FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 20, 1997
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Melody McCoy, (303) 447-8760
"CHEYENNE AND ARAPAHO TRIBES OF OKLAHOMA CLAIM VICTORY IN TAX CASE"
~United States Supreme Court denies oil companies' appeal requesting review
of Mustang Production Company v. Harrison~
BOULDER, CO - On Monday, March 17, 1997, the United States Supreme Court
denied the request to hear Mustang Production Company v. Harrison. The
rejection means that the August 23, 1996 ruling by the United States Court
of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit will stand -- thus affirming the right of
the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma to tax oil/gas production on
allotments. The allotments, 160 acre land parcels held in trust by the
federal government for members of the Tribes, are scattered throughout nine
counties in western Oklahoma. The allotments are virtually all that remains
of the Cheyenne and Arapaho's 4.5 million acre reservation which the federal
government took back in 1890.
The Tribes had already won their case in tribal court and in the lower
federal courts. The oil companies looked to the U.S. Supreme Court, but
were turned down. The oil companies now concede that the case is over and
that they must pay taxes on their activities on allotments to the Tribes.
The tax money that has been at issue in this case -- about $5 million--will
be released to the Tribes.
The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes first enacted the tax in 1988 to raise $1
million annually for roads, schools, and health care for their 10,000
members, many of whom live in poverty. Nineteen oil companies, who for
decades have been extracting oil and natural gas from the allotments,
immediately challenged the tax. The Tribes retained the Native American
Rights Fund (NARF) to defend their rights, and Mustang became the first
major tribal tax case to be heard in Tribal Court. As the case proceeded
through the tribal court system and then into federal court, the federal
government entered the case as amicus curiae (friend of the court) in
support of the Tribes' right to tax.
Melody McCoy (Cherokee), NARF attorney and lead counsel says, "one hundred
years ago the government took away most of the Tribes' land. But it didn't
take away the Tribes' sovereignty, and now it is clear the Tribes can
exercise their sovereignty on what little land they have left."
--The Native American Rights Fund is a non-profit organization that provides legal representation to over 190 tribes nationwide in the areas of: the preservation of tribal existence; the protection of tribal natural resources; the promotion of human rights; and the accountability of governments to Native Americans; and the development of Indian Law.
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