ Osages-you-need-to-know.com. I concur that something needs to be done about the on going flaring of our natural gas. And now is the time for the BIA and our M.C to act and not a day later where we could find ourselves in another crisis and lose out on a opportunity that we can no longer ignore. The facts as presented. Time for accountability and putting our right foot in front of us and no longer lagging in the Energy Industry...most of us understand where the ENERGY SECTOR IS GOING TO TAKE OFF and the BIA needs to get tow in hand.
How is it that the S.O.I Sally Jewell can say she's read every report on the BIA, and yet turn around and say I haven't read the scathing report on the BIA at the Osage Agency? Then Asst. Secratary Kevin Washburn said he read the report...sooooooo, much of nothing was said yet our Chief could only muster a word about how are the existing policies will stay effectual after Obama leaves Office? I would have asked, How are we to better ensue access to better Health care in Indian Counrty? Transperency is required on this VIP issue, like the V.A. access to Hospitals and better doctors. Read the artical from the Osage News.
http://osagenews.org/en/article/2015/02/05/ag-files-ethics-complaints-against-seven-members-omc/....How is it not embarrassing following the ethic laws required by law. These laws are here for a reason to weed out any and all impropriety I would like to see the balance of the last eight years reported. This reflect on your character Mrs.Boone and the ability to trust you as a MC member...MIA Mr.Waller what do you say? Galen and Yates as well...please answer.
Remember your not allowed to say anything negative about C. Boone on this board or it will be deleted. She needs to go! She is and has been part of the problem for quite some time!
My comment was constructed about C.Boone and it was not isolated to her alone...I only pointed out the mere truth..and responded to her comments from the Osage News...After all this site is for the truth and you can have an opinion with diplomacy. You can be tactful. We understand the history as colorful it has been, an opinion is just that and you cannot hide the facts or the truth from this point on..there's enough blame to go around..and she's been there on the M.C how long? I am looking at tne credibility of our members on the M.C and their ability to run the Estate...we question the authority and not who they are...when we quetion authorities, we can improve them. Some not..if we don't question how are we to improve?
I totally agree with you! We need to hold ALL MC Members accountable. If they are not performing we need to band together as Shareholder's and remove them from office, even before the end of their term!
Thank you. We as Shareholder's have been kept in the Dark far to long...I know the M.C to a degree their hands are tied or I should say not as limited as they would have you to believe and put the Blame squarely on the BIA. We are in a situation that is pivotal to the success of our M.E and it does not need to be our darkest moment...This is in no way typical of how a multi - billion dollar Estate should be ran...in the Private Sector all of the M.C members would have been replaced by now..and the BIA in its authority has continued to show hostility to the Shareholder's by their inability to run the Estate..no longer can the Shareholder's be complacent nor the M.C or the BIA. I find it disturbing that The S.O.I Salley Jewell was not aware of the disfunction that still exists or how pervasive the corruption might be...the 1906 act does not not say we can't replace our members of the Council...I suspect as I've mentioned before an oversite commitee should be formed to audit the Estate, look and define what it is our M.C does outside of creating Conventions or going to the Conventions and what they take away and how this Knowledge will be applied, really getting to basically the Blue Print our infrastructure. I am disappointed to see after studying the M.E I now understand what has transpired through out the years..it has taken some time now its what we do that will make a difference from this point on...the direction is we want to go in is in the right direction...as long as we play by the rules there is no reason why we should not structure our office with communication fo ghe Shateholder's. We are many and we are strong in our Heritage and Beliefs, let the Mighty Eagle soar once again like she never has done before with her eyes wide open, to protect us once more. My eyes are wide open as the Eagle soars in my dreams.
With Cushing Oklahoma being roughly 70 miles from Pawhuska, do we have or are building crude storage tanks ? I read where the 'Big Money' players are renting offshore tankers to store oil for future(s) sale. Isn't Cushing a major storage facility? If these companies have the foresight to invest in storage did our MC also ? It seems a very profitable investment even more so than statues...
The oil markets are currently in "contango" which means the futures price is greater than the current price. Thus there is a current incentive to store oil and sell it at a future date for a higher price. But this market could reverse quickly and go the other way. Then you could have a lot of oil in storage that will receive LESS in the future. This is not a game for amateurs.
I am not saying to 'Get in the Game', just provide the storage and charge for storage. We wouldn't have any oil in storage, just be charging those that rent the storage from us. Cushing provides storage & ... " According to shipbrokers and analysts, major traders including Vitol SA, Gunvor SA, Trafigura Beheer BV and Koch Supply & Trading Co. Ltd have chartered supertankers capable of storing a combined total of more than 30 million barrels of oil—many of them in the past few weeks." (World’s Largest Traders Use Offshore Supertankers to Store Oil http://www.wsj.com/articles/worlds-largest-traders-use-offshore-supertankers-to-store-oil-1421689744 ). I didn't think we considered Koch an amateur. Interesting read. Amateurs build status,,,
I agree with Contango. The Osage Nation government or any of its entities including ONES and the Minerals Council needs no more risk than that of cradleboarded baby. Half a million bucks back to the Feds... Do you catch my drift? It's just mopping up one mess with this new government after another. Osage preference should mean people who can do the job and perform the tasks they're hired to do. If not, shrink the government until it runs smoothly and effectively department by department. You get that Shannon Edwards or do we need to take some other measure to get you to understand that what you've been doing by expanding this government as fast as you possibily can is impossible to manage under the circumstances and therefore wrong?
Last ' CANTANGO ' in the prairie. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-producers-running-closet-space-225154323.html I hope someone had the foresight to make the statues hollow to store oil in. It would be nice to have something to offset the declining oil income. If as just about everyone except a few posters are saying, U.S. production is up & we are the worlds largest producer. Not just in the ' CANTANGO ' times but storage for market. "Within around two months, [onshore storage will] be completely exhausted,". Be forward thinkers. Don't let your brains go into a 'CANTANGO' intelligence meltdown. Want to store oil & charge for it, go put int next to the James Bigheart statue or under the Pawhuska Indian Village dance arbor.
Finally, on Feb. 6th, 2015, we received a newsletter from our OMC, telling us how much our December, 2014 payment will be. How about THAT? On the first page, Ms. Boone says they re-organized the office, which allowed them to hire an executive administrative assistant, per the new budget. What she doesn’t say is that we have been 3 months without a secretary, a receptionist, a trust clerk, or an executive administrative assistant at the Minerals Council office to serve the shareholders. The 3 people they fired on Oct. 1 used to put the newsletter together and have it on-line and in our mailboxes about 50 days sooner than this one. In fact, we never did receive a December issue. This most recent one is dated Jan 2015. They re-organized alright, but they wrecked a perfectly good, working system while they were doing it. And it was all for personal vengeance! There was not one good reason for a re-organization. Now they are starting from scratch, with a new title for the same jobs, and it will take many months before the young lady they have hired will be able to provide full service to the shareholders again. You see, there is no one there qualified to train her. Also, if they expect her do it all, by herself, then she doesn’t have a chance.
That's the one. But she got the work done, and they didn't find 60 shareholder trust documents stuffed in the back of her desk when she left either, did they?
Not buying your excuse. We shareholders need to have stability in the office among those who work there. That's part of having a professional workplace.
A couple of weeks ago in the Osage News --->>> http://www.OsageNation-nsn.gov/news-events/news/nation-looks-farming-options Two Hives quote : On the two bee hives needed for the Bird Creek Farm. "Bee's, oh yes, we have to have bees," said Boe who is coordinating plans for Bird Creek Farms." Boe said who added that this would mean a beekeeper would need to be hired to take care of the hives. What? Is this a full time position, with benefits, ect., do you have to be Osage? or would any Indian that can smoke a hive count? Will be coming up a little short on the allotment, could handle a few bees if the moneys right. H
2-13/2015 As we look back at our latest elections. The current leadership clearly ran on a platform that it was an end of an era!! That the PAST NEPOTISM / FAVORTISM WAS OVER and NO LONGER had a place in our business or culture. Much of which was due to the unfortunate! and almost shameful impeachment of our last Chief.
So at this time let’s make sure one thing is clear NEPOTISM / FAVORTISM is still ALIVE and WELL.
They will also tell you that the chief has no input on what the Gaming Board does. So I would have NO CHOICE, but to believe that the actions over the last several months are all but PURE COINCIDENCE.
I do not believe at any time in history, have we had ONE FAMILY with so much POWER / CONTROL as the current leadership; the Chief in control of the tribe, and his family in control of the casino:
CEO (Chief Son in-law)
Director of Marketing (Chief Daughter) Which due to circumstances no longer reports to CEO but now COO, who reports to the CEO. That fixed the CONFLICT!!
Benefits Manager (Chief Wife) Reports to HR Director, which reports to CEO
New Sand Springs General Manager (Chief Son) reports to COO
COO 2nd in command family friend
Human Resource Director 3rd in command family friend
Chairman of Gaming Board longtime family friend
New Food and Beverage Supervisor Tulsa (Chief Son) hired by Brother acting General Manager at the time
All this is just pure coincidence that there has been NO malice or forethought by leadership in the placement of these individuals into their GIVEN positions.
What else is there? That might not be as BLANTANT / OBVIOUS??
Just a few things to START to think about! MORE to COME??
4:17 PM Why don't you get Congress to pass a law whereby no friend or relative of a sitting Chief can be employed by the Nation? Then you can run for Chief and show us how to make that work. Most of these positions you list have been filled by these people for years anyway.
I am aware that I am not the most edumicated individual But I do not Believe that holding a position for 60 DAYS OR LESS IS CONSIDERED YEARS. I THINK there is 12 months in a year? perhaps I am wrong.
Thank you, I have given this much thought!! and agree fully that, MAYBE? they can get their job done every day? as long as the POWERS to be give PERMISSION and let them know what that is on a daily basis.
After reading a few of the latest posts concerning OUR Casinos, It causes me to remember a conversation with One (1) of our current General Managers. This person says they were having a conversation with at this time the Temporary CEO that is NOW our current long term CEO. At that time they were discussing that this General Manager was considering going back to school to improve their current education level and job possibilities.
The response seemed very strange to me at the time as it was explained to me by the General Manager. They were told that if you are doing this for advancement in our company DO NOT BOTHER it is NOT a requirement and will not help.
What did he know that we do not, why would a LEADER within one (1) of our business express that EDUCATION DOES NOT MATTER in our casinos.
I or guess again is it possible that MORE EDUCATION can hurt a career with Osage Nation? What a message to be sent? What does this person NOW tell our front line employees education does not matter just look for your next promotion because??????? NO that can’t be the real reason? Can IT?
These 'left-handed' slaps at Chief Standing Bear using 3rd & 4th hand, 'he said/she said', unconfirmed quips are ridiculous. Wait until someone screws up, then jump on them. If you have qualified people you want to be hired, submit them to the Chief's office. I'm sure they will be considered. Just be sure you can document their experience and education. "I heard" just isn't going to work.
Education is paramount to a successful business, I might be surmising here,but maybe the coversation should have included and or "Equivalent "or that being Indian is preferential. Not just that but now that the house is getting cleaned in other words the frivolous spending of our money has hopefully come to an end, whats next....what does the new CEO have in mind in the near future from our Casino?
We need to concentrate on what's happening in the Minerals Meetings!!! There's one tomorrow and one last Friday: https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/minerals-council/meeting-information
Oil is up 500 barrels from last year so we will have a payment in June! Thanks to Councilperson Boone who reported this during the meeting today. Meeting audio is being streamed live now.
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: A Public Meeting will be held on March 9, 2015 at the Cultural Center for public comments about the new Environmental Assesment referred to as the EIS.
The apparent 500 barrel/day increase in entirely from the CO2 flood in the Burbank Field. The reality is that, minus this bump in production, the County's production is actually DOWN 2000 barrels per day over the last 2 years. This is due to the BIA strangling the County with regulations. The OMC is sitting idly by watching the ship sink!
The reality is that , minus the CO2 flood from the Burbank Field, the production is at the same level as 2002. Disturbing! The BIA is largely responsible. Once upon a time, the BIA actually was good at marketing the Osage Mineral Estate but no more. The BIA is slowly killing off the oil producers one regulation at a time.
And only if we had a full Petroleum Office we could have handled some of the administrative duties and could have the costs associated with the administrative duties and contracts covered through the BIA...When are we going to be responsible for ourselves? When do we see progress and I do get the feeling the BIA is discriminating against the success of our M.E and a patern may be if you examine our History with the BIA is forming. We can change History for a better future for our future children. No longer can the truth be covered up..still to this day there is no stewardship?
The Bia has a $4,000,000 budget and they can't seem to get help. What makes you think we could take $4,000,000 out of our Headright distribution account and do it any better? We need to monitor the Bia closely to be sure they are performing properly.
Never said we would cover this with Headright funds...we set up and get organized with leadership in tow...get our Office where it needs to be...the Administration cost would be covered by the Fed. Gov. Severe lack of organizing is the root problem...with no policy or structure. .Unbelievable. Yrea, the M.C has there hands full, full of what..the Lawyers are doing the legal work for them...so you see there are Osages who have a lot of knowledge how to run mutli-million dollar businesses successfully, I just might know something about running a Five Star business and our Estate is operating on crisis mode tells me a different story...the facts have spoken and it is time to face the facts of the truth..every business of this magnitude has an office and does not just rely on the Fed. Gov. to do everything for them or be right everytime...just logic and commonsense here..you can't argue with someone who is experienced. In a lot of fields..and I use applied techniques that work and I know what doesn't work...and really with the 5000 shareholder's probably could have a vote sent there way on these matters of finance to cover what would not be covered wouldn't miss much out of their Headright Check and would approve if everyone was aware of the circumstance the M.E is in...I'm sure if the Shareholder's thought that this move was to improve the status quo to create and improve upon the redundancies and inefficiencies and rid the cancer of the additude that you can't be replaced on the council by Proxy, the Authority of the Shareholder's. ..simple in nature. Rid the incompetence restore faith and culture and trust and we do this by structure..The Osage Nation did it so can we...wisdom of the day..."Nothing is a waste of time as long a you use it wisely". We need and want doers not naysayers and or everyone has an excuse, but my excuse sounds better for the future of our M.E our Childrens childrens future...long live the 1906 act my eyes our wide open.
Just outside of the monitoring theres so much more that can be done wouldn't you agree that some of that 4 millon could be applied to our office? What we don't know if we performed to standard we wouldn't be where we at..I've managed Legal Depts to aAdvertising to Accounting, Banking..H.R my real forte Hospitality, love people. Especially my People the Osage. And this is why my head is reeling. The appearance of impropriety exists along with conflicts of interest says corruption. ..I for one want't to see all gifts be reported...we need leadership...the Fed. Gov. isn't going to do this for us...I don't think my opinion is to far from the tree it dropped from.
