News

September 18, 2022

North Dakota is notifying oil companies that it claims ownership of the bed of the Missouri River — and associated mineral wealth — as it flows through the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in the latest salvo in a legal feud over ownership.

September 14, 2022

The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation is accusing North Dakota officials of tampering with the tribes’ efforts to collect royalties from oil and gas production underneath a riverbed on the Fort Berthold Reservation.

June 22, 2022 DC Circuit Judge has ruled that North Dakota may not intervene in a mineral dispute case filed by the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation over who should own the minerals in the Missouri River Bed within the boundaries of the Fort Berthed Indian Reservation.

May 2, 2022 North Dakota is challenging the federal government’s awarding of lucrative mineral rights under a Missouri River reservoir to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, otherwise known as the Three Affiliated Tribes.

April 5, 2022 A North Dakota tribal nation on Monday officially assumed ownership of mineral rights under the Missouri River, snatching the title back from the state in a dispute that has gone on for more than two centuries.

February 11, 2022 Last week, Your News Leader shared the news about a ruling made by the U.S. Interior’s office that gives the mineral rights under the original Missouri riverbed back to the MHA Nation. This week, we had a chance to sit down and speak with MHA Chairman Mark Fox on the swing.

February 7, 2022 The new opinion was issued by Department of the Interior Solicitor Robert T. Anderson. It sides with the MHA Nation and reverses a decision issued by the same office under the Trump administration by Daniel Jorjani

February 5, 2022

The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation (MHA Nation) said the Department of the Interior’s announced a decision on Friday to uphold the MHA Nation’s ownership of the Missouri Riverbed within the Fort Berthold Reservation.

February 4, 2022 Opinion Regarding the Status of Mineral Ownership Underlying the Missouri River Within the Boundaries of the Fort Berthold Reservation (North Dakota)

February 4, 2022 The Biden administration reversed a Trump administration position and upheld the Mandan, Hidatsa Arikara Nation's claim to mineral rights beneath the Missouri River within the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

February 4, 2022

The Biden administration has decided that contested minerals beneath a portion of the Missouri River belong to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, and not the state of North Dakota.

February 4, 2022 The legal opinion, issued by Solicitor Bob Anderson, confirms that the minerals beneath the Missouri River belong to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation.

February 4, 2022 Leadership with the Three Affiliated Tribes is praising a decision by U.S. Interior Solicitor Bob Anderson that mineral rights under the original Missouri riverbed belong to the tribe, going against a Trump-era ruling that gave those rights to the state of North Dakota.

February 4, 2022 The interior solicitor in the Biden administration said in an opinion released Friday that the mineral rights under the original Missouri River riverbed belong to a North Dakota tribal nation.

May 24, 2021
Native Green Grow will use energy from natural gas already being flared at the wellhead and collect it to generate heat to warm the climate-controlled greenhouses. This food sovereignty project for the MHA Nation will reduce environmental waste in the form of flared gas and will create a stable food system and economy for the tribe. These are the solutions that we need to return to our traditional food systems, and build sustainable farming for our future generations.

April 26, 2021

The bill corrects an inequity that has existed in the tax sharing agreement. The state has already shared in revenue from wells that begin on the reservation and extend beyond the border. The new agreement is estimated to send an additional $7.15 million to MHA Nation over the next two years. The bill also provides certainty for oil companies drilling in that area.

April 22, 2021

Tribal Lawyer Tim Purdon spoke to KX News about the MHA Nation’s fight for restoration of our Missouri Riverbed rights. The law is on MHA Nation’s side.

April 22, 2021

Under the bill, the tribe would receive a portion of oil production and extraction taxes from wells that begin off the reservation and extend across the border. The state currently does not share taxes on those wells but does for wells that are entirely within Fort Berthold or start on the reservation and cross the boundary

April 19, 2021

Self-contained, climate-controlled greenhouses will grow vegetable produce from heat and electricity generated by converting captured gas from oil wells that is currently being flared, as well as, utilizing electricity from our dedicated WAPA allocation. NG2 is a food sovereignty initiative that creates environmental stewardship by reducing the amount of flared gas on Fort Berthold while creating a stable food system and economy for our nation by growing our own healthy, accessible and fresh food.

April 7, 2021

“The public in general, the non-tribal public, they have this feeling that MHA Nation is coming and constantly for state revenue, a share of state revenue. The taxation at stake here does not exclusively belong to the state, it belongs to both of us by law, United States Supreme Court law.” — Chairman Mark Fox

March 29, 2021

"We insist on a one-on-one consultation before any action is taken that would adversely impact the market value of our oil and gas resources which are held in trust on our behalf by the United States. At a minimum, our trustee owes the MHA Nation meaningful consultation that is specific and pre-decisional." - Chairman Mark Fox

March 25, 2021

“Today’s action will allow us to review the matter and ensure the Interior Department is upholding its trust and treaty obligations in accordance with the law.” — Department of the Interior

March 23, 2021

The head of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation made another pitch to North Dakota lawmakers Tuesday to change the oil tax sharing agreement between the state and tribe in a hearing that touched on everything from dual taxation to federal leasing to the Dakota Access Pipeline.

