Uintah Basin oil, gas drilling could be impacted by dispute between counties, Ute Tribe

FORT DUCHESNE, Uintah County — A long-running dispute between tribal and non-tribal governments over criminal jurisdiction in the Uintah Basin is threatening to throw a wrench into a valuable part of Utah's economic engine.

Leaders of the Ute Indian Tribe, in a Jan. 30 letter to commissioners in Duchesne and Uintah counties, outlined their plan to begin reviewing all non-tribal business activity taking place on tribal land "to determine whether cause exists for the termination of … leases, business licenses, rights of ways and access permits."

The move comes amid claims by tribal leaders that state, county and city law enforcement officers in the region are engaging in an ongoing pattern of harassment against tribal members.

"We can't take this lying down anymore," Ron Wopsock, vice chairman of the Ute Tribe Business Committee, told the Deseret News on Monday.

"Our people are being hurt and it's uncalled for," he said. 

Much of the oil and natural gas drilling in the Uintah Basin right now is taking place on tribal land. The state, the counties and the tribe all receive severance tax revenues from drilling on federally managed lands. Utah collected $59.8 million in severance tax revenues in the last fiscal year, according to the state Division of Finance. Duchesne County, Uintah County and the Ute Tribe also shared $6.1 million in severance tax revenues during the same period, the division said.

Those revenues could be sharply impacted if non-tribal companies drilling for oil and gas on tribal lands see their leases, permits and licenses revoked. 

The letter from the tribe acknowledges that the review of licenses and permits is connected to the jurisdiction dispute with the counties, something Wopsock confirmed.

"It's important that (Unitah) Basin residents find out what's going on with their elected officials," he said, "before anything gets worse."

But Duchesne and Uintah county officials maintain that law enforcement officers aren't harassing tribal members. Instead, they're abiding by the jurisdictional boundaries established by two federal court rulings, and outlined for them by the U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah less than two years ago.

"In areas that the U.S. attorney have identified to us as not being reservation or Indian Country, we take state jurisdiction," Duchesne County Sheriff Travis Mitchell said. "If they are (reservation or Indian Country), then we contact BIA and let them handle it."