How many times has this gone unreported before the perp got caught on video? http://barnsdalltimes.com/http:/barnsdalltimes.com/news/counselor-faces-charge
Good Idea from Jim Ryan at OFFR: !IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!! “The Minerals Council attorney should work with the attorney I have retained for Washington, DC work and the attorney for the oil and gas producers to show Secretary Jewell and the army of lawyers she has exactly where there has to be a waiver in the policies and regulations. These waivers are hard to get and are likely temporary. However, we only need the waiver for the 18 months needed to get the new environmental study and related documents done.” Chief Standingbear’s recent post on the OFFR makes it clear that the person who can help us the most to restore new oil and gas operations in Osage County is Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. Interestingly, she began her career as a petroleum engineer “in the Oil and Gas fields of Oklahoma”. This experience and her expert standing in energy production give her a unique insight into our unfortunate situation. She is also easily reached by email. Only about 20% of the regulations and policies of the new Environmental Assessment are problematic. If we can obtain temporary waivers from them and a new Environmental Impact Study is completed and is in full force, our producers can come into compliance and new permits could be issued. Below is a letter to appeal for her help to obtain these temporary waivers. Please feel free to copy it and send it with your name and address, or compose your own message and send it to her. Please share this with your Osage family and friends and ask them to contact her too! It is vital that our voices be heard in Washington. We need to let her know about our dilemma and present a united front to correct this terrible situation. Here is the DOI contact email address; feedback@ios.doi.gov phone number (202) 208-3100 and physical address Department of the Interior 1849 C Street, N.W. Washington DC 20240 Jim Ryan (Osage) 312 Larchmont San Antonio, TX 78209 Sally Jewell Department of the Interior 1849 C Street, N.W. Washington DC 20240
Text of the Letter: Dear Ms. Jewell, When our Osage reservation lands were allotted in 1906, Chief Peter Bigheart reserved the mineral rights for our Osage annuitants. Since then, the development of our mineral estate has created a dynamic, thriving and profitable industry that has produced many new businesses, jobs and a reliable source of income for our people and businesses in and out of Osage County. Unfortunately, for the first time in over one hundred years, new oil and gas operations in Osage County have ceased. The principal cause for this stoppage is a newly issued 72 page Environmental Assessment issued by the BIA. This document that was issued without proper protocol disregards the current 1979 Environmental Assessment and is having a devastating effect on oil and gas production in Osage County. In addition to the loss of jobs and the fact that it will put some of our producers out of business, this halt in production directly affects our people by drastically reducing quarterly payments to our Osage annuitants. Among these, it is our Elders, many of whom depend on these payments to make ends meet, who will suffer the most. The recent drop in oil prices has only compounded the situation. We believe that your training as a petroleum engineer and experience “ in the oil and gas fields of Oklahoma” give you a unique insight into our troubled industry. We also believe that “there’s no contradiction between being good stewards of the land and our economic progress; that in fact, those two things need to go hand in hand.” With the standstill of new oil and gas operations in Osage County, there is no balance between these two factors. In fact, economic progress has been brought to a halt. There is a way to reverse these unfortunate events. If temporary waivers of some policies and regulations in the recent Environmental Assessment were issued, it would give time to correct the problems. Once a new Environmental Impact Study is completed and in full force, new permits for oil and gas operations could be issued and business as usual and economic progress could continue. We believe that our producers are good “stewards of the land” and will do everything necessary to restart new operations. It serves no one’s interest to let this sad situation endure. As a member of the Osage Nation, I am respectfully asking for your help to grant waivers that will allow our producers to go back to work for the benefit the Osage Mineral Trust, the residents of Osage County and our Osage people. Please work with our representatives, who are eager to meet with you and work together to resolve this situation.
Reply to Jim Ryan's letter to Ms. Jewell. The first sentence in the letter is complete FALSE! Peter Bigheart was NOT responsible for reserving the mineral rights for the Osage annuitants. That person was Chief James Bigheart and has been well documented over the years. I agree with the point of the letter but am surprised that Jim Ryan doesn't know his history any better than this. I am also surprised that this glaring error got by Ray McClain before he recommended the letter.
It gets complicated. It was a collection of Osages who came up with the idea and these are a few of the ones who are to one degree or another involved: James Bigheart -- Chief prior to the passing of the 1906 Allotment Act and the first Tribal Council election. John Palmer -- An Attorney at the time that the events were taking place. It has been reported that he came up with much of the language (text in the Act) in the 1906 Allotment Act itself. Ne-Kah-Wah-She-Tun-Kah -- First Chief of the Osage Tribal Council created by and under the 1906 Act. He served to 1908. Mary Rose McClain wrote in an edition of "Inside Osage" that it was Ne-Kah-Wah-She-Tun-Kah who came up with the idea for a "Blanket Lease" meaning that there would be an equal division of income for all members of the Tribe whether oil was found on their land or not. Peter Cassi Bigheart -- Chief in 1908 and 1909. He was signing property deeds to the Original Allottees as "Chief of the Osage Tribe" when the land allotments were actually taking place.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2015/02/24/oil-rebounds-above-5-after-libya-largest-field-shuts/?intcmp=marketfeatures...if OPEC won't meet till June wouldn't you say OPEC is price fixing?
If Secretary of the Interior in particular and the under her umbrella BIA has a fiduciary obligation to the Nation and the Shareholders why are they killing the oil business in Osage County. Seems like it's time for another lawsuit for acting against our best interest and violating the trust obligations just like the HPP only worse since they didn't kill business with overweaning rules and regulations. http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagelatest/in-osage-county-oil-producers-blame-government-for-economic-crisis/article_eb88c5d6-c196-5579-b5c3-f90b44eac814.html
The $380 million lawsuit was for mismanagement of funds. So the BIA, in retaliation, is not correcting their faults. They are slapping down the producers to get back at the Osage Nation for the lawsuit victory. The regulatory environment that the BIA has created has done nothing to correct why they got sued in the first place. All this environment has done is shut down the County's oil activity and practically guarantee a 2nd lawsuit. Gentner Drummond's comments in the Tulsa World article shows his arrogance. What a hypocrite. The lawsuit exempts landowners that have oil production (i.e. Genter).
Even the BIA must comply with some laws, such as the National Environmental Policy Act, albeit only when pushed into a corner. The Secretary of the Interior cannot willfully violate the law to maximize oil production in Osage County. I don't know how successful a second lawsuit will be when the basic argument is "Your Honor, the Secretary of the Interior just wouldn't break the law to generate more revenue for our trust."
The 2nd lawsuit would apply to the 1929 amendment to the 1906 Act that mandates the BIA market the Mineral Estate for the shareholders.. That is not happening because the BIA is slowly killing off production one regulation at a time. You can argue about compliance with NEPA but the fact is the BIA is violating their fiduciary duty for the Mineral Estate which specifically says "marketing" in its mandate. The fact that the BIA is killing off the producers suggests that the Osage Mineral Estate is fading into irrelevance. A lawsuit may be the only remedy because oil and gas production is sure not going to provide the shareholders with a future reliable income stream. The BIA is seeing to that!
There will be another lawsuit we should put coal to the fire...because this last lawsuit is over three years and nothing has been done to resolve the issues at the administrative level and this is why I am pushing for a full Petroleum Office so we can lift ourselves out of this crises mode....the latest memo from our 3rd M.C I want to say thanks for the pep talk, cuz thats all it amounts to.
Story in Bigheart Times about oil production in the Osage. This crisis will not only effect the Osage people but everybody doing business. The cafes, stations, the schools, food stores. I not sure our MC knows really what to do. I think theyre trying to do what they can but is it enough? I know people are going to hurt big time over all this. We need some big help. Big ranchers money and BIA really make it tuff to stay here. WE are getting the shaft folks!!!!!
http://barnsdalltimes.com/http:/barnsdalltimes.com/news/oil-producers-ream-bia-vindictiveness....incompetence is rampant with the BIA..see the report from the GAO on how degraded our Schools are in...disrepair and what or where is the funding and how it is applied..and the talk of the day is "The lack of staffing.." But so much more....I've said before there is a pattern emerging with the BIA and we are not the only ones that have won a big Settlement...though we are not Baken does not mean we can't be..I do hold our M.C responsible as well..
The story in the Bigheart Times confirms the intent of the BIA - retaliation for the $380 million judgement. Mike Black, the director of the BIA, is orchestrating this mess. Yet when the OMC complains about the incompetence of the BIA, MIke Black gets incensed at the criticism. The OMC needs to complain ABOVE Mike Black and go all the way to the Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell. Otherwise, the same story will keep being repeated.
Thank you for posting this article...To have Sovereignty without lies, for where we have Sovereignty all is ours. WIth concerns to the realative decisions are being determined by who'S authority without concent from a Federal Judge, or even by Congress? Our treaty is unique and therefore, my thinking is lets get an outside opinion with all do respect...our interests the Shareholder's would be beneficial for the Shareholder's. I hardly think 500 Shareholder's is a great response compared to the 5000 Shareholder's that exists. And there is no better reason than no reason to do nothing...then to act now..in the best interest...If this goes through I SUSPECT the council members will be fit to be tide...one or two things will happen..removal and or HUGE RESTRUCTURING will take place..
How can that Mike Black guy be so disdainful when the entire economy of the largest county in the State of Oklahoma is drying up overnight? When are they going to start hiring people over there at the BIA who know how to correct their behavior and not place the American taxpayer at risk of another well founded lawsuit and settlement again?
Just read Ray McClains latest opinion or perspective on the matters regarding the M.E , read at (www.Osages-you-need-to-know.com ) in my opinion sometimes Ray McClain I get the feeling you like to sugar coat the truth to a degree...no disrespect sir, I'm a realist, and can be pragmatic at times..I see our situation that we are in is a result of poor Management at so many levels, my head is spinning and reeling..now we are in crisis mode..facts as they lie, so does the BIA..should we be in this situation I'll be damed if we can't pull ourselves by our own tails and put our own tail in the direction, the right direction...it is enough we know where the problems lie does not mean we have to stop because drilling has slowed down that actually was predicted by myself this woud happen just by the mere Sanctions the President put on Russia, so we store the Oil till that day when prices go up is when we take upper control of exactly what is being extracted...and sold and at what cost...This is our baby...not the Federal Government, they hold the trust and now we are not just Indians we are educated Indians..Many we are Osages the Decedent of a Original Allotee..there of 5000 strong Shareholder's thats not chump change we are talking about here..where is the Representation for the Shareholder's and this not a prediction another lawsuit sure to be filed against the BIA is eniment. We will be in this perpetual cycle and become a Lawyer Estate rather than a robust Flourishing M.E. So we change and grow with the times because we know factually straight across the board The Federal Gov. Is to big to handle an Estate like this Estate, so we take control by setting Compliance and standards to follow through by structuring A FULL PETROLEUM OFFICE, and the Council Members are tasked with the duties of a Board..The M.C is failing and no thanks to the Prior Councils or there of...there's enough blame to go around...that does not solve or move us in the Direction of excellence. ..time for the excuses to end...oh sorry we can't even get that from our M.C. At this point in the Game silence is not Golden. The Producers, all well knew after and before what they were getting away with and if they didn't save for that rainy day when Compliance was going to knocking on their back door someday, knew that day was coming, especially after we won the HPP case and knew the reqiurments existed. Even I knew they existed and said all along they were in the Code of Federal Regulations..and I'm not an Oil Expert but I have taken time to learn now for years...what works and doesn't work and the peoblems that there lay before us...simply put no one is watching what the left hand or for that matter what the right hand is doing, introducing chaos and now we are in crisis mode...the criteria laid out in spelling, we set the Standard...we have the right to protect what is valuable and we must act. Bottom line we are still losing hands over fist in revenue in Natural Gas alone...Still at square one...like I said this is to big for the M.C they should be concentrating what their big move is because my big move is for removal and replacement with people who know what thet are doing and not afraind to implement and have applied techniques and so forth..This is a Multi Million Estate being ran by rookies even at the upper echelon. This just can't be that bad but it is..
The producers say the BIA environmental requirements have them shut down, yet when they have a public meeting, 4 of our mineral council, including the chairman don't even show up. I guess they think they have it under control so why bother. Or---they have no idea what they are doing and they know it so they were hiding out.
Yes, the OMC is in over their heads. The BIA has a calculated schedule to destroy the Osage Mineral Estate. The lack of adherence to the 1929 Amendment to the 1906 Act shows the BIA's total lack of concern for Osage County. All they are interested in is creating regulations no one can live with!
It is very obvious 2 things need to happen now; The Mineral Council needs to be made up of: 1 - Sharp Business Person, 1 - Petroleum Expert, 1 - Aggressive Attorney with a Law Firm that specializes in Native American Law and is Federally Certified. Just 3 competent members only. Until the above is filled, the current Mineral Council should take a voluntary pay cut equal to Shareholders income reductions. In other words, until we are represented by competent people the existing MC should have a little 'Skin in the Game' ! The Shareholders are now paying for 'Dead Wood' & it is time to play ' Hardball ' !
The poster on 3-12-15 @ 2:46 pm is exactly what we need on the Council...such a good Idea, but this is only part of the pieces of the puzzle we must set in stone for the fut future generations not just for today but for tomorrow.. Do not think the SgShareholder's have no altrrnative but to organize and become mobioe as well...if we are going to be caught up in this quandary of POLITICS we might as well go for it...because this is at it's best. Fight fire with fire are the Shareholder's armed with knowledge let them rise to the success where we should be at and can be at time to put foot to mouth. Shaking my head in disappointmment, though I know this is going to be tough but we must do what is nessasary to continue the security of our M.E future.
Osage Producers Association Response to Listening Session held 3.09.2015 regarding the current Environmental Impact Study being conducted by BIA & BLM
The level of deceit used by the government in their efforts to deprive the Osage of their birthright reached incredible new levels Monday night when they held a "Listening Session" for the new Environmental Impact Statement being performed on the county. It was blatantly obvious this was merely some step required by some policy to help quiet protesters later after the actual theft takes place by being able to ask them "if they attended and if they objected." How clever to give us absolutely zero concrete changes so that we have nothing concrete to object to.
Well, we object to being deceived by the entire sham of a process. We also object to industry being denied a seat at the table. Another move showing the true colors of this agenda and the lengths it's willing to go to steal this birthright. It's shameful.
Nobody could adequately explain why they were performing an EIS without performing an EA first. The Indian Affairs National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Guidebook says that if the action is covered by an existing NEPA document it may be possible to use all or portions of the document to expedite and complete the process, if the EA identifies no significant effects, a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) will be prepared…this is where we are now. No one has even began to explain why the government believes that the 1979 Environmental Assessment is no longer valid nor have they sought input from the public as to the necessity for any updates or amendments.
Under the section 2.2 when referencing Documents Used to Comply with NEPA, 2.2.3 states that “An EA is a concise document that provides sufficient evidence and analysis for determining the significance of effects from a proposed action. The EA will determine if an EIS is necessary.
In this instance it appears that someone has gotten things out of order and has just manufactured the need for an EIS without doing even the most basic review to determine if an EIS is proper. Before just assuming the need for an EIS it should be noted that the level of drilling activity in Osage County for the past three years is a mere 12% of what it was when the first EA was prepared and given a FONSI.
How is it possible to have one-eighth of the activity that generated a FONSI with a simple EA in 1979 automatically trigger an EIS in 2015? It really makes one wonder how this process ever got this far.
Robin Phillips, Osage Agency Superintendent, did not even attend the meeting. Either she knew it was a sham or she just can't be bothered to tend to matters striking at the very heart of the Osage mineral estate. Or both.
The vagueness in which the topics were covered as well as the promised August delivery date leads one to believe that the EIS has already been written and they are just jumping through the regulatory hoops to get "Public Input". On the off chance that the EIS has not been already been written and the powers that be are truly endeavoring to take a hard look at the Environmental Impact of Oil and Gas Production on Osage County, it would behoove them to take a long hard look at the factors listed below. It should be glaringly obvious to even the most simple of minds, the only change needed to the current EA policy in Osage County is a Countywide Take Permit for the American Burying Beetle, anything you can do to help in that regard would be greatly appreciated.
Before making any changes to the current EA or attempting to use an EIS to further weaken the Osage Mineral Estate policy makers should consider these factors…
Yes, sue....had the same thing happen on some property I had way back when , a rare beatle migrated to the property and we threatened with a law suit that the E.A was preventing the sellers that being I and said company, making a profit at a time when interest was at a all time high of course and would be seeking damages. We had to wait three years...
