A. Pursuant to the Act of the United States Congress, 17 Stat. 228 (1872) and 34 Stat. 539 (1906), the Osage Nation is the owner of certain natural resources located within and abutting the Osage Reservation in Osage County, Oklahoma, and all other lands under federally restricted status, title to which is held by the Nation or the United States in trust on behalf of the Nation.

B. The preservation, regulation, implementation, and regulatory enforcement of the Nation’s natural resources are critical to the Osage Nation and its members.

C. The Osage Nation Congress finds that it is in the interest of this body and the people of the Osage Nation to ensure that the Osage Nation’s natural resources are properly regulated, permitted, and protected.

D. The Osage Nation Congress finds that the Environmental and Natural Resource Department was previously granted supervisory authority by the Osage Tribal Council.

E. The purpose of this Act is to provide the Environmental and Natural Resources Department with the authority to draft, promulgate, and implement such regulations as the Environmental and Natural Resources Department determines necessary to govern the development, regulation, use, and preservation of the Osage Nation’s natural resources.

F. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to impede, supersede, or otherwise interfere with the Osage Minerals Council’s constitutional authority to administer, develop, and promulgate rules and regulations for the Osage Mineral Estate, which includes oil, gas, coal, and other minerals. ONCA 17-35, eff. Apr. 6, 2017.