March 20, 2021

The State of North Dakota amended a tax sharing oil and gas bill without MHA Nation consent in an attempt to continue collecting tribal oil and gas revenue.

February 2, 2021
In this op-ed, Chairman Mark Fox outlines the inequities in oil and gas tax revenue sharing between the MHA Nation and the State of North Dakota. Since 2009, North Dakota has collected over $200 million in oil and gas tax revenue from wells that extract tribal oil and gas — the MHA Nation has seen none of this revenue.

January 13, 2021
Over the summer, MHA Nation sued the U.S. government over mineral rights under the Missouri River, worth more than $100 million. The Tribe’s Chairman, Mark Fox, filed two federal lawsuits demanding their mineral rights back.

January 5, 2021

Chairman Mark Fox presented the State of the Tribes address at the North Dakota state legislator and shared a message of hope and action for State and Tribal relations.

December 16, 2020

Chairman Mark Fox wrote this op-ed for Indian Country Today on the responsibility the new presidential administration has to Tribal Nations.

August 13, 2020

The state of North Dakota wants to intervene in a lawsuit filed by the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation over mineral rights under Lake Sakakawea within the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

August 13, 2020

The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation is condemning the efforts by state officials to intervene in a mineral property lawsuit.

August 12, 2020

The state of North Dakota is wading into a lawsuit over lakebed minerals filed last month by the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation. State officials seek to intervene in the tribe's legal challenge concerning minerals under Lake Sakakawea within the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

August 11, 2020
North Dakota’s motion to intervene seeks to uphold the May decision by Daniel Jorjani, the solicitor for the Department of Interior, determining that the state owned the mineral rights beneath the bed of the Missouri River within Fort Berthold.

July 31, 2020
A U.S. Department of Interior opinion rolling back an Obama-era memo stating that mineral rights under the original Missouri River bed should belong to the Three Affiliated Tribes was put on hold by a federal judge Friday until arguments can be heard in the case.

July 31, 2020
A federal judge has put on hold a Trump administration determination that mineral rights beneath the bed of the Missouri River within the Fort Berthold Reservation belong to the state of North Dakota instead of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation.

The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation is suing the federal government to enforce tribal rights to the lands and minerals under the Missouri River within its reservation.

June 12, 2020
Chairman Mark Fox calls on the United States government and the state of North Dakota to honor their relationship with MHA nation, obey the law and uphold legal and historical precedent by reaffirming our riverbed rights as previously established and recognized by the U.S. government.

June 4, 2020
The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation is demanding the Department of Interior uphold its duty as the tribe’s trustee and protect the tribe’s Missouri River property rights.

June 3, 2020
Leaders of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation in North Dakota and others are challenging a Department of Interior opinion rolling back an Obama-era memo stating that mineral rights under the original Missouri River bed should belong to the Three Affiliated Tribes.

June 2, 2020
The tribe contends that the Department of the Interior violated treaties going back to 1825, by issuing an opinion that overturned three prior decisions from the department.

May 15, 2020
Chairman Mark Fox says MHA Nation has suffered more financial loss due to the pandemic than most other tribes.

January 15, 2020
Among the accomplishments with tribes since he took office in December 2016, Burgum counted an oil tax revenue-sharing compact with MHA Nation, updated agreements for child welfare services for Native American families and his display of North Dakota tribal flags in Memorial Hall of the state Capitol.

December 15, 2019
The tribal taxation committee will talk about horizontal drilling near the MHA reservation. The issue could be the difference in tens of millions of tax dollars for MHA Nation and the state.

August 18, 2019
An op-ed penned by Chairman Mark N. Fox on the importance of keeping Native issues in the forefront in political discussions, in honor of the rare presidential forum on Native American issues.

June 1, 2019
AP article describing the MHA Nation’s efforts to defend the tribes’ mineral rights to the Missouri River riverbed on the Fort Berthold Reservation.

May 19, 2019
Chairman Mark N. Fox pens editorial on the MHA Nation seeking government-to-government collaboration in recognizing the tribes’ rights to the Missouri River riverbed.

June 23, 2019
In a Bismarck Tribune editorial, Lloyd Omdahl discusses the tragic history of Native American/US government relations, including the MHA Nation’s fight with the state of ND to secure mineral rights on its own land.

October 26, 2018
A resolution passed by NCAI urges the DOI to recognize MHA Nation’s historic and legal ties to the Missouri River bed on their reservation.

April 25, 2018
Federal regulators who play key roles in oil and gas development on the Fort Berthold Reservation said they're working to streamline the permitting process to reduce natural gas flaring.