Read the Donelson case filings and it will become clear why an environmental impact study is deemed necessary. The attorneys for the BIA are unable to refute the claims related to the 1979 environmental assessment or to demonstrate compliance with National Environmental Policy Act.
The BIA is caught between a rock and a hard place. When they comply with the applicable laws they're threatened with lawsuits for either not producing enough oil or for destroying the tall grass prairie. They're placed in a lose/lose situation
If you read the language of the 1906 Act amendment carefully, you will note that it is about conservation of the resources and not about making maximum profit. Were the BIA to adhere strictly to the language of "the regulations governing same and the leases issued thereon shall contain appropriate provisions for the conservation of the natural gas and its economic use" and "the highest percentage of ultimate recovery of both oil and gas" then producers not simply could be, but would be, governed in such manner that oil and natural gas production in Osage County would not be profitable for the typical well.
Be careful of what you demand for you just may get it.
What I didn't say in my earlier post was we had to hire a independent agency to assess if the Beatle had migrated and suspected that it had moved on much earlier, of which the facts we had before us in hand. We got our land back and was able sale and it all but took three years.
To the Poster March 15th @ 7:`14 am., With all due respect, if one, JUST read the Donaldson case fillings/ petition, then yes the EA and EIS in the National Environmental Policy Act compliance should be enforced. Yes The BIA is caught between a rock and a hard place in that case. However, not being a legal assistant, paralegal or intern for the filing firm, one must consider there are mutiple strategies to this case. If you read the EA or EIS components blanketed in the The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) [42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.] one would start to notice the words 'Could, May and Interpret' used enough times, well if you had a dollar for each time they are used, you could buy me dinner. We must remember their are two sides to every argument. There are so many holes in this flawed law, a new Cadillac could be driven through it. Read the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Section 309 of the Clean Air Act, EPA has revised the Department of State's Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for a Presidential Permit application by TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, LP. It may put to sleep but you will notice NOTHING IS WRITTEN IN STONE. The Government came off of 'Second Base ' quite a few times and made numerous concessions. I have learned, the decission will go to the sharpest legal presentation presented by the most aggressive knowledgeable legal team. Heck, I'll bet you thought Michael Jackson, George Michael Zimmerman & O.J. (his first trial) would be found guilty! Just a few examples, granted these are crimminal cases but I could sight civil litigation examples that would fill this page but most you would have never heard of. Anyway, good luck, with your BIA & MC in your corner, you are going to need it...
Osage Producers Associagtion Response Continued: 1. The Indian Affairs NEPA Guidebook lists the Components of the Human Environment and contemplates the Socioeconomic considerations. The only industry in Osage County is Oil and Gas production. This fact was not even addressed in the Listening Session by the government or its contractors, but it was touched on by several desperate people telling heartbreaking stories of unemployment. This should be the biggest factor in considering the impact any changes will have on this community. There are special attentions given when these negative effects will be primarily felt by minorities. No one will feel the impact of these restrictions as much as the Osage shareholder. The first question asked should be “Could this requirement negatively impact industry causing further destruction of employment and quality of life throughout Osage County?” The sad part of this initial question is there is no one on the committee who knows what kind of effect any decision will have on industry. In spite of the directive also set out in the Indian Affairs NEPA Guidebook in section 8.3.3 which states Scoping is an open and early process through which interested parties are identified… the only people with the answers to the tough questions, the Oil and Gas Producers of Osage County, were left out of the scoping process altogether. When they asked about being left out they were told they were not allowed to participate because they were not a government agency. The policy says absolutely nothing about a government agency requirement. So once again, in an effort to try to silence industry’s input on regulations drafted to regulate them, the government has chosen to go it alone at the expense of everyone involved.
2. No Drilling in the Prairie or the Wet Lands. This is extremely disturbing. The contractor just kind of mentioned this in passing. If it is truly being considered one must also consider how will they compensate the Osage Mineral Estate as well as the producer for the condemnation of their current assets? Prairie covers a good sixty percent of Osage County. If prairie lands are removed from the producible acreage, the minerals are essentially condemned and the Federal Government will be responsible for those damages. Using the Federal Government’s numbers generated by the Inspector General in the fall of 2014, the royalty loss alone to the Osage’s would be over $8 Billion (with a B) dollars over the next 15 years. This figure does not include the lost revenue and assets to the producers, but considering the Osage only receive 20 percent (at most) their losses would exceed $30 Billion (also with a B), not counting infrastructure.
One has to ask, by who's authority, The BIA, The DOI...which Agency would make a discriminant decision to not allow industry input and whom signed off? And the reasoning? This should be looked into, seriously...I hate to say in the throes of Politics of which should not exist by Law...Should the Osage rewrite History. Who made the decision not to drill on the Prairie and Wetlands? And where is the advocacy to do so? And the Vote would be put forth to the Shareholder's am I right?
Osage Producers Association response continued: 3. There was some mention of requiring horizontal drilling to cut down on the number of locations. Anyone advocating this as some kind of solution wholly fails to understand the nature of oil and gas production in Osage County and the economics of the industry in total. Simple vertical wells can be drilled and completed for about $150,000 sometimes a little more sometimes a little less depending on total depth and completion strategies. Horizontal wells are another animal altogether and cost around $5 million on average in Osage County. The shear cost of drilling a horizontal well would prevent 95% of the producers in Osage County from drilling another well. Not to mention the ones who can afford it, have tried it and determined that horizontal drilling is not a viable alternative in the Osage Mineral Estate. Osage County is a stripper well play, the wells don’t come on very strong, they fall off very quickly and generally only produce about 18,000 barrels (Estimated Ultimate Recovery) during their entire life. In short, the rocks just cannot support the investment that it cost to use horizontal wells. Small, shallow, direct vertical wells have proven themselves to be safest, most economical way to produce this mineral estate. Requiring the drilling of horizontal wells is just another way to condemn the mineral estate and will expose the Federal Government to the same kind of damages restricting the prairie would amount to, if not more due to the lack of any drilling anywhere in the county.
4. As previously mentioned, Osage County is a stripper well play. The usual meaning of Stripper Well is any well making less than ten barrels of oil per day. Osage County is a Super Stripper well play in that it has 14,000 producing wells combining for 12,000 barrels a day. The average well in Osage County makes less than a barrel per day. The margins on these wells are extremely thin. They simply cannot support the cost of further regulation. Additional costs associated with increased regulatory burdens will cause the premature abandonment of these marginal wells. Wells capable of a barrel or two of production per day will no longer be economically viable and will no longer be produced. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t seem like a such a big deal, unless you are familiar with Osage County production and you understand that could be as many as 10,000 wells. Again, the absence of any oil men on the panel becomes a glaringly obvious, fatal flaw.
5. The 1929 Amendment to the 1906 Act, giving the BIA its trust obligation to the Osage Mineral estate reads:
“Provided further, that as to all lands hereafter leased, the regulations governing same and the leases issued thereon shall contain appropriate provisions for the conservation of the natural gas and its economic use, to the end that the highest percentage of ultimate recovery of both oil and gas may be secured:
It sure doesn’t seem like any of these proposed changes have kept this directive in mind. In fact it seems as if every regulation contemplated by these changes is attempting to lower the recovery of both oil and gas.
For all the reasons stated above, The Osage Producers Association requests that in the event you choose not to abandon this wasteful quest to recreate an already valid existing NEPA document, if you make any changes whatsoever that they follow your directive of helping the Osage Mineral Estate and issue a Countywide Take Permit for American Burying Beetle for Oil and Gas Production in Osage County.
Someone from the Osage Producers Association should contact Susan Bromm. The door has been open and there is a good chance you will have her ear. She is Director of the Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, United States Environmental Protection Agency. Explain your case, you will have more than two minutes to speak. The 'Pump is Primed', time to act. She is a few floors above the BIA. Sometimes ' You just have to play Hardball ' Contact Information: Susan Bromm, Director, Office of Federal Activities, at (202) 564-5400
Oh now someone from compliance has two minutes when now Kevin Washburn Secratary of Indian Affairs are looking into this matter and all the mean while we are shut down because the 1979 EA has not changed then what caused this to inpact the shut down of the M.E permitting? And after reading what the M.C could not reflect to Washington DC....After reading the Article in the Osage News, Osage attend the NCAI Session, and that our M.C has not been in Contact with Washington on these matters is astounding, where are they getting there advice from and who is representing the M.E and Shareholders? You can't make this up...A long over due investigation is needed with a thorough in depth look into corruption. ...Contracts and so forth...to why not the reporting of gifts and so forth.. why should the M.E suffer because the BLM and BIA and EPA can't get along...the only Outcome is for the Osage and that's not happening and this is why We Osage need to fight back....We should not be where we are at had we had strong leadership...and ?
BLM, BIA, EPA and the US Army Corps of Engineers could get involved if drilling on wetlands is permitted. You will note USACE involvement with wetlands regulations on the EPA page at the following URL:
This is serious folks. Write comment to osagecountyoilgaseis@bia.gov by midnight tonight if you want your concerns to be considered. Comment form and other informative documents can be found on Osage Shareholders FB and Osage for Fiscal Responsibility FB.
Last meeting agenda is located at https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/news-events/events/minerals-council-meeting-3 Audio archive for the MC meetings is located at https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/minerals-council/meeting-information
Wow--you should listen to the last meeting when it was discussed about how the Chief is trying to pull an end run around the MC over at the BIA to get information there to go ahead and compact the mineral estate. http://on-web1.osagetribe.org/media/minerals/audio/FY2015/2015-0318_3OMC_pt1.mp3
Don't count on it. At the last MC meeting on Wednesday, I heard the second in command under the Superintendent say that the BIA wants all the Tribes to be as independent in running their own business interests as they possibly can. This exchange had to do with what the Chief has been doing by way of compacting the BIA and the MC members who were asking questions about it during the meeting.
lf there are any conversation on this matter it will certainly be communicated to the Shareholder's in the best interest or this could go in an entire different direction. The challenge is there...waiting.
Crude inventories threaten to fill tanks, with the nation’s largest oil-storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma. Hey MC, have we talked about building storage facilities yet ? Would be nice to have something to supplement our falling income ! Aren't we located near Cushing ? Or are we still working on a Office Manager ? http://finance.yahoo.com/news/record-u-oil-glut-may-090000732.html
Ray McClain recommends in his latest notice at http://www.osages-you-need-to-know.com/ that we read this document on the new EIS: http://www.bia.gov/cs/groups/xregeasternok/documents/document/idc1-029545.pdf
More input about the the EIS from the Osage Producers at http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepage3/osage-county-oil-producers-blast-bia-environmental-impact-study-that/article_6c9d3f17-7d9b-5620-8f52-e4b045f078b0.html
Hey! Ray , some of those 4 and 5 barrels a day of oil, could be tried into that Burbank Field and were attended to inject . Wish there were a sight that would show the different section on a map, I had one in the 70's, think I made a pattern with it, for it was of no use. H
The Kayaker's Plan for our energy future https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxflIKJT-cU She can't read the damning report on the activities of the BIA out in the Osage county oilfield but she can plan for public lands when she, as the Trustee of the ME Trust, has a fiduciary obligation to the Osages, not to the U.S. or its public lands. Low carbon future is her agenda people and that does not include the oil business, now does it.
Climate change advocates disregard scientific fact in favor of propaganda. The data in the table shows the mean growth rate of CO2 in the atmosphere from 1959 to 2014. There is significant fluctuations in the rate of growth which cannot be explained by patterns of human behavior, either related to emissions or alteration of the environment.
Also, if you compare the temperatures during these years there are periods of globally averaged declines - even when the CO2 levels are shown to be rising.
The following is a peer reviewed paper by Ernst-Georg Beck, and it shows significantly higher levels of CO2 during the 1800's when the world was in the tail end of a mini ice age that began in the 1600's.
http://icecap.us/images/uploads/08_Beck-2.pdf
The alarmists like Al Gore can't tell the difference between manure and apple butter, but they know all too well how to push propaganda to manipulate the ignorant masses. Promoting "global warming" and "climate change" is making certain people very wealthy, and wrongly harming the fossil fuels industry.
Her agenda will certainly harm the mineral estate, and raises valid concerns about a conflict of interest. An ethical person would resign the position of Trustee to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.
Lo. Junk science. Why can't anyone see this is all about propaganda based on nothing but lies. when does a lie become a truth is when money speaks louder than words. The price uou will pay is all in the name of Politics.
The Show must go on as I would say in spite of the negativity ...in other words Chaparral and Welco Energy are completing wells and that's always good to see..just wondering what at if any of the latest technology is being applied to further production of oil and gas?
In case Shareholders forgot the interview with then newly elected Minerals Councilman Everett Waller here are a few direct quotes all the way back August. My, how things have changed. "We have to dedicate ourselves to sale leases and with these concessions we don’t have the acreage available like we used to – so I’m going to have to make sure the concessions are complimentary to what our shareholders need,” “As a product, I think with the Negotiated Rulemaking revisions coming through it will help us in our next step, that’s with the BIA,” Waller said. “As chairman, the relationship with Robin Phillips [new Osage Agency Superintendent] has been productive. That’s going to be vital for our shareholders.” “We have considerations for the smaller producers, we’re working on having events to educate them with the BIA what our requirements are going to be and how they can achieve those. The larger companies are already doing that,” he said. “I feel like they should all be held to the highest standards of producing our oil and gas, protecting our environment and keeping our cultural identity of the Osage.”Waller said he’s excited to be working for the best interests of all shareholders. How is that going Mr. Waller ? Under New Business at the March 18th meeting, how was the " BIA Semi Annual improvement meeting " report ? We are all looking forward to that helping our June check... I don't think this is happening. If this is our Chairman's words, what the heck are the other council members doing ? In the Oil Business I think it is called ' Getting the Shaft '.
His speech was more like reaching for Pie in the Sky...you can't build a house of bricks in the path of a tornado. There is no core foundation..or standard with a criteria for internal and external comtrols...so this all by Mr.Waller shows his intelligence by no accident or coincidence because the precedent has been set by other examples of leadership. Ring a bell of truth? As my fervent for organization is long over due..say like eight years ago and before...you would think this is where we should not be at this very moment but we are..and the monopoly for the Shareholder's and not the other away around...and inquiry into what the Council does is long long over due...it is equally important to have this dialogue with the Shareholder's and the lack of communication is sooooooooooo telling. With respect to the Concessions and Contract and so forth and the future...remains to be seen. Huge competence issues at an administrative level and in addition to incompetence is another factor...As I am pushing for a recall for replacement of Waller and others..they are Elected officials and must be held to that standard.
Just read Ray McClains latest update from his website www.Osages-you-need-to-know.com...Please explain why no one sat at the Table of Final Negotiations? This could not look good for the M.E period...and now we just lost a huge Producer...I blame the BIA and I blame the DOI and now I blame the M.C. In retro, I can see why the Five voted no not to attend the meeting. Signing the MOU is like conceding to the Final Negotiations and probably redundant...not just that, they should be apart of the process and not in the opposite position. And the way I see it, my opinion they should have gone to the table..signed under duress...The MOU. This is futher attempt by the M.C to keep control? And what does this have anything to do with the Federal Regulations not going through anyway? So you then have to ask, is the Trustee in violation of any law that is considered Hostile to the Shareholder's and to what level of accountability by and by do we judge our M.C as well. However you look at this can of worms there is no other outcome that can be or here we go again to the Court of opinion...The trustee has the Obligation as written when all else fails...
Ray McClain obviously does not understand the pending regulatory changes or the ramifications. No affected parties were part of the negotiated rulemaking - not the producers, purchasers or landowners. The OMC had only 3 members and the Feds had 4 so the outcome was never in doubt. The rulemaking was a sham and needs to be redone. No wonder Devon, CEP and others are leaving. It's not the uncertainty of the pending regulations but the content that is the problem. Another attempt by the BIA to kill the Osage Mineral Estate by a thousand paper cuts.
