A lot has happened since the previous Osage Shareholders Meeting in mid-February. Just days before shareholders gathered on Zoom, Adam Trumbly, the Osage Agency Superintendent was let go from his job after the Department of Government Efficiency laid off thousands of probationary employees within the federal government.
Trumbly’s job was one of them.
He was eventually reinstated a little more than a month afterward and was on this quarterly meeting agenda.
Osage Nation Congresswoman Maria Whitehorn, who is also the chair of the Osage Shareholders Association, said she believes his reinstatement was due to the letter the OSA wrote to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs telling members how important he was. Trumbly was reinstated after a federal judge ordered probationary employees to be rehired after the probationary purge from the Trump administration.
She also spoke to shareholders about the executive branch’s role in negotiating a new lease for the Osage Agency in Pawhuska. Osage News previously reported that Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear is negotiating with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the General Services Administration to extend the lease, which expires in September. Standing Bear is asking for a 3 to 5-year lease.
“We don’t know what’s ahead with this administration,” Whitehorn said. She also told shareholders that there are a number of things they need to be paying attention to, like the Nation wanting to compact on probate. Osage News reached out to Chief Standing Bear who said that yes, they are interested in compacting on probate to cut down the time it takes to process paperwork. He said he’s spoken to some people who have been waiting over a year to get their paperwork processed.
He said he will not touch the procedures, the federal and state laws that govern the process. Trumbly said his office was working as diligently as possible to get paperwork processed, despite being down one administrative position.
Standing Bear thinks the Nation can push the paperwork through faster.
Whitehorn questioned that and said in her view, it’s still going to have to go through a federal process to be approved. Will that expedite the time it takes for probate to be approved?
Trumbly said he couldn’t answer that question and only said there were negotiations between the Nation and federal officials. He said there would be a significant amount of the process that would be, “inherent federal functions.”
Trumbly spoke after routine OSA business about the probate issues shareholders can run into when writing a revocable trust. The biggest takeaway on the issue: be specific on your intent on where you want your land or your headright to go. He also assured the audience that any transfer of estates or headrights under his watch would comply with federal law.
Trumbly thanked the OSA for their letter in addressing his termination. He thought the letter from the Nation, the Osage Minerals Council and the OSA and their unified support for his position played a part in his being reinstated.
Trumbly also commented on the lease, saying that Chief Standing Bear and the General Services Administration have an agreement in principle for a new lease and that it won’t be going anywhere.
“That’s been a huge relief,” Trumbly said.
The June headright share is $4,190 for a full share.
Washington, D.C.
OMC Chair Myron Red Eagle also gave a presentation about the OMC’s trip to Washington, D.C., at the beginning of May. Red Eagle spoke to Osage News separately about the trip and said he, Second Chair Joseph Cheshewalla, Council Member Talee Redcorn and Paul Revard traveled to Washington. The trip was planned for the latter part of April but was postponed because Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum wasn’t available. OMC members weren’t able to meet with him on this visit either.
Instead, Council members met with the Department of Energy, Senator Markwayne Mullin, Senator James Lankford and Congressman Frank Lucas, staff of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
The Minerals Council currently has a million-dollar grant from the DOE for infrastructure improvements for buildings and to refurbish wells and provide geothermal power to some of the OMC buildings.
According to Red Eagle, the main focus of their visit was to make sure that the BIA office in Pawhuska stays open. Other agenda items included making sure Trumbly’s job is secure and that oil production can resume and that regulations are eased to ensure that happens. According to NYMEX on May 22, the price of crude oil per barrel was hovering around $62.
Red Eagle said one of the biggest barriers to people drilling in Osage County is the Environmental Impact Statement that has been in place for decades. Red Eagle said they asked the BIA and staff at the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs if they can do away with that regulation.
The Council did meet with Scott Davis, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior.
They reiterated a lot of what they said to Oklahoma’s Congressional delegation: keep the Osage Agency open, keep Adam Trumbly and eliminate some of the environmental rules and regulations so oil and gas production can resume.
Dear Tribal Leader
The Minerals Council may get its wish on expedited permitting. On May 1, the Department of Interior issued a “Dear Tribal Leader” letter saying they want to streamline the process for permitting on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). The letter is in response to President Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order declaring a national energy emergency.
Under these new energy emergency procedures:
- Under NEPA, the procedures provide that the Interior should review all qualified energy projects within 28 days.
- Under the ESA, Interior will provide expedited consultation on impacts to threatened or endangered species.
- Under the NHPA, Interior will provide seven days for Indian tribes and others to comment on impacts to historic or cultural properties.
Despite a letter for consultation, the Department is already implementing these procedures without consultation. Adam Trumbly spoke during the meeting and said these new procedures will significantly cut down the time it takes to process permits for oil and gas on the reservation. He said the environmental review will be cut down to 14-28 days. Trumbly said he is doing everything he can to expedite the process and work with other agencies. In fact, he said there are two permits they anticipate approving within the upcoming days. He hopes this encourages other energy companies to seize this opportunity and to get production back up.
Currently, the Department of the Interior is conducting tribal consultations on streamlining BIA functions and increasing the Office of Self-Governance, which is in conjunction with the consultation on the DOI’s Tribal Consultation on Interior’s Energy Emergency Procedures. Consultations for Oklahoma tribal nations will occur on June 3, and the public comment on new policies will end on July 7.
Shareholders diminished?
Some Shareholders are angry and upset about the prospect for the Nation compacting some functions of the mineral estate. Shareholder Chuck Tillman spoke about the need to keep Mineral Estate functions within the OMC and their trustee, the BIA. He doesn’t believe the Nation should compact functions of the mineral estate.
Osage Minerals Council member Stephanie Erwin said she feels the Osage Nation needs to have its own consultation with the BIA because they are “not like any other tribe.”
She also feels that shareholders’ voices were diminished by the 2006 Osage Nation Constitution. The new Constitution has been in place for nearly 20 years. Many meetings took place that involved shareholders and non-shareholders in the process.
One OSA member expressed concern that the BIA will no longer exist, that it will be a victim of DOGE. Trumbly said that in the absence of good communication, bad communication flourishes – meaning that the new administration is trying to push through as much policy as possible without much communication about what it means and how it will affect people.
Trumbly said at a local level, there hasn’t been any impact other than that he was let go and rehired. They have not let anyone go. He said the agency is operating with fewer staff, and that he doesn’t see how they can cut more people from his staff.
The compacting process is ongoing and will be negotiated between the Osage Nation’s Chiefs Office, Congress and the Osage Minerals Council.
The next OSA meeting will be held in August.
