The Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service today announced that it will reimburse the Shoshone and Arapaho Indian Tribes a total of $130,000 during Fiscal Year 1994, for auditing costs for participating in the MMS Cooperative Audit Program.
The addition of the Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes, which are located on the Wind River Reservation in central Wyoming, brings the number of participating tribes to six, including the Navajo Nation, the Ute, the Southern Ute and the Ute Mountain Ute.
The program enables a tribe to join with MMS in providing additional audit coverage of revenues derived from oil, gas and other mineral leases located on its land.
"Last year, more than $150 million in mineral revenues were collected from Indian leases," said MMS Director Tom Fry. "Sharing resources and information and working on a partnership basis has increased our auditing coverage and effectiveness. I am pleased to have this program expanded," he added.
Under provision of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982, the MMS reimburses participating Indian tribes for cost of conducting audits, such as salaries and travel expenses.
Ten states - California, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming - participate under similar provisions.
The MMS is responsible for the collection, accounting for and disbursement of nearly $4 billion annually in mineral revenues from federal and Indian lands.