Some days are a triumph and some days aren't. Today is a triumph for one of the Sponsors of the Osage Blog. Annette M. Gore is 99 years young today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNETTE!
Thank you, Ray. So far so good. Many presents, phone calls from friends, family and Osages I dearly love and two birthday cakes too. A wonderful birthday!
Last year the The Bigheart Times reported that Multiple motions to dismiss a pending federal lawsuit regarding the Osage Mineral Estate are now on file with the Northern District of Oklahoma. I am referring to the requests that a class-action lawsuit spearheaded by Martha Donelson and John Friend be tossed . Did the BIA update the MC & Shareholders on the progress ? I believe it is coming up on a 1/2 year just for that motion. If not, did the MC ask for the status? Can someone at the next MC meeting remind the MC that they also have a ' Fiduciary Obligation ' to the Shareholders. Doesn't the 'Squeaky Wheel' get anything at these meetings? It is time to play ' Hardball '! If we can't get any feedback on that, well I am beginning to think the BIA has got the MC ' Over a Barrel ' ... http://barnsdalltimes.com/http:/barnsdalltimes.com/news/bia-wants-lawsuit-tossed
Shareholder Jim Ryan has set up a web site called RESTART ENERGY PERMITS IN THE OSAGE https://www.facebook.com/groups/1549480308646845/ . The intent is to muster the shareholders out to write DOI Sec. Sally Jewell letters requesting a waiver on the BIA's current requirement concerning EPA rules. I suggest that ALL shareholders flood Jewell's mailbox with a letter similar to Ray McClain's. FACEBOOK POST 12:15 AM, 3/24/2015 Madam Secretary Jewell; Please consider authorizing a waiver for the temporary EIS and EA’s for Osage County, Oklahoma, at least until the final protocol for these directives has been established. Our Producers cannot comply on such short notice. Even the abbreviated EA is complicated and time consuming, and most are thinking they will need to be done again when the final versions are published. This requirement has put hundreds of people out of work and will soon have the royalty income of nearly 3,000 Osages and their families cut by at least ½ or more. Hundreds of wells are now sitting idle because simple workover procedures cannot be done. We need help from you—very soon. Thank you—Ray McClain, Osage Mineral Estate Beneficiary====This needs to be done TODAY. We do need the help from her office-IMMEDIATELY!
As to Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, you may also call her office @ 202-208-7351 and leave a message. Her address and email are; Sally Jewell, 1849 C St. NW,Washington, D.C. 20240-0001 and www.doi.gov/ Form letters are available @ www.restartpermits.com
Next Minerals Meeting Agenda: http://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/news-events/news/minerals-council-meeting-agenda
ReplyDeleteCan someone please tell me why the 1906 act as ameneded is on the Agenda of New Business on Jan 22nd M.C meeting?
DeleteHave you seen the full page warning by the Osage Producers Association titled, "Time is running out for Osage County Mineral Holders" in the January 15, 2015 edition of the Bigheart Times? Bone chilling despite what the "blinders on" negators of the facts of doing business will be for the oil producers. Cited are the new NEGREGS, the Donelson lawsuit and the new BIA mandated Environmental Assessment that is 72 pages in length and has 64 regulations that are financially ruinous to Osage Producers... This warning includes the fact that the, "wells and production that will be terminated due to these factors will be lost forever." Call the Minerals Council and BIA to protest.
ReplyDeleteIf you ask me this could turn our oil patch around for us.I think it why past time.as in we should be producing our oil. 100 percent is hell better than 20 percent an less. What I'm saying is subcontracting the drilling out or buying our own rig. We are living in the 21 century not 1800 or the 1900. I not scared to try or you!!
DeleteI am in the same boat as most. We are in the 21st Century, as we Shareholder's do not have all the facts, basically the logistics (WHAT COMES DOWN TO IT)...we know pretty much what needs to be done.We what hasn't been done, what is working and what is not working. We understand a lot more needs to happen and reading Ray McClains lastest opinion ( The M.C has a lot on their plate) equally what is not on our Plate? We shouldn't be always in this perpetuate cycle of operating like we are always in crisis mode...like I have said before their is never an excuse to be lazy and wait for some miracle, we have to pull ourselves by the boot trap and except no less than exceptional service from our M.C...the past is our future and here we are today no further ahead...3 yrs after the HPP payout, still on the losing end....This sound acceptable? We need our own "Petroleum" office and a Shareholder's Board comprised of no one from the Nation voted by the SHAREHOLDER'S only...to guarantee net neutrality. It is incumbant of all of us to educate yourselves, ourselves however you see it to educate is knowledge though you may not know everything you will not be unarmed ...essentially we need to be equipped and some of us are fit to be tied with the procrastination, so one wants to know why have we not moved on forward with forward thinking and we need a Council who will step up and lead and not by the arm chair...we shouldn't be having this conversation but we are...this is a billion dollar Estate.....
DeleteCan you copy and paste article. Do not subscribe.
DeleteThe full page warning is not online at the Bigheart Times web site in order to copy and paste it. Sorry.
DeleteThank you.
DeleteWhat do we need to be hiring and equipping an office for when we won't even need it. The BIA, with all these new regulations and the EA regulations, is putting to death the mineral estate income because there won't be any producers to bring out the oil and gas out of the ground. DO YOU GET THIS YET OR DO YOU NEED TO BE BLUDGEONED WITH THESE FACTS AFTERWARD WHEN YOUR CHECK DROPS TO $10.00 A QUARTER?
DeleteTo TDTNB--You are absolutely correct! But first, the MC must hire an engineer/geologist as a director of operations. Only three or four of the MC we elected last year would even know where to start.
DeleteI happen to disagree with poster@ 2:08 pm....To do nothing is like asking for more trouble without saying and I for one want our money working for us...and at This point we can't sit and watch what is happening. ..I as a major Shareholder have a lot to lose and a lot to gain. by moving forward with a full running Petroleum office...it is a proven fact The Bureaucracy stinks...and the list can grow....The M.E is where it is at because no one was steering the ship...proven fact....care to anser to these facts poster @ 2:08 pm...
DeleteYou're not a major shareholder any more. Your share just fell through the floor and it's the China Syndrome. Don't you understand that it's the small producers who pull the oil and gas out of ground and it's 1983 all over again? Fracking? Over. Oil Shale? Over. Drilling? Over. Exploration? Over. Producing wells plugged if not above so many barrels per day. This is scorched earth here and you're writing nonsense in view of where we are today and where this is going. The BIA is supposed to be acting in our best financial interest as a fiduciary and burdening the producers with more and more rules and regulations and penalties and fines and so forth, creates a situation where they are acting in the opposite capacity than they should be. It's totally mystifying especially after they took such a financial hit for having failed so badly where the Trust duties and obligations were concerned that were enumerated in the HPP lawsuit. I'm not confident that they even understand what they are supposed to be doing on a daily basis under the law as a Trust fiduciary and that in and of itself, at this late date, is utterly appalling.
DeleteLeasing? Over. Forgot to add that one too.
DeleteMy point is a lot of Osages depend on this money as supplemental income....and are not so fortunate and I am an Optimistic being and I have created and crafted business to where they respond to the Market. Never say never...made mountains from mole holes...excuses are like everyone has one but never the ecuse do here we can....and we will we are Osage...it cannot be business the old way any longer. Look at the hole we are in again and I do put the Blame where it counts...but at this juncture what does it solve or show? Incompetence from the BIA to the M.C had we trended as we should have been the impact of the situation (always looks worse than it is) would have not been so severe had we planned. Someone had mentioned the M.C wouldn't even no where to begin and it starts with pen and paper. And a few good men who will take the risk and do what is long over due...if they can't put it together or pull us out by the boot strap...then we Shareholder's will have to stand United...we need hard negotiating and stop playing footsie under the table and get this ball rolling...Anything the Gov knows how to do is spend and its obvious that the Gov. is always in crises mode covering up instead of making it work thats politics at its finest wouldn't you say....well I say vest in an office ...that works for the Shareholder's. ...study the History of the BIA...who gave them all the power not the 1906 act....and all they were was an Agency that worked as a liason to the Gov. for communication purposes. We have nothing more to lose and everything to gain....
DeleteSupplemental income? Some of us are living on our checks. You know what this means if the bottom falls out.
DeleteAnd or there of...
DeleteThe BIA will only accept letters in writing on paper. To send your letters of complaint to the BIA on the new CFRs:
DeleteMike Black
BIA Director
MS-4606-MIB
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240
Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs mike.black@bia.gov
(202) 208-5116 office
(202) 208-6334 fax
What happened to their right to promulgate their own rules as an independant Minerals Agency under the Osage Nation Constitution?
DeleteThe Osage Producers Association's Warning to the Osage Headright Owners:
Deletehttp://edigital.iserver.net/osages/Tick_Tock.pdf
From the Osage News:
ReplyDelete"BREAKING: Osage Nation Attorney General Jeff Jones has filed ethics complaints in tribal court against seven Osage Minerals Council members “to determine whether Osage Nation law, specifically the Osage Nation ethics law, applies to the Osage Minerals Council.”
Omg really saw this coming. Their is a reason for everything....
DeleteDidn't see it in the News yet. If there is merit he had to file...could it be for private finantial gain? And who are the council members?
DeleteIt's on their Facebook web page.
DeleteExeecutive Branch legal harassment iff you ask me. Why arent't they going after Ray-Ray Red Corn ffor splitting the moneey withh is brother Frrank on the lawn mowing of the villages when the mowing equipmentt came from Ray-ray? We been waiting twoo years for DA DA Jones to get that show on the rroad and it aintt tthere yet.
DeleteWell my guess, for what ever reason Jones is doing this is there are rules and so forth but no where in the 1906 act does it say you have to report your gifts right? And what, our M.C is now on radar?
DeleteMinerals meeting today: What the heck is BLM doing conducting training sessions for the BIA? Talee and Kathryn stated they don't want BLM involved in the Osage and Talee asked for a report from the BIA as to exactly what the BLM is doing with the BIA.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/news-events/news/minerals-council-meeting-agenda
http://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/multimedia/live-media
Assistant Superintendent of the BIA was there today instead of Robin Phillips? If this is true, why can't that little gal make the Mineral Council meetings twice a month? Is she afraid to show up or just being stubborn? We need someone who understands the fiduciary relationship and holds up their end to the Osage Headright owners and the Osage Nation.
DeleteNo Oil Summit for this year? Make sense to me.No Oil Summit for this year? Make sense to me.
DeleteMotion to attend digital conference:
Deletehttp://www.digitaloilconference.com
Passed.
Executive Session has been voted on and passed.
DeleteThe Osage Producers Association's Warning to the Osage Headright Owners:
ReplyDeletehttp://edigital.iserver.net/osages/Tick_Tock.pdf
Watch out Osage County land owners! If the wind farm company doesn't pay their subcontractors, you may be subject to liens filed on your properties making it difficult to complete real estate or financial transactions. IKEA is a huge company from Sweden and they don't pay their bills according to this information:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.windaction.org/posts/42013-ikea-apex-wind-farm-non-payment-causes-liens-filed-against-local-farmers#.VMGyoUaVe6V
Hey land owners, this is what it may become like to deal with the Italian government and their government owned company ENEL in the future:
Deletehttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-17/enel-s-slovak-unit-raided-by-police-for-second-time-in-5-months.html
Read this landowners,.....add this to the l ist of what is happening with the wind industry.....http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/01/23/america-first-offshore-wind-project-dealt-major-setback-after-utilities-bolt/
DeleteNot just that the Energy Dept is required by law to have a certain amount of percentage of green projects...which in turns the cost is past on to the consumer and the same for the landowners....Even Obama's number during his State of the Union address about Global warming is junk science. Everything cycles...Talk about global warming lets add a few more solar systems to the mix...and the truths that are unspoken. ..
DeleteGood articles. Thank you.
DeleteI knew a guy once that invented a real perpetual motion machine. The problem is that it was an illusion, the scale of the experiment was adjusted to manage the drag coefficient which would eventually bring the system to a stall. By adding energy when no one was looking it appeared to run without the input of additional energy.
DeleteWind has a similar problem. Although it sounds "renewable" it requires such a significant cost to manufacture and maintain that "renewable" energy tends to fail when it comes to effectively harnessing the wind due to a variety of factors including good old friction and drag. They just never operate efficiently enough for a long enough period of time, without substantial additions of energy in the form of maintenance, to keep the system operating. They don't produce enough energy to ever replace the energy spent on them in the first place.
They are in fact an energy sink. Maybe with the proper gearing...just thought his blog could add more light to the subject.
Interesting. Why am I not surprised? The corridor on I-70 coming up to I-35 has a ton of them to the North of the freeway in Kansas and it's surprising how many of them appear to be out of commission when the other turbines are moving. I suppose this will be true in Osage County soon enough.
DeleteHook line and sink. But we can and will fight against what we consider sacred to our beliefs. Shame on Enel..
DeleteTime to start watching the market:
ReplyDeleteA good source of information is located at http://www.dailypfennig.com/
"Once again, let me repeat something I've said over and over again. And this week we had another example of it. Central Banks, mostly in the East and Middle East, but now Europe is joining in, have been adding to their reserves with Gold, and what really magnifies this worrisome feeling I have with these Central Bank moves, is the fact that the European Central Banks want their Gold in their own vaults and not in the U.S. These Central Banks know something that we Pfennig Readers can only guess at. But, the idea here is that they do know something we don't, and that scares the bejeebers out of me. But if they are buying and hoarding Gold, shouldn't we too?"
Chuck Butler
President
EverBank World Markets
Wow. Read this......http://www.whiteoutpress.com/articles/2014/q3/which-countries-central-banks-hoarding-gold-and-why/
DeleteIf you don't post the dared us fillers , while our shares are going to destruction in a hand basket A few things that has been muddling around upstairs to make All This Bad News, "Take a Spin for a Win"!
Delete#1Lease Sell, lease one, get second at half price must go by any guidelines ...
#2 Assign each Osage Shareholder as a Agent ,Osage or Non, two leases to market at a price average from the pass year.
#3 A Sales Commission to be determine by the active Leasing Agent.
#4 This commission can come out of the pay, of the Mineral Council that should have seen this a coming.
H
Wow, not a bad idea.
DeleteAnother thing here is that the Osage News is again asleep at the wheel. We have the Mineral Estate blowing up in our faces as we speak and Christmas is still up there on the web site. Christmas is over and we would like some hard news with real reportage coming from a news source that gets thousands upon thousands of the Osage People's money. It should pay for more than one or two "soft" articles a week. Get these government officials, ONES Board Members and Minerals Council members interviewed as to what the plan is going forward and get it in the paper and online. I mean WTH! Crack the whip!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteFor the lack of embarrassment is why they do not want to go front and center as opposed to doing what is right...and start communication that deal with the issues straight on because they will be also be held accountable. Getting any information and reliable seems as of late comes from RayRay posts...not in the OSA reports either...we as Shareholder's this is a huge wake up call to stand "United" and should only expect exceptional performance. What I would like to know what was the divided interest from the Hula lake fund? The only increase I saw in my Dec.check was 32 dollars...we have a right to know. If they bunched it in with the Royalty check it should show a break down so commingling does not give the appearance of illegal activity. This account had been siiting isince mid 1980's..if you break down the numbers it equals 160,000 dollars in 29 years, break it down further the fund per mo. that was being paid into monthly payments of somewhere at 459.78 cents a mo. As I said before was this in a revolving account who was responsible for making sure these payments were to be paid on time? This is incompetence completely and this is business the Osage way...do we have to file a open records act in court or get some kind of action from our M.C? Bottom line, we want to see the news in our newspaper not everyone else beforehand. Why are there some stories which are realative to the Shareholder's posted on there FB site the "Osage News" and not online? Not everyone has FB or care to join...for that matter.
