BISMARCK, N/D/ (AP) — Revenue distributed from an oil-tax agreement between the state and an American Indian tribe that accounts for about a fifth of North Dakota’s oil production is being done correctly, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said in an opinion Tuesday.
Stenehjem’s opinion came after an inquiry from state Treasurer Thomas Beadle, who said lawmakers and others had questioned the distribution formula.
“To the extent there were any questions, this resolves the issue,” Stenehjem said of his eight-page opinion.
An agreement between the Three Affiliated Tribes and the state was first authorized by the 2007 Legislature after oil companies said it would help promote investment on the Fort Berthold Reservation by setting up stable tax rates and rules. Before the agreement, only one well was drilled on the reservation, state and tribal data show. Thousands of wells have been drilled since.
Beadle said to date, the state and the Three Affiliated Tribes each have collected about $2 billion in oil tax revenue from drilling on the reservation, located in the heart of western North Dakota’s oil patch.
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