FORT DUCHESNE, Uintah County — The Ute Indian Tribe now holds the deed to 84,000 acres of oil shale reserves on its reservation.
Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson was here Monday to formally present the tribe's Business Committee with the deed that returns the land known as Naval Oil Shale reserve No. 2.
It is the largest voluntary federal return of land to the Indians in more than a century, Richardson said.
"For a change, the U.S. government is keeping its word and turning the land back to you," he said to the cheers of about 50 members of the tribe. "This is a day of giving back . . . something the government should have done years ago."
The land, located in Uintah County in a remote area about 50 miles south of Vernal, was seized from the tribe's Hillcreek Extension by the federal government in 1927 in the event of a national emergency to protect petroleum deposits to fuel Navy submarines.
Now the land is part of a plan, recently approved by Congress, to clean up radioactive waste along the Colorado River near Moab.
Although the tribe had nothing to do with the controversial Atlas Uranium Mill tailings, it has agreed to give 9 percent of mineral royalties toward the federal government's clean-up of the waste.
The Business Committee has also agreed to provide a quarter-mile easement for the BLM on the eastern edge of the parcel to protect the Green River Corridor, and to cooperate with the BLM to develop a "preservation corridor" that borders the reservation along 80 miles of the Green River.
Richardson and tribal leaders agreed the return of the land in return for financial help in removing the radioactive waste in Moab was in the best interest of the "Ute People, the environment, the state of Utah and the American people."
Earlier this year, under intense lobbying from Utah and California congressional leaders, Richardson announced the DOE would take custody of the tailings to facilitate the removal project.
The plan was put into a defense spending bill that Congress passed in October.
Before the DOE and Congress intervened, the tailings' owner, the now-bankrupt Atlas Corp., with the approval of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, had planned to put an earthen cap on the huge terraced pile near the entrance to Arches National Park to prevent further leaching of contaminants into the river.
The tribe can put the land in trust through the Bureau of Indian Affairs or pay the taxes on it as fee land, said Larry Cesspooch, Ute Tribe Public Relations director.
"Whatever the tribe does means the returned lands will again benefit the Ute Tribe," said Cesspooch.
The 85,000 acres will add about 7.5 percent to the reservation's size, giving the tribe control of access to areas that contain hunting opportunities and cultural sites.
The land is believed to hold about 17.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas, and may also have some crude oil potential, plus the oil shale, which someday could become feasible to develop.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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