DeleteI fail to understand your logic. Why would the reporters at the Osage News be embarrassed to interview our government officials in this time of crisis to find out what their take is on the situation and what they plan to do about it? They aren't being critical or damning of the government officials or do you think for some reason that they should be? I know for certain that Galen and Andrew are being pilloried and vilified for cooking up all these new CFRs with the BIA involving the BLM, not to mention opening the door for a ton more regulations with this Environmental Assessment requirement for new drilling that taken together will kill oil and gas production in Osage County. This seems to be a move on the part of the landowners to put wind farms all over Osage County so they can financially benefit thereby inhibiting and replacing oil and gas production as a producer of energy everywhere a wind farm exists. Do we need some other paper less invested in what is going on to give us hard news on the subject or a "puff piece" paper costing us an arm and a leg which lacks editorial substance and gravitas where the big issues that concern Osage shareholders are concerned? We are Osages too and we are constituents.
DeleteThe wind farm issue will go away..with punitive damages. The regs are long over due..I support Yates and Galen...no pain no gain..nothing is for free. The Hpp comes with the New regs long over due just piss poor timing. The producers had 3 yrs to comply and prepare..since the HPP. I suspect cronyism played a huge roll in why we are where we are at..and just poor negotiating not in the favor for the Shareholder's. .we need qualified individuals to run a ship stuck in this same perpetuity ,a cycle on a roundabout...no more excuses. I've done my homework..and it doesn't take a rocket scientist. We need to operate and manage and start performing..this is where we are at, in crises mode. We shouldn't be..I am rained in many areas, master of them all though I am human just as the rest but, Ihave a trained eye as well...I read people very well...my expertise is making your business a success as well as i accounting as well...as Donald Trump would say there no business like show business and show me what we can do today not tomorrow and this is the mindset or should be..you all would be fired...this a multi-billion dollar "Estate" with much more potential and then some...The BIA, I am sure working feverishly to do the nessasary, but anything the Gov. touches goes south as that statement is factual...nah, My eyes are wide open.
DeleteAMEN
Deletehttp://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/news-events/news/minerals-council-meeting-dates-february
ReplyDeletehttps://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/3j6ehyx2ucoog09/2014-0102_ConstSer_CareQualityQuestionaire-comb.pdf
ReplyDeleteHelp make our employes better by sending in your feedback.
Well! the un magical power of the four's as been reached, $44.44 on my yesterday Now a slow upward climb, some say eight years before the return of the past years. $20 to product a barrel in the Gulf , wouldn't land be cheaper?
ReplyDeleteTime to provide a storage area for all those idle drilling rigs, start a drilling school, god knows the gov. has trained with your money enough truck drivers.OP drill those well in the Osage . Put R&R as Dean of OP.G & A can whatever. H
I know that we are still about two weeks away from finding out the actual dollar amount for our March Payment. Anyone care to speculate how much we will be down?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/groups/yanman/permalink/721441584639609/
DeleteLook under poster January 21 @ 9:22 pm ...
Justa Guess...
The Big Idea floating around out there about the Osage Nation running the Mineral Estate will meet with the same fate as the Domestic Violence grant audit where the Osage Nation was made to return $500,000. That's half a million bucks folks that they spent like water out of a spigot and never had a decent accounting system to keep track of the money. In addition to five others, the audit recommends that the Osage Nation adhere to the requirements of the Federal program. Imagine the Osage Nation having to make sure that the new EA requirements are met by the O/G producers as well as following the new CFRs or ones just like it. They can't even come in to work on time and stay there when they're supposed to be there. A holy royal mess up ahead if you ask me if the Chief and Eddy get this to happening. Self governance is self destruction for such as the like of these Osage Executive government types and they will take us all down with them. Watch out! Support your Minerals Council against such silliness and nonsense as this coming from the Osage Nation. No can do. Don't go there.
ReplyDeleteName one program the Nation runs that they don't run into the ground. Always costs twice as much as it should and takes triple the amount of time. It won't change with trying to run the MIneral Estate. Big mistake to even think about it until they can get people who are willing to work hard and put in long hours because that's what it will take to do it right and it's just not there.
DeleteAnd I say heck no to the Nation touching the Estate...the Nation will run this dry to say the least...nothing but a money grab...You see the Casinos and the Nation woukd not exist on its own if it were not for the Osage Tribe which is the Shareholder's and 8 council memebers a Chief and a A.P Chief, not the Other way around...not a concept, just facts. Would take an Act of Congress....
Deletehttp://osagenews.org/en/article/2015/02/02/hearing-set-wind-farm-case-feb-26-tulsa/....Why did it take so long for the M.C and or the BIA to respond to the Development of the Wind Farms? Why did the The Ok State Dept.know to follow the Federal Regs and an ouside Co. Can come in here and think it is ok to do what they are doing and be required to do the same, knowing we would have sais pound sand your not getting a permit...and in the end, who is going to pay for not protecting the Estate in the first is the BIA...ROBYN PHILLIPS? This happening on your watch and the M.C spells incompetence big time?
ReplyDeleteIf you are not aware there has been a campaign going on to raise money to erect a James Bigheart statue on the grounds in front of the museum. Kathryn RedCorn has been in charge of the donations due to her ties to the museum. Recently questions have been asked for an accounting of these funds and there doesn't seem to be any reply on the subject. In talking to several people that should know this involves a number of thousand of dollars and no one, including Kathryn, can or will, explain where it has gone !!
ReplyDeleteWe need and want to know, must we file an investigation or a open records act? If they do not want to play by the rules maybe a Osage constitutional convention might just need to happen and or maybe the the Tribe, the Osage Tribe and the eight member Council need to rethink about this Nation, after all, the Tribe as stated in the 1906 act declares as ameneded who is the TRIBE.
DeleteI propose, that that an audit be conducted by the Osage Attorney General concerning the money donated for the Bigheart Statue.. Further more if wrong doing is found that charges be filed! For now it looks like someones hand has been caught it the cookie jar ? We are talking about a lot of money that so far can't be accounted for. I doubt there has been any books kept on donations. Where is it? If anyone donated to the fund by check, I would suggest that if that check has cleared your account, you make a copy and send it to StandingBear so he can look into this.
DeleteI support an Audit as well...
DeleteThe donations and revenue from fundraisers was deposited with the Osage Foundation, Mr. Webb. They are supposedly holding these funds in trust for the Museum and the Bigheart statute project.
DeleteThank you OFPR.
DeleteOK...Thanks for the information. Now how do we contact this Mr. Webb with the Osage Foundation? We still need an accounting of the money.
DeleteYes we do.
DeleteI want everyone to know I did not post this entry on February 4, 2015 7:37 PM. I am not disagreeing with the Post, but when I post I do so under my name and don't hide under anonymous.
DeleteThank you for your reports Ray McClain, even if I don't always agree with you, the info you give us is sooo much more than any thing from the MC! I heard on CBS news the spike in crude was steel strikes, which were at some refineries. This down turn of crude is hurting OPEC too. I think its short lived ,and too, trying to break the small producers. I think big money in crude is to come in the future.
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome.
DeleteJust read Ray McClains update @ Osages-you-need-to-know.com. I concur that something needs to be done about the on going flaring of our natural gas. And now is the time for the BIA and our M.C to act and not a day later where we could find ourselves in another crisis and lose out on a opportunity that we can no longer ignore. The facts as presented. Time for accountability and putting our right foot in front of us and no longer lagging in the Energy Industry...most of us understand where the ENERGY SECTOR IS GOING TO TAKE OFF and the BIA needs to get tow in hand.
Delete$30.00/barrel is on it's way. -- http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/oil-heading-for-dollar30-currency-war-coming-analysts/ar-AA911Uj?ocid=U146DHP
DeleteLets hope not, today I read the numbers are going up..weather this is a fluke or not we shall see.... $58.00 ppb.
DeleteHow is it that the S.O.I Sally Jewell can say she's read every report on the BIA, and yet turn around and say I haven't read the scathing report on the BIA at the Osage Agency? Then Asst. Secratary Kevin Washburn said he read the report...sooooooo, much of nothing was said yet our Chief could only muster a word about how are the existing policies will stay effectual after Obama leaves Office? I would have asked, How are we to better ensue access to better Health care in Indian Counrty? Transperency is required on this VIP issue, like the V.A. access to Hospitals and better doctors. Read the artical from the Osage News.
ReplyDeletehttp://osagenews.org/en/article/2015/02/05/ag-files-ethics-complaints-against-seven-members-omc/....How is it not embarrassing following the ethic laws required by law. These laws are here for a reason to weed out any and all impropriety I would like to see the balance of the last eight years reported. This reflect on your character Mrs.Boone and the ability to trust you as a MC member...MIA Mr.Waller what do you say? Galen and Yates as well...please answer.
ReplyDeleteRemember your not allowed to say anything negative about C. Boone on this board or it will be deleted. She needs to go! She is and has been part of the problem for quite some time!
DeleteI'll vote for that...she needs to go. I know few people that have any respect for her.
DeleteMy comment was constructed about C.Boone and it was not isolated to her alone...I only pointed out the mere truth..and responded to her comments from the Osage News...After all this site is for the truth and you can have an opinion with diplomacy. You can be tactful. We understand the history as colorful it has been, an opinion is just that and you cannot hide the facts or the truth from this point on..there's enough blame to go around..and she's been there on the M.C how long? I am looking at tne credibility of our members on the M.C and their ability to run the Estate...we question the authority and not who they are...when we quetion authorities, we can improve them. Some not..if we don't question how are we to improve?
DeleteI totally agree with you! We need to hold ALL MC Members accountable. If they are not performing we need to band together as Shareholder's and remove them from office, even before the end of their term!
DeleteThank you. We as Shareholder's have been kept in the Dark far to long...I know the M.C to a degree their hands are tied or I should say not as limited as they would have you to believe and put the Blame squarely on the BIA. We are in a situation that is pivotal to the success of our M.E and it does not need to be our darkest moment...This is in no way typical of how a multi - billion dollar Estate should be ran...in the Private Sector all of the M.C members would have been replaced by now..and the BIA in its authority has continued to show hostility to the Shareholder's by their inability to run the Estate..no longer can the Shareholder's be complacent nor the M.C or the BIA. I find it disturbing that The S.O.I Salley Jewell was not aware of the disfunction that still exists or how pervasive the corruption might be...the 1906 act does not not say we can't replace our members of the Council...I suspect as I've mentioned before an oversite commitee should be formed to audit the Estate, look and define what it is our M.C does outside of creating Conventions or going to the Conventions and what they take away and how this Knowledge will be applied, really getting to basically the Blue Print our infrastructure. I am disappointed to see after studying the M.E I now understand what has transpired through out the years..it has taken some time now its what we do that will make a difference from this point on...the direction is we want to go in is in the right direction...as long as we play by the rules there is no reason why we should not structure our office with communication fo ghe Shateholder's. We are many and we are strong in our Heritage and Beliefs, let the Mighty Eagle soar once again like she never has done before with her eyes wide open, to protect us once more. My eyes are wide open as the Eagle soars in my dreams.
DeleteWith Cushing Oklahoma being roughly 70 miles from Pawhuska, do we have or are building crude storage tanks ? I read where the 'Big Money' players are renting offshore tankers to store oil for future(s) sale. Isn't Cushing a major storage facility? If these companies have the foresight to invest in storage did our MC also ? It seems a very profitable investment even more so than statues...
ReplyDeleteThe oil markets are currently in "contango" which means the futures price is greater than the current price. Thus there is a current incentive to store oil and sell it at a future date for a higher price. But this market could reverse quickly and go the other way. Then you could have a lot of oil in storage that will receive LESS in the future. This is not a game for amateurs.
DeleteI am not saying to 'Get in the Game', just provide the storage and charge for storage. We wouldn't have any oil in storage, just be charging those that rent the storage from us. Cushing provides storage & ... " According to shipbrokers and analysts, major traders including Vitol SA, Gunvor SA, Trafigura Beheer BV and Koch Supply & Trading Co. Ltd have chartered supertankers capable of storing a combined total of more than 30 million barrels of oil—many of them in the past few weeks." (World’s Largest Traders Use Offshore Supertankers to Store Oil http://www.wsj.com/articles/worlds-largest-traders-use-offshore-supertankers-to-store-oil-1421689744 ). I didn't think we considered Koch an amateur. Interesting read. Amateurs build status,,,
DeleteI agree with Contango. The Osage Nation government or any of its entities including ONES and the Minerals Council needs no more risk than that of cradleboarded baby. Half a million bucks back to the Feds... Do you catch my drift? It's just mopping up one mess with this new government after another. Osage preference should mean people who can do the job and perform the tasks they're hired to do. If not, shrink the government until it runs smoothly and effectively department by department. You get that Shannon Edwards or do we need to take some other measure to get you to understand that what you've been doing by expanding this government as fast as you possibily can is impossible to manage under the circumstances and therefore wrong?
DeleteLast ' CANTANGO ' in the prairie. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-producers-running-closet-space-225154323.html
DeleteI hope someone had the foresight to make the statues hollow to store oil in. It would be nice to have something to offset the declining oil
income. If as just about everyone except a few posters are saying, U.S. production is up & we are the worlds largest producer. Not just
in the ' CANTANGO ' times but storage for market. "Within around two months, [onshore storage will] be completely exhausted,". Be forward thinkers. Don't let your brains go into a 'CANTANGO' intelligence meltdown. Want to store oil & charge for it, go put int next to the James Bigheart statue or under the Pawhuska Indian Village dance arbor.
Good post.
DeleteFinally, on Feb. 6th, 2015, we received a newsletter from our OMC, telling us how much our December, 2014 payment will be. How about THAT? On the first page, Ms. Boone says they re-organized the office, which allowed them to hire an executive administrative assistant, per the new budget. What she doesn’t say is that we have been 3 months without a secretary, a receptionist, a trust clerk, or an executive administrative assistant at the Minerals Council office to serve the shareholders. The 3 people they fired on Oct. 1 used to put the newsletter together and have it on-line and in our mailboxes about 50 days sooner than this one. In fact, we never did receive a December issue. This most recent one is dated Jan 2015. They re-organized alright, but they wrecked a perfectly good, working system while they were doing it. And it was all for personal vengeance! There was not one good reason for a re-organization. Now they are starting from scratch, with a new title for the same jobs, and it will take many months before the young lady they have hired will be able to provide full service to the shareholders again. You see, there is no one there qualified to train her. Also, if they expect her do it all, by herself, then she doesn’t have a chance.
ReplyDeletecant we get along with only 4 or 5 members and save ourselves some money? they don't get along anyway.
DeleteYou mean the one who had to fit work in between court dates, jail time and trips to the hospital?
DeleteThat's the one. But she got the work done, and they didn't find 60 shareholder trust documents stuffed in the back of her desk when she left either, did they?
DeleteNot buying your excuse. We shareholders need to have stability in the office among those who work there. That's part of having a professional workplace.
DeleteGood Read. http://indianz.com/News/2015/016385.asp
ReplyDeleteAccording to MC Website March payment $6585
ReplyDeleteToday's Minerals Meeting Agenda --->>> http://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/news-events/news/agenda-february-13th-meeting
ReplyDeleteA couple of weeks ago in the Osage News --->>> http://www.OsageNation-nsn.gov/news-events/news/nation-looks-farming-options
DeleteTwo Hives quote : On the two bee hives needed for the Bird Creek Farm. "Bee's, oh yes, we have to have bees," said Boe who is coordinating plans for Bird Creek Farms." Boe said who added that this would mean a beekeeper would need to be hired to take care of the hives. What? Is this a full time position, with benefits, ect., do you have to be Osage? or would any Indian that can smoke a hive count?
