Name: Seminole Nation's attempt to tax oil companies prompts swift response from Hunter, Stitt
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Seminole Nation's attempt to tax oil companies prompts swift response from Hunter, Stitt

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Chris Casteel The Seminole Nation recently began telling oil and gas companies that they are subject to taxes in the tribe’s “jurisdictional area,” a move that Gov. Kevin Stitt called “reckless and unauthorized.”Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter asked the tribe last week to stop sending notices to oil and gas companies and suggested that it was trying to intimidate them.“Sending letters to every single operator in Seminole County, regardless of whether the Seminole Nation has specific grounds for asserting jurisdiction over that operator, can be seen as an attempt to intimidate those engaging in productive economic activity within the county to pay taxes and fees that the Seminole Nation has no jurisdiction to levy,” Hunter said in his letter sent Friday to a tribal official and Seminole Nation Chief Greg Chilcoat.Seminole Nation officials and an attorney for the tribe did not respond to requests Monday for comment.The action by the tribe has reinforced fears by some that members of the Five Tribes — the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee (Creek) and Seminole Nations — will assert civil jurisdiction in the wake of a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that the Creek reservation was never disestablished.The high court decision was limited to a criminal case involving a convicted child rapist named Jimcy McGirt within the Creek Nation’s historical boundaries. But the Court of Criminal Appeals is expected to affirm recent state court rulings that the reservations of the other four tribes were never disestablished.And though the McGirt case involved only criminal jurisdiction, there is widespread concern that civil jurisdiction, including zoning and taxation, will become a near constant battle between tribal and other governments.“This is what I’ve been trying to warn Oklahomans about ever since the McGirt decision came about,” Stitt said in an interview.“I just see endless litigation. ... They really believe they can tax oil and gas. Of course that’s not our position. We think that’s reckless and unauthorized and it’s not going to stand.”A letter sent by the tribe to one oil and gas company says, “This letter is intended to provide notice to all operators in our area that to actively produce oil and/or gas within our jurisdictional area, an Operator’s Permit issued by the Seminole Nation is required.”The letter also states, “If you are actively producing oil and/or gas within our jurisdictional area you are required to pay a severance fee of 8% of the gross market value and file a monthly remittance report ...”In his letter to the tribal official who sent the notices, Hunter said it was unclear whether the Seminole Nation was claiming jurisdiction within its historical boundaries, which includes most of Seminole County, or just on land that had been taken into trust for the tribe by the federal government.Hunter asked the tribe to “cease sending these letters to operators within Seminole County unless they are accompanied by proof of the Seminole Nation’s restricted real property interest in the land that is the subject of the specific operator’s lease as well as an explanation of the federal law authority relied upon by the Seminole Nation to regulate and tax that operator. I also ask that you send letters withdrawing your previous letters in (the) next seven days to all operators that you contacted in Seminole County.”State Sen. Zack Taylor, a Seminole Republican who is a partner in a family oil and gas operation, said he was "disappointed that the Seminole Nation is continuing to push their own version of a Gross Production Tax. An additional 8% GPT would be devastating to Seminole County."Brook Simmons, president of the Petroleum Alliance of Oklahoma, a trade group for oil and gas companies, sent a message to members saying the Seminole Nation “does NOT have the legal authority to regulate oil and gas operations, nor to tax non-tribal minerals.”Simmons said, “Such overreach is an example of the uncertainty created by the McGirt decision, which threatens to undermine the prosperity of non-Indians and tribal members alike."According to Simmons, the 8% tax on production was established by the Seminole Nation in 2018. That same year, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review the Creek Nation reservation question after a federal appeals court ruled in a death row inmate's case that the reservation had not been disestablished. Ultimately, the Supreme Court used a different case, the McGirt appeal, to answer the question.Resolving the myriad issues arising from the McGirt decision is expected to take many court cases and many years, absent agreements between tribes and the state. Last week, the Oklahoma Supreme Court agreed to review a case involving jurisdictional authority over oil and gas regulation on Indian land. That case does not involve taxes.Hunter has been urging tribes to negotiate compacts with the state, such as those used for gaming revenues and tobacco taxes, to resolve jurisdictional disputes over criminal and civil matters.He and Stitt have been working with the state’s congressional delegation, but there has been no unity among the Five Tribes about a path forward. Some have expressed willingness to negotiate, while others, including the Seminoles, have viewed such proposals as a threat to sovereignty.Stitt said, “The question is: Will they really sign on to a compact that says states have the jurisdiction to tax, and not the tribes? Oklahomans need to know that answer. Do they believe sovereignty means that they don’t pay taxes to the state of Oklahoma?”A recent study by the Oklahoma Tax Commission showed that the state could lose $200 million a year in sales and use taxes and income taxes if tribal members within the five reservations are no longer subject to state taxes.

Chris Casteel The Seminole Nation recently began telling oil and gas companies that they are subject to taxes in the tribe’s “jurisdictional area,” a move that Gov. Kevin Stitt called “reckless and unauthorized.”Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter asked the tribe last week to stop sending notices to oil and gas companies and suggested that it was trying to intimidate them.“Sending letters to every single operator in Seminole County, regardless of whether the Seminole Nation has specific grounds for asserting jurisdiction over that operator, can be seen as an attempt to intimidate those...

Seminole Nation's attempt to tax oil companies prompts swift response from Hunter, Stitt

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