Stephen Manydeeds: Why Technical Personnel are Important

Early in my career, I was asked to present our mineral program to a tribal council.

Before I was to speak, a landman made a pitch to the tribe about leasing their land. He showed them data and maps meant to support why he was interested in their land.

The tribe asked to see the data and to carefully examine the maps. He tersely refused their request.

He then discussed the economics of leasing their land. He warned that if he walked out the door, the deal walked out with him and gave them just ten minutes to consider a multi-million-dollar transaction.

The tribe politely refused his offer, and he left. I asked the agency superintendent if this was normally the way developers dealt with the tribe. He said it was typical.

Next, I stood before the council and presented a mineral program offered at no cost as part of the government's trust responsibility to furnish them with relevant data and technical support.

They asked if the data would remain with them when the study was completed. I told them it would.

They asked if the interpretation would be given to them so that they could review it at their leisure. I told them, “Yes.”

They then asked if I could come back and discuss various leasing and economic scenarios with them, and I agreed.

That was the moment the tribe understood what self-determination really is – to be empowered to review all the data, studies, and economic scenarios of a lease deal in the cool of the day with no one around to pressure them so that they could make the best decision for the tribe.

Until draconian staff cutbacks during the Biden Administration, this is the service that the Division of Energy and Minerals Development technical staff offered routinely as a critical last step in the mineral development process.

The still unexplained cutbacks of technical staff have had dire consequences for tribes looking to develop their energy and mineral resources. It has reduced self-determination and curtailed mining and energy projects whose revenues have historically been second only to gaming in magnitude. The quality of trusteeship has diminished, too, with the elimination of staff with years of experience in resource development.

Let us hope that the new administration learns from the mistakes of the last one.