Will be coming up a little short on the allotment, could handle a few bees if the moneys right. H
2-13/2015
ReplyDeleteAs we look back at our latest elections. The current leadership clearly ran on a platform that it was an end of an era!! That the PAST NEPOTISM / FAVORTISM WAS OVER and NO LONGER had a place in our business or culture. Much of which was due to the unfortunate! and almost shameful impeachment of our last Chief.
So at this time let’s make sure one thing is clear NEPOTISM / FAVORTISM is still ALIVE and WELL.
They will also tell you that the chief has no input on what the Gaming Board does. So I would have NO CHOICE, but to believe that the actions over the last several months are all but PURE COINCIDENCE.
I do not believe at any time in history, have we had ONE FAMILY with so much POWER / CONTROL as the current leadership; the Chief in control of the tribe, and his family in control of the casino:
CEO (Chief Son in-law)
Director of Marketing (Chief Daughter) Which due to circumstances no longer reports to CEO but now COO, who reports to the CEO. That fixed the CONFLICT!!
Benefits Manager (Chief Wife) Reports to HR Director, which reports to CEO
New Sand Springs General Manager (Chief Son) reports to COO
COO 2nd in command family friend
Human Resource Director 3rd in command family friend
Chairman of Gaming Board longtime family friend
New Food and Beverage Supervisor Tulsa (Chief Son) hired by Brother acting General Manager at the time
All this is just pure coincidence that there has been NO malice or forethought by leadership in the placement of these individuals into their GIVEN positions.
What else is there? That might not be as BLANTANT / OBVIOUS??
Just a few things to START to think about! MORE to COME??
well maybe they can get their jobs done every day
Deletedid you ever think of that
4:17 PM Why don't you get Congress to pass a law whereby no friend or relative of a sitting Chief can be employed by the Nation? Then you can run for Chief and show us how to make that work. Most of these positions you list have been filled by these people for years anyway.
DeleteThanks for the post of this startling information! Clear vision of the Chief - Family & Friends First, Osage Members SECOND!
DeleteI am aware that I am not the most edumicated individual But I do not Believe that holding a position for 60 DAYS OR LESS IS CONSIDERED YEARS. I THINK there is 12 months in a year? perhaps I am wrong.
DeleteThank you, I have given this much thought!! and agree fully that, MAYBE? they can get their job done every day? as long as the POWERS to be give PERMISSION and let them know what that is on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading a few of the latest posts concerning OUR Casinos, It causes me to remember a conversation with One (1) of our current General Managers. This person says they were having a conversation with at this time the Temporary CEO that is NOW our current long term CEO.
ReplyDeleteAt that time they were discussing that this General Manager was considering going back to school to improve their current education level and job possibilities.
The response seemed very strange to me at the time as it was explained to me by the General Manager. They were told that if you are doing this for advancement in our company DO NOT BOTHER it is NOT a requirement and will not help.
What did he know that we do not, why would a LEADER within one (1) of our business express that EDUCATION DOES NOT MATTER in our casinos.
I or guess again is it possible that MORE EDUCATION can hurt a career with Osage Nation? What a message to be sent? What does this person NOW tell our front line employees education does not matter just look for your next promotion because??????? NO that can’t be the real reason? Can IT?
These 'left-handed' slaps at Chief Standing Bear using 3rd & 4th hand, 'he said/she said', unconfirmed quips are ridiculous. Wait until someone screws up, then jump on them. If you have qualified people you want to be hired, submit them to the Chief's office. I'm sure they will be considered. Just be sure you can document their experience and education. "I heard" just isn't going to work.
DeleteOh, I forgot. No friends or relatives, please.
DeleteEducation is paramount to a successful business, I might be surmising here,but maybe the coversation should have included and or "Equivalent "or that being Indian is preferential. Not just that but now that the house is getting cleaned in other words the frivolous spending of our money has hopefully come to an end, whats next....what does the new CEO have in mind in the near future from our Casino?
DeleteWe need to concentrate on what's happening in the Minerals Meetings!!! There's one tomorrow and one last Friday:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/minerals-council/meeting-information
Oil is up 500 barrels from last year so we will have a payment in June! Thanks to Councilperson Boone who reported this during the meeting today. Meeting audio is being streamed live now.
DeleteI believe that's 500 barrels a day from last year. Sorry folks. Missed that all important detail in my post.
DeleteEXTREMELY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: A Public Meeting will be held on March 9, 2015 at the Cultural Center for public comments about the new Environmental Assesment referred to as the EIS.
DeleteNow in the ever Shareholder popular EXECUTIVE SESSION........
DeleteThe apparent 500 barrel/day increase in entirely from the CO2 flood in the Burbank Field. The reality is that, minus this bump in production, the County's production is actually DOWN 2000 barrels per day over the last 2 years. This is due to the BIA strangling the County with regulations. The OMC is sitting idly by watching the ship sink!
DeleteSee the meeting information on the Environmental Impact Statements at https://www.facebook.com/OsageNews
DeleteThe reality is that , minus the CO2 flood from the Burbank Field, the production is at the same level as 2002. Disturbing! The BIA is largely responsible. Once upon a time, the BIA actually was good at marketing the Osage Mineral Estate but no more. The BIA is slowly killing off the oil producers one regulation at a time.
DeleteAnd only if we had a full Petroleum Office we could have handled some of the administrative duties and could have the costs associated with the administrative duties and contracts covered through the BIA...When are we going to be responsible for ourselves? When do we see progress and I do get the feeling the BIA is discriminating against the success of our M.E and a patern may be if you examine our History with the BIA is forming. We can change History for a better future for our future children. No longer can the truth be covered up..still to this day there is no stewardship?
DeleteThe Bia has a $4,000,000 budget and they can't seem to get help. What makes you think we could take $4,000,000 out of our Headright distribution account and do it any better? We need to monitor the Bia closely to be sure they are performing properly.
DeleteNever said we would cover this with Headright funds...we set up and get organized with leadership in tow...get our Office where it needs to be...the Administration cost would be covered by the Fed. Gov. Severe lack of organizing is the root problem...with no policy or structure. .Unbelievable. Yrea, the M.C has there hands full, full of what..the Lawyers are doing the legal work for them...so you see there are Osages who have a lot of knowledge how to run mutli-million dollar businesses successfully, I just might know something about running a Five Star business and our Estate is operating on crisis mode tells me a different story...the facts have spoken and it is time to face the facts of the truth..every business of this magnitude has an office and does not just rely on the Fed. Gov. to do everything for them or be right everytime...just logic and commonsense here..you can't argue with someone who is experienced. In a lot of fields..and I use applied techniques that work and I know what doesn't work...and really with the 5000 shareholder's probably could have a vote sent there way on these matters of finance to cover what would not be covered wouldn't miss much out of their Headright Check and would approve if everyone was aware of the circumstance the M.E is in...I'm sure if the Shareholder's thought that this move was to improve the status quo to create and improve upon the redundancies and inefficiencies and rid the cancer of the additude that you can't be replaced on the council by Proxy, the Authority of the Shareholder's. ..simple in nature. Rid the incompetence restore faith and culture and trust and we do this by structure..The Osage Nation did it so can we...wisdom of the day..."Nothing is a waste of time as long a you use it wisely". We need and want doers not naysayers and or everyone has an excuse, but my excuse sounds better for the future of our M.E our Childrens childrens future...long live the 1906 act my eyes our wide open.
DeleteJust outside of the monitoring theres so much more that can be done wouldn't you agree that some of that 4 millon could be applied to our office? What we don't know if we performed to standard we wouldn't be where we at..I've managed Legal Depts to aAdvertising to Accounting, Banking..H.R my real forte Hospitality, love people. Especially my People the Osage. And this is why my head is reeling. The appearance of impropriety exists along with conflicts of interest says corruption. ..I for one want't to see all gifts be reported...we need leadership...the Fed. Gov. isn't going to do this for us...I don't think my opinion is to far from the tree it dropped from.
DeleteHow many times has this gone unreported before the perp got caught on video?
ReplyDeletehttp://barnsdalltimes.com/http:/barnsdalltimes.com/news/counselor-faces-charge
Good Idea from Jim Ryan at OFFR:
ReplyDelete!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!IMPORTANT!!
“The Minerals Council attorney should work with the attorney I have retained for Washington, DC work and the attorney for the oil and gas producers to show Secretary Jewell and the army of lawyers she has exactly where there has to be a waiver in the policies and regulations. These waivers are hard to get and are likely temporary. However, we only need the waiver for the 18 months needed to get the new environmental study and related documents done.”
Chief Standingbear’s recent post on the OFFR makes it clear that the person who can help us the most to restore new oil and gas operations in Osage County is Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell. Interestingly, she began her career as a petroleum engineer “in the Oil and Gas fields of Oklahoma”. This experience and her expert standing in energy production give her a unique insight into our unfortunate situation. She is also easily reached by email. Only about 20% of the regulations and policies of the new Environmental Assessment are problematic. If we can obtain temporary waivers from them and a new Environmental Impact Study is completed and is in full force, our producers can come into compliance and new permits could be issued. Below is a letter to appeal for her help to obtain these temporary waivers. Please feel free to copy it and send it with your name and address, or compose your own message and send it to her. Please share this with your Osage family and friends and ask them to contact her too! It is vital that our voices be heard in Washington. We need to let her know about our dilemma and present a united front to correct this terrible situation. Here is the DOI contact email address; feedback@ios.doi.gov phone number (202) 208-3100 and physical address Department of the Interior 1849 C Street, N.W. Washington DC 20240
Jim Ryan (Osage)
312 Larchmont
San Antonio, TX 78209
Sally Jewell
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington DC 20240
Text of the Letter:
DeleteDear Ms. Jewell,
When our Osage reservation lands were allotted in 1906, Chief Peter Bigheart reserved the mineral rights for our Osage annuitants. Since then, the development of our mineral estate has created a dynamic, thriving and profitable industry that has produced many new businesses, jobs and a reliable source of income for our people and businesses in and out of Osage County. Unfortunately, for the first time in over one hundred years, new oil and gas operations in Osage County have ceased. The principal cause for this stoppage is a newly issued 72 page Environmental Assessment issued by the BIA. This document that was issued without proper protocol disregards the current 1979 Environmental Assessment and is having a devastating effect on oil and gas production in Osage County. In addition to the loss of jobs and the fact that it will put some of our producers out of business, this halt in production directly affects our people by drastically reducing quarterly payments to our Osage annuitants. Among these, it is our Elders, many of whom depend on these payments to make ends meet, who will suffer the most. The recent drop in oil prices has only compounded the situation.
We believe that your training as a petroleum engineer and experience “ in the oil and gas fields of Oklahoma” give you a unique insight into our troubled industry. We also believe that “there’s no contradiction between being good stewards of the land and our economic progress; that in fact, those two things need to go hand in hand.” With the standstill of new oil and gas operations in Osage County, there is no balance between these two factors. In fact, economic progress has been brought to a halt.
There is a way to reverse these unfortunate events. If temporary waivers of some policies and regulations in the recent Environmental Assessment were issued, it would give time to correct the problems. Once a new Environmental Impact Study is completed and in full force, new permits for oil and gas operations could be issued and business as usual and economic progress could continue. We believe that our producers are good “stewards of the land” and will do everything necessary to restart new operations. It serves no one’s interest to let this sad situation endure. As a member of the Osage Nation, I am respectfully asking for your help to grant waivers that will allow our producers to go back to work for the benefit the Osage Mineral Trust, the residents of Osage County and our Osage people. Please work with our representatives, who are eager to meet with you and work together to resolve this situation.
Reply to Jim Ryan's letter to Ms. Jewell.
DeleteThe first sentence in the letter is complete FALSE! Peter Bigheart was NOT responsible for reserving the mineral rights for the Osage annuitants. That person was Chief James Bigheart and has been well documented over the years. I agree with the point of the letter but am surprised that Jim Ryan doesn't know his history any better than this. I am also surprised that this glaring error got by Ray McClain before he recommended the letter.
It gets complicated. It was a collection of Osages who came up with the idea and these are a few of the ones who are to one degree or another involved:
DeleteJames Bigheart -- Chief prior to the passing of the 1906 Allotment Act and the first Tribal Council election.
John Palmer -- An Attorney at the time that the events were taking place. It has been reported that he came up with much of the language (text in the Act) in the 1906 Allotment Act itself.
Ne-Kah-Wah-She-Tun-Kah -- First Chief of the Osage Tribal Council created by and under the 1906 Act. He served to 1908. Mary Rose McClain wrote in an edition of "Inside Osage" that it was Ne-Kah-Wah-She-Tun-Kah who came up with the idea for a "Blanket Lease" meaning that there would be an equal division of income for all members of the Tribe whether oil was found on their land or not.
Peter Cassi Bigheart -- Chief in 1908 and 1909. He was signing property deeds to the Original Allottees as "Chief of the Osage Tribe" when the land allotments were actually taking place.
Thank you Osageblogger.
DeleteInteresting analysis at http://www.dailypfennig.com/2015/02/22/whats-going-oil/
ReplyDeleteNew PDFs at Ray's site at http://www.osages-you-need-to-know.com/
ReplyDeletehttp://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2015/02/24/oil-rebounds-above-5-after-libya-largest-field-shuts/?intcmp=marketfeatures...if OPEC won't meet till June wouldn't you say OPEC is price fixing?
ReplyDeleteIf Keystone builds on our land what land will they be building on? The M.E?
ReplyDeleteIf Secretary of the Interior in particular and the under her umbrella BIA has a fiduciary obligation to the Nation and the Shareholders why are they killing the oil business in Osage County. Seems like it's time for another lawsuit for acting against our best interest and violating the trust obligations just like the HPP only worse since they didn't kill business with overweaning rules and regulations.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagelatest/in-osage-county-oil-producers-blame-government-for-economic-crisis/article_eb88c5d6-c196-5579-b5c3-f90b44eac814.html
The $380 million lawsuit was for mismanagement of funds. So the BIA, in retaliation, is not correcting their faults. They are slapping down the producers to get back at the Osage Nation for the lawsuit victory. The regulatory environment that the BIA has created has done nothing to correct why they got sued in the first place. All this environment has done is shut down the County's oil activity and practically guarantee a 2nd lawsuit. Gentner Drummond's comments in the Tulsa World article shows his arrogance. What a hypocrite. The lawsuit exempts landowners that have oil production (i.e. Genter).
DeleteEven the BIA must comply with some laws, such as the National Environmental Policy Act, albeit only when pushed into a corner. The Secretary of the Interior cannot willfully violate the law to maximize oil production in Osage County. I don't know how successful a second lawsuit will be when the basic argument is "Your Honor, the Secretary of the Interior just wouldn't break the law to generate more revenue for our trust."
DeleteThe 2nd lawsuit would apply to the 1929 amendment to the 1906 Act that mandates the BIA market the Mineral Estate for the shareholders.. That is not happening because the BIA is slowly killing off production one regulation at a time. You can argue about compliance with NEPA but the fact is the BIA is violating their fiduciary duty for the Mineral Estate which specifically says "marketing" in its mandate. The fact that the BIA is killing off the producers suggests that the Osage Mineral Estate is fading into irrelevance. A lawsuit may be the only remedy because oil and gas production is sure not going to provide the shareholders with a future reliable income stream. The BIA is seeing to that!
