The Southern Ute Indian Tribe signed a Tribal Energy Resource Agreement with the U.S. Department of Interior on Monday, becoming the first tribe in the nation to do so, according to a tribal government news release.
“It marks a significant advancement in tribal self-determination,” the release said.
Under the agreement, SUIT, through its Department of Energy, can approve and manage energy and mineral-related leases, agreements and rights-of-way on tribal lands without needing federal approval for each action. The agreement applies to oil, gas, coal, uranium or other energy and mineral resources on reservation land that the federal government manages in trust for the tribe.
Over the past half-century, the Southern Ute Tribe has become a major energy producer and played a significant role in shaping federal energy policy to grant tribal governments increased sovereignty over their land.
The tribe established its own Energy Resource Division – now the Department of Energy – in 1980. Since then, it has overseen severance tax collection, royalty auditing in coordination with the U.S. Department of the Interior, and environmental review and compliance across thousands of energy-related facilities, the news release said.
The tribe’s energy department later assumed responsibility for lease auditing from the federal government. In the 2010s, tribal audits resulted in BP America paying $5.2 million in fines to the federal government for underreporting the amount of gas the company produced on Southern Ute land.
The tribe also sets its own environmental standards. Reporting has found those standards to be as strong, or stronger than state or federal regulations. The Southern Ute’s environmental programs department sets its own air and water quality standards.
Since 2017, the tribe’s DOE has conducted about 3,000 inspections related to environmental protection and operational compliance.
Southern Ute Chairman Melvin Baker said in the release that the agreement recognizes the tribe’s experience and success of the tribe’s energy management, and regulation programs and codes.
The agreement is part of broader efforts by tribal entities, and legislatures, to give tribal governments more autonomy over the development of energy resources on tribal lands.
In 2017, a version of the Native American Energy Act introduced during the 114th Congress passed the House Committee on Natural Resources. The legislation sought to reduce what supporters described as federal over-regulation of tribal lands. Although the bill ultimately failed, portions of it were later included in the Indian Tribal Energy Development and Self-Determination Act amendments.
The legislation also included the grounds for the Tribal Energy Resource Agreement.
To prepare for the agreement, the tribe adopted governance frameworks including a Tribal Leasing Code and Tribal Environmental Review Policy Code, according to the release. The policies are intended to ensure proposed projects undergo environmental and cultural review, receive tribal member input and align with tribal priorities before approval.
“This agreement delivers on President Donald Trump’s promise: tribes should have greater authority to manage their own resources without unnecessary federal delay,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum in a Department of Interior news release Monday.
Burgum said the agreement furthers the objectives in Executive Order 14154 “Unleashing American Energy,” signed by Trump in January 2025. The act is meant to streamline American energy production, specifically the production of non-renewables through decreased regulation, and the elimination of carbon consequence calculations from permitting decisions. Critics have framed the executive order as an effective neutering of the National Environmental Policy Act’s energy regulation processes.
The tribe did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