DeleteThere will be another lawsuit we should put coal to the fire...because this last lawsuit is over three years and nothing has been done to resolve the issues at the administrative level and this is why I am pushing for a full Petroleum Office so we can lift ourselves out of this crises mode....the latest memo from our 3rd M.C I want to say thanks for the pep talk, cuz thats all it amounts to.
DeleteDo you get the feelig the BIA is inept?..http://www.gao.gov/mobile/products/GAO-15-389T
ReplyDeleteStory in Bigheart Times about oil production in the Osage. This crisis will not only effect the Osage people but everybody doing business. The cafes, stations, the schools, food stores. I not sure our MC knows really what to do. I think theyre trying to do what they can but is it enough? I know people are going to hurt big time over all this. We need some big help. Big ranchers money and BIA really make it tuff to stay here. WE are getting the shaft folks!!!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://barnsdalltimes.com/http:/barnsdalltimes.com/news/oil-producers-ream-bia-vindictiveness....incompetence is rampant with the BIA..see the report from the GAO on how degraded our Schools are in...disrepair and what or where is the funding and how it is applied..and the talk of the day is "The lack of staffing.." But so much more....I've said before there is a pattern emerging with the BIA and we are not the only ones that have won a big Settlement...though we are not Baken does not mean we can't be..I do hold our M.C responsible as well..
DeleteSue the BIA.
DeleteThe story in the Bigheart Times confirms the intent of the BIA - retaliation for the $380 million judgement. Mike Black, the director of the BIA, is orchestrating this mess. Yet when the OMC complains about the incompetence of the BIA, MIke Black gets incensed at the criticism. The OMC needs to complain ABOVE Mike Black and go all the way to the Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell. Otherwise, the same story will keep being repeated.
Deletehttp://barnsdalltimes.com/http:/barnsdalltimes.com/news/minerals-council-bows-up-against-oil-rules
DeleteThank you for posting this article...To have Sovereignty without lies, for where we have Sovereignty all is ours. WIth concerns to the realative decisions are being determined by who'S authority without concent from a Federal Judge, or even by Congress? Our treaty is unique and therefore, my thinking is lets get an outside opinion with all do respect...our interests the Shareholder's would be beneficial for the Shareholder's. I hardly think 500 Shareholder's is a great response compared to the 5000 Shareholder's that exists. And there is no better reason than no reason to do nothing...then to act now..in the best interest...If this goes through I SUSPECT the council members will be fit to be tide...one or two things will happen..removal and or HUGE RESTRUCTURING will take place..
DeleteHow can that Mike Black guy be so disdainful when the entire economy of the largest county in the State of Oklahoma is drying up overnight? When are they going to start hiring people over there at the BIA who know how to correct their behavior and not place the American taxpayer at risk of another well founded lawsuit and settlement again?
Deletehttp://www.osagenews.org/en/article/2015/02/26/osage-shareholders-meeting-mar-1/
ReplyDeleteOSA meeting today!!!
What happened? Can anyone report on the meeting please?
DeleteJust read Ray McClains latest opinion or perspective on the matters regarding the M.E , read at (www.Osages-you-need-to-know.com ) in my opinion sometimes Ray McClain I get the feeling you like to sugar coat the truth to a degree...no disrespect sir, I'm a realist, and can be pragmatic at times..I see our situation that we are in is a result of poor Management at so many levels, my head is spinning and reeling..now we are in crisis mode..facts as they lie, so does the BIA..should we be in this situation I'll be damed if we can't pull ourselves by our own tails and put our own tail in the direction, the right direction...it is enough we know where the problems lie does not mean we have to stop because drilling has slowed down that actually was predicted by myself this woud happen just by the mere Sanctions the President put on Russia, so we store the Oil till that day when prices go up is when we take upper control of exactly what is being extracted...and sold and at what cost...This is our baby...not the Federal Government, they hold the trust and now we are not just Indians we are educated Indians..Many we are Osages the Decedent of a Original Allotee..there of 5000 strong Shareholder's thats not chump change we are talking about here..where is the Representation for the Shareholder's and this not a prediction another lawsuit sure to be filed against the BIA is eniment. We will be in this perpetual cycle and become a Lawyer Estate rather than a robust Flourishing M.E. So we change and grow with the times because we know factually straight across the board The Federal Gov. Is to big to handle an Estate like this Estate, so we take control by setting Compliance and standards to follow through by structuring A FULL PETROLEUM OFFICE, and the Council Members are tasked with the duties of a Board..The M.C is failing and no thanks to the Prior Councils or there of...there's enough blame to go around...that does not solve or move us in the Direction of excellence. ..time for the excuses to end...oh sorry we can't even get that from our M.C. At this point in the Game silence is not Golden. The Producers, all well knew after and before what they were getting away with and if they didn't save for that rainy day when Compliance was going to knocking on their back door someday, knew that day was coming, especially after we won the HPP case and knew the reqiurments existed. Even I knew they existed and said all along they were in the Code of Federal Regulations..and I'm not an Oil Expert but I have taken time to learn now for years...what works and doesn't work and the peoblems that there lay before us...simply put no one is watching what the left hand or for that matter what the right hand is doing, introducing chaos and now we are in crisis mode...the criteria laid out in spelling, we set the Standard...we have the right to protect what is valuable and we must act. Bottom line we are still losing hands over fist in revenue in Natural Gas alone...Still at square one...like I said this is to big for the M.C they should be concentrating what their big move is because my big move is for removal and replacement with people who know what thet are doing and not afraind to implement and have applied techniques and so forth..This is a Multi Million Estate being ran by rookies even at the upper echelon. This just can't be that bad but it is..
ReplyDeleteThe producers say the BIA environmental requirements have them shut down, yet when they have a public meeting, 4 of our mineral council, including the chairman don't even show up. I guess they think they have it under control so why bother. Or---they have no idea what they are doing and they know it so they were hiding out.
Delete03-11-2015-12:30 PM Well put! H
DeleteYes, the OMC is in over their heads. The BIA has a calculated schedule to destroy the Osage Mineral Estate. The lack of adherence to the 1929 Amendment to the 1906 Act shows the BIA's total lack of concern for Osage County. All they are interested in is creating regulations no one can live with!
DeleteIt is very obvious 2 things need to happen now;
DeleteThe Mineral Council needs to be made up of: 1 - Sharp Business Person, 1 - Petroleum Expert, 1 - Aggressive Attorney with a Law Firm that specializes in Native American Law and is Federally Certified. Just 3 competent members only. Until the above is filled, the current Mineral Council should take a voluntary pay cut equal to Shareholders income reductions. In other words, until we are represented by competent people the existing MC should have a little 'Skin in the Game' ! The Shareholders are now paying for 'Dead Wood' & it is time to play ' Hardball ' !
Hell of an idea! Now you have their attention.
DeleteThe poster on 3-12-15 @ 2:46 pm is exactly what we need on the Council...such a good Idea, but this is only part of the pieces of the puzzle we must set in stone for the fut future generations not just for today but for tomorrow.. Do not think the SgShareholder's have no altrrnative but to organize and become mobioe as well...if we are going to be caught up in this quandary of POLITICS we might as well go for it...because this is at it's best. Fight fire with fire are the Shareholder's armed with knowledge let them rise to the success where we should be at and can be at time to put foot to mouth. Shaking my head in disappointmment, though I know this is going to be tough but we must do what is nessasary to continue the security of our M.E future.
DeleteOsage Producers Association Response to Listening Session held 3.09.2015 regarding the current Environmental Impact Study being conducted by BIA & BLM
ReplyDeleteThe level of deceit used by the government in their efforts to deprive the Osage of their birthright reached incredible new levels Monday night when they held a "Listening Session" for the new Environmental Impact Statement being performed on the county.
It was blatantly obvious this was merely some step required by some policy to help quiet protesters later after the actual theft takes place by being able to ask them "if they attended and if they objected." How clever to give us absolutely zero concrete changes so that we have nothing concrete to object to.
Well, we object to being deceived by the entire sham of a process. We also object to industry being denied a seat at the table. Another move showing the true colors of this agenda and the lengths it's willing to go to steal this birthright. It's shameful.
Nobody could adequately explain why they were performing an EIS without performing an EA first.
The Indian Affairs National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Guidebook says that if the action is covered by an existing NEPA document it may be possible to use all or portions of the document to expedite and complete the process, if the EA identifies no significant effects, a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) will be prepared…this is where we are now. No one has even began to explain why the government believes that the 1979 Environmental Assessment is no longer valid nor have they sought input from the public as to the necessity for any updates or amendments.
Under the section 2.2 when referencing Documents Used to Comply with NEPA, 2.2.3 states that “An EA is a concise document that provides sufficient evidence and analysis for determining the significance of effects from a proposed action. The EA will determine if an EIS is necessary.
In this instance it appears that someone has gotten things out of order and has just manufactured the need for an EIS without doing even the most basic review to determine if an EIS is proper. Before just assuming the need for an EIS it should be noted that the level of drilling activity in Osage County for the past three years is a mere 12% of what it was when the first EA was prepared and given a FONSI.
How is it possible to have one-eighth of the activity that generated a FONSI with a simple EA in 1979 automatically trigger an EIS in 2015? It really makes one wonder how this process ever got this far.
Robin Phillips, Osage Agency Superintendent, did not even attend the meeting. Either she knew it was a sham or she just can't be bothered to tend to matters striking at the very heart of the Osage mineral estate. Or both.
The vagueness in which the topics were covered as well as the promised August delivery date leads one to believe that the EIS has already been written and they are just jumping through the regulatory hoops to get "Public Input". On the off chance that the EIS has not been already been written and the powers that be are truly endeavoring to take a hard look at the Environmental Impact of Oil and Gas Production on Osage County, it would behoove them to take a long hard look at the factors listed below. It should be glaringly obvious to even the most simple of minds, the only change needed to the current EA policy in Osage County is a Countywide Take Permit for the American Burying Beetle, anything you can do to help in that regard would be greatly appreciated.
Before making any changes to the current EA or attempting to use an EIS to further weaken the Osage Mineral Estate policy makers should consider these factors…
Yes, sue....had the same thing happen on some property I had way back when , a rare beatle migrated to the property and we threatened with a law suit that the E.A was preventing the sellers that being I and said company, making a profit at a time when interest was at a all time high of course and would be seeking damages. We had to wait three years...
DeleteRead the Donelson case filings and it will become clear why an environmental impact study is deemed necessary. The attorneys for the BIA are unable to refute the claims related to the 1979 environmental assessment or to demonstrate compliance with National Environmental Policy Act.
DeleteThe BIA is caught between a rock and a hard place. When they comply with the applicable laws they're threatened with lawsuits for either not producing enough oil or for destroying the tall grass prairie. They're placed in a lose/lose situation
If you read the language of the 1906 Act amendment carefully, you will note that it is about conservation of the resources and not about making maximum profit. Were the BIA to adhere strictly to the language of "the regulations governing same and the leases issued thereon shall contain appropriate provisions for the conservation of the natural gas and its economic use" and "the highest percentage of ultimate recovery of both oil and gas" then producers not simply could be, but would be, governed in such manner that oil and natural gas production in Osage County would not be profitable for the typical well.
Be careful of what you demand for you just may get it.
I agree!
DeleteWhat I didn't say in my earlier post was we had to hire a independent agency to assess if the Beatle had migrated and suspected that it had moved on much earlier, of which the facts we had before us in hand. We got our land back and was able sale and it all but took three years.
DeleteTo the Poster March 15th @ 7:`14 am., With all due respect, if one, JUST read the Donaldson case fillings/ petition, then yes the EA and EIS in the National Environmental Policy Act compliance should be enforced. Yes The BIA is caught between a rock and a hard place in that case. However, not being a legal assistant, paralegal or intern for the filing firm, one must consider there are mutiple strategies to this case. If you read the EA or EIS components blanketed in the The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) [42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.] one would start to notice the words 'Could, May and Interpret' used enough times, well if you had a dollar for each time they are used, you could buy me dinner. We must remember their are two sides to every argument. There are so many holes in this flawed law, a new Cadillac could be driven through it. Read the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Section 309 of the Clean Air Act, EPA has revised the Department of State's Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for a Presidential Permit application by TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, LP. It may put to sleep but you will notice NOTHING IS WRITTEN IN STONE. The Government came off of 'Second Base ' quite a few times and made numerous concessions. I have learned, the decission will go to the sharpest legal presentation presented by the most aggressive knowledgeable legal team. Heck, I'll bet you thought Michael Jackson, George Michael Zimmerman & O.J. (his first trial) would be found guilty! Just a few examples, granted these are crimminal cases but I could sight civil litigation examples that would fill this page but most you would have never heard of. Anyway, good luck, with your BIA & MC in your corner, you are going to need it...
DeleteTo poster 3-13-15 @ 2:41 pm.
DeleteAnd you could expound with your assessment so we can have a debate if you might? QUE NO? Understanding, the two sides, there is only one outcome?
Osage Producers Associagtion Response Continued:
ReplyDelete1. The Indian Affairs NEPA Guidebook lists the Components of the Human Environment and contemplates the Socioeconomic considerations. The only industry in Osage County is Oil and Gas production. This fact was not even addressed in the Listening Session by the government or its contractors, but it was touched on by several desperate people telling heartbreaking stories of unemployment. This should be the biggest factor in considering the impact any changes will have on this community. There are special attentions given when these negative effects will be primarily felt by minorities. No one will feel the impact of these restrictions as much as the Osage shareholder.
The first question asked should be “Could this requirement negatively impact industry causing further destruction of employment and quality of life throughout Osage County?” The sad part of this initial question is there is no one on the committee who knows what kind of effect any decision will have on industry. In spite of the directive also set out in the Indian Affairs NEPA Guidebook in section 8.3.3 which states Scoping is an open and early process through which interested parties are identified… the only people with the answers to the tough questions, the Oil and Gas Producers of Osage County, were left out of the scoping process altogether. When they asked about being left out they were told they were not allowed to participate because they were not a government agency. The policy says absolutely nothing about a government agency requirement. So once again, in an effort to try to silence industry’s input on regulations drafted to regulate them, the government has chosen to go it alone at the expense of everyone involved.
2. No Drilling in the Prairie or the Wet Lands. This is extremely disturbing. The contractor just kind of mentioned this in passing. If it is truly being considered one must also consider how will they compensate the Osage Mineral Estate as well as the producer for the condemnation of their current assets? Prairie covers a good sixty percent of Osage County. If prairie lands are removed from the producible acreage, the minerals are essentially condemned and the Federal Government will be responsible for those damages. Using the Federal Government’s numbers generated by the Inspector General in the fall of 2014, the royalty loss alone to the Osage’s would be over $8 Billion (with a B) dollars over the next 15 years. This figure does not include the lost revenue and assets to the producers, but considering the Osage only receive 20 percent (at most) their losses would exceed $30 Billion (also with a B), not counting infrastructure.
One has to ask, by who's authority, The BIA, The DOI...which Agency would make a discriminant decision to not allow industry input and whom signed off? And the reasoning? This should be looked into, seriously...I hate to say in the throes of Politics of which should not exist by Law...Should the Osage rewrite History. Who made the decision not to drill on the Prairie and Wetlands? And where is the advocacy to do so? And the Vote would be put forth to the Shareholder's am I right?
DeleteOsage Producers Association response continued:
ReplyDelete3. There was some mention of requiring horizontal drilling to cut down on the number of locations. Anyone advocating this as some kind of solution wholly fails to understand the nature of oil and gas production in Osage County and the economics of the industry in total. Simple vertical wells can be drilled and completed for about $150,000 sometimes a little more sometimes a little less depending on total depth and completion strategies. Horizontal wells are another animal altogether and cost around $5 million on average in Osage County. The shear cost of drilling a horizontal well would prevent 95% of the producers in Osage County from drilling another well. Not to mention the ones who can afford it, have tried it and determined that horizontal drilling is not a viable alternative in the Osage Mineral Estate. Osage County is a stripper well play, the wells don’t come on very strong, they fall off very quickly and generally only produce about 18,000 barrels (Estimated Ultimate Recovery) during their entire life. In short, the rocks just cannot support the investment that it cost to use horizontal wells. Small, shallow, direct vertical wells have proven themselves to be safest, most economical way to produce this mineral estate.
Requiring the drilling of horizontal wells is just another way to condemn the mineral estate and will expose the Federal Government to the same kind of damages restricting the prairie would amount to, if not more due to the lack of any drilling anywhere in the county.
4. As previously mentioned, Osage County is a stripper well play. The usual meaning of Stripper Well is any well making less than ten barrels of oil per day. Osage County is a Super Stripper well play in that it has 14,000 producing wells combining for 12,000 barrels a day. The average well in Osage County makes less than a barrel per day. The margins on these wells are extremely thin. They simply cannot support the cost of further regulation. Additional costs associated with increased regulatory burdens will cause the premature abandonment of these marginal wells. Wells capable of a barrel or two of production per day will no longer be economically viable and will no longer be produced. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t seem like a such a big deal, unless you are familiar with Osage County production and you understand that could be as many as 10,000 wells. Again, the absence of any oil men on the panel becomes a glaringly obvious, fatal flaw.
5. The 1929 Amendment to the 1906 Act, giving the BIA its trust obligation to the Osage Mineral estate reads:
“Provided further, that as to all lands hereafter leased, the regulations governing same and the leases issued thereon shall contain appropriate provisions for the conservation of the natural gas and its economic use, to the end that the highest percentage of ultimate recovery of both oil and gas may be secured:
It sure doesn’t seem like any of these proposed changes have kept this directive in mind. In fact it seems as if every regulation contemplated by these changes is attempting to lower the recovery of both oil and gas.
For all the reasons stated above, The Osage Producers Association requests that in the event you choose not to abandon this wasteful quest to recreate an already valid existing NEPA document, if you make any changes whatsoever that they follow your directive of helping the Osage Mineral Estate and issue a Countywide Take Permit for American Burying Beetle for Oil and Gas Production in Osage County.
Sincerely,
The Osage County Producers Association
Someone from the Osage Producers Association should contact Susan Bromm. The door has been open and there is a good chance you will have her ear. She is Director of the Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, United States Environmental Protection Agency. Explain your case, you will have more than two minutes to speak. The 'Pump is Primed', time to act. She is a few floors above the BIA. Sometimes ' You just have to play Hardball '
DeleteContact Information:
Susan Bromm, Director, Office of Federal Activities, at (202) 564-5400
Is the BIA the Miser?
DeleteOh now someone from compliance has two minutes when now Kevin Washburn Secratary of Indian Affairs are looking into this matter and all the mean while we are shut down because the 1979 EA has not changed then what caused this to inpact the shut down of the M.E permitting? And after reading what the M.C could not reflect to Washington DC....After reading the Article in the Osage News, Osage attend the NCAI Session, and that our M.C has not been in Contact with Washington on these matters is astounding, where are they getting there advice from and who is representing the M.E and Shareholders? You can't make this up...A long over due investigation is needed with a thorough in depth look into corruption. ...Contracts and so forth...to why not the reporting of gifts and so forth.. why should the M.E suffer because the BLM and BIA and EPA can't get along...the only Outcome is for the Osage and that's not happening and this is why We Osage need to fight back....We should not be where we are at had we had strong leadership...and ?
DeleteBLM, BIA, EPA and the US Army Corps of Engineers could get involved if drilling on wetlands is permitted. You will note USACE involvement with wetlands regulations on the EPA page at the following URL:
Deletehttp://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/guidance/wetlands/wetlandsmitigation_index.cfm
Non the less, change needs to come.....Especially with The BIA and it's administrative policies...
DeleteThis is serious folks. Write comment to osagecountyoilgaseis@bia.gov by midnight tonight if you want your concerns to be considered. Comment form and other informative documents can be found on Osage Shareholders FB and Osage for Fiscal Responsibility FB.
ReplyDeleteOmg.
DeleteMinerals Meetings this month --->>> http://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/news-events/news/meeting-information-march-2015
ReplyDeleteLast meeting agenda is located at https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/news-events/events/minerals-council-meeting-3
DeleteAudio archive for the MC meetings is located at https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/who-we-are/minerals-council/meeting-information
Wow--you should listen to the last meeting when it was discussed about how the Chief is trying to pull an end run around the MC over at the BIA to get information there to go ahead and compact the mineral estate.
Deletehttp://on-web1.osagetribe.org/media/minerals/audio/FY2015/2015-0318_3OMC_pt1.mp3
That will not happen.
DeleteDon't count on it. At the last MC meeting on Wednesday, I heard the second in command under the Superintendent say that the BIA wants all the Tribes to be as independent in running their own business interests as they possibly can. This exchange had to do with what the Chief has been doing by way of compacting the BIA and the MC members who were asking questions about it during the meeting.
Deletelf there are any conversation on this matter it will certainly be communicated to the Shareholder's in the best interest or this could go in an entire different direction. The challenge is there...waiting.
DeleteCrude inventories threaten to fill tanks, with the nation’s largest oil-storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma. Hey MC, have we talked about building storage facilities yet ? Would be nice to have something to supplement our falling income ! Aren't we located near Cushing ? Or are we still working on a Office Manager ?
ReplyDeletehttp://finance.yahoo.com/news/record-u-oil-glut-may-090000732.html
Man are you right.
DeleteSo wirth Cushing running out of room with storage, looming prices at tthe pump dropping, oil dropping below 40 dollars a barrel, not the end.
ReplyDeleteRay McClain recommends in his latest notice at http://www.osages-you-need-to-know.com/ that we read this document on the new EIS: http://www.bia.gov/cs/groups/xregeasternok/documents/document/idc1-029545.pdf
ReplyDeleteMore input about the the EIS from the Osage Producers at http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepage3/osage-county-oil-producers-blast-bia-environmental-impact-study-that/article_6c9d3f17-7d9b-5620-8f52-e4b045f078b0.html
DeleteHey! Ray , some of those 4 and 5 barrels a day of oil, could be tried into that Burbank Field and were attended to inject . Wish there were a sight that would show the different section on a map, I had one in the 70's, think I made a pattern with it, for it was of no use. H
DeleteThe Kayaker's Plan for our energy future
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxflIKJT-cU
She can't read the damning report on the activities of the BIA out in the Osage county oilfield but she can plan for public lands when she, as the Trustee of the ME Trust, has a fiduciary obligation to the Osages, not to the U.S. or its public lands.
Low carbon future is her agenda people and that does not include the oil business, now does it.
Climate change advocates disregard scientific fact in favor of propaganda. The data in the table shows the mean growth rate of CO2 in the atmosphere from 1959 to 2014. There is significant fluctuations in the rate of growth which cannot be explained by patterns of human behavior, either related to emissions or alteration of the environment.
Deletehttp://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/global.html#global
Also, if you compare the temperatures during these years there are periods of globally averaged declines - even when the CO2 levels are shown to be rising.
The following is a peer reviewed paper by Ernst-Georg Beck, and it shows significantly higher levels of CO2 during the 1800's when the world was in the tail end of a mini ice age that began in the 1600's.
http://icecap.us/images/uploads/08_Beck-2.pdf
The alarmists like Al Gore can't tell the difference between manure and apple butter, but they know all too well how to push propaganda to manipulate the ignorant masses. Promoting "global warming" and "climate change" is making certain people very wealthy, and wrongly harming the fossil fuels industry.
Her agenda will certainly harm the mineral estate, and raises valid concerns about a conflict of interest. An ethical person would resign the position of Trustee to avoid even the appearance of impropriety.
Lo. Junk science. Why can't anyone see this is all about propaganda based on nothing but lies. when does a lie become a truth is when money speaks louder than words. The price uou will pay is all in the name of Politics.
DeleteWhen you ask on what theory you can't get an answer. Propaganda pays at a lofty price.
DeleteIndian Country under the Bureau of Land Management....http://indianz.com/News/2015/016831.asp...read this.
ReplyDeleteWorth serious consideration:
ReplyDeletehttp://stateimpact.npr.org/oklahoma/2015/03/06/study-reawakened-oklahoma-faults-could-produce-larger-earthquakes/
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1002/2014GL062730/asset/grl52584.pdf?v=1&t=i7iq4wrh&s=746805371cfe3b5f19198306ce2e244fee107693&systemMessage=Wiley+Online+Library+will+be+disrupted+on+21st+March+from+10%3A30+GMT+%2806%3A30+EDT%29+for+up+to+six+hours+for+essential+maintenance.++Apologies+for+the+inconvenience.
The Show must go on as I would say in spite of the negativity ...in other words Chaparral and Welco Energy are completing wells and that's always good to see..just wondering what at if any of the latest technology is being applied to further production of oil and gas?
ReplyDeleteIn case Shareholders forgot the interview with then newly elected Minerals Councilman Everett Waller here are a few direct quotes all the way back August. My, how things have changed.
ReplyDelete"We have to dedicate ourselves to sale leases and with these concessions we don’t have the acreage available like we used to – so I’m going to have to make sure the concessions are complimentary to what our shareholders need,”
“As a product, I think with the Negotiated Rulemaking revisions coming through it will help us in our next step, that’s with the BIA,” Waller said. “As chairman, the relationship with Robin Phillips [new Osage Agency Superintendent] has been productive. That’s going to be vital for our shareholders.”
“We have considerations for the smaller producers, we’re working on having events to educate them with the BIA what our requirements are going to be and how they can achieve those. The larger companies are already doing that,” he said. “I feel like they should all be held to the highest standards of producing our oil and gas, protecting our environment and keeping our cultural identity of the Osage.”Waller said he’s excited to be working for the best interests of all shareholders.
How is that going Mr. Waller ? Under New Business at the March 18th meeting, how was the " BIA Semi Annual improvement meeting " report ? We are all looking forward to that helping our June check...
I don't think this is happening. If this is our Chairman's words, what the heck are the other council members doing ? In the Oil Business I think it is called ' Getting the Shaft '.
http://osagenews.org/en/article/2014/08/06/osage-minerals-council-names-everett-waller-chairman/
His speech was more like reaching for Pie in the Sky...you can't build a house of bricks in the path of a tornado. There is no core foundation..or standard with a criteria for internal and external comtrols...so this all by Mr.Waller shows his intelligence by no accident or coincidence because the precedent has been set by other examples of leadership. Ring a bell of truth? As my fervent for organization is long over due..say like eight years ago and before...you would think this is where we should not be at this very moment but we are..and the monopoly for the Shareholder's and not the other away around...and inquiry into what the Council does is long long over due...it is equally important to have this dialogue with the Shareholder's and the lack of communication is sooooooooooo telling. With respect to the Concessions and Contract and so forth and the future...remains to be seen. Huge competence issues at an administrative level and in addition to incompetence is another factor...As I am pushing for a recall for replacement of Waller and others..they are Elected officials and must be held to that standard.
DeleteJust read Ray McClains latest update from his website www.Osages-you-need-to-know.com...Please explain why no one sat at the Table of Final Negotiations? This could not look good for the M.E period...and now we just lost a huge Producer...I blame the BIA and I blame the DOI and now I blame the M.C. In retro, I can see why the Five voted no not to attend the meeting. Signing the MOU is like conceding to the Final Negotiations and probably redundant...not just that, they should be apart of the process and not in the opposite position. And the way I see it, my opinion they should have gone to the table..signed under duress...The MOU. This is futher attempt by the M.C to keep control? And what does this have anything to do with the Federal Regulations not going through anyway? So you then have to ask, is the Trustee in violation of any law that is considered Hostile to the Shareholder's and to what level of accountability by and by do we judge our M.C as well. However you look at this can of worms there is no other outcome that can be or here we go again to the Court of opinion...The trustee has the Obligation as written when all else fails...
ReplyDeleteRay McClain obviously does not understand the pending regulatory changes or the ramifications. No affected parties were part of the negotiated rulemaking - not the producers, purchasers or landowners. The OMC had only 3 members and the Feds had 4 so the outcome was never in doubt. The rulemaking was a sham and needs to be redone. No wonder Devon, CEP and others are leaving. It's not the uncertainty of the pending regulations but the content that is the problem. Another attempt by the BIA to kill the Osage Mineral Estate by a thousand paper cuts.
DeleteCan't help think why does BLM come to mind eh? Echo of truth?
DeleteSome days are a triumph and some days aren't. Today is a triumph for one of the Sponsors of the Osage Blog. Annette M. Gore is 99 years young today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNETTE!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Mrs. Gore. Have a happy birthday.
DeleteThank you, Ray. So far so good. Many presents, phone calls from friends, family and Osages I dearly love and two birthday cakes too. A wonderful birthday!
DeleteHappy Bithday Annette Gore.....
DeleteLast year the The Bigheart Times reported that Multiple motions to dismiss a pending federal lawsuit regarding the Osage Mineral Estate are now on file with the Northern District of Oklahoma. I am referring to the requests that a class-action lawsuit spearheaded by Martha Donelson and John Friend be tossed . Did the BIA update the MC & Shareholders on the progress ? I believe it is coming up on a 1/2 year just for that motion. If not, did the MC ask for the status? Can someone at the next MC meeting remind the MC that they also have a ' Fiduciary Obligation ' to the Shareholders. Doesn't the 'Squeaky Wheel' get anything at these meetings? It is time to play ' Hardball '! If we can't get any feedback on that, well I am beginning to think the BIA has got the MC ' Over a Barrel ' ...
ReplyDeletehttp://barnsdalltimes.com/http:/barnsdalltimes.com/news/bia-wants-lawsuit-tossed
Thank you Osage Nation Constituent Services. Well done! See https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/news-events/news/after-hours-services-provided-osages
ReplyDeleteWow, now that's service...Thank you, Constituent Services .
DeleteShareholder Jim Ryan has set up a web site called RESTART ENERGY PERMITS IN THE OSAGE https://www.facebook.com/groups/1549480308646845/ . The intent is to muster the shareholders out to write DOI Sec. Sally Jewell letters requesting a waiver on the BIA's current requirement concerning EPA rules. I suggest that ALL shareholders flood Jewell's mailbox with a letter similar to Ray McClain's. FACEBOOK POST 12:15 AM, 3/24/2015
ReplyDeleteMadam Secretary Jewell; Please consider authorizing a waiver for the temporary EIS and EA’s for Osage County, Oklahoma, at least until the final protocol for these directives has been established. Our Producers cannot comply on such short notice. Even the abbreviated EA is complicated and time consuming, and most are thinking they will need to be done again when the final versions are published. This requirement has put hundreds of people out of work and will soon have the royalty income of nearly 3,000 Osages and their families cut by at least ½ or more. Hundreds of wells are now sitting idle because simple workover procedures cannot be done. We need help from you—very soon. Thank you—Ray McClain, Osage Mineral Estate Beneficiary====This needs to be done TODAY. We do need the help from her office-IMMEDIATELY!
Thank you for posting this important information.
DeleteAs to Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, you may also call her office @ 202-208-7351 and leave a message. Her address and email are; Sally Jewell, 1849 C St. NW,Washington, D.C. 20240-0001 and www.doi.gov/ Form letters are available @ www.restartpermits.com
DeleteThis thread is now closed. Go to: http://osageblog.blogspot.com/2015/03/osage-shareholder-matters-march-2015.html
ReplyDelete