And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >From Victor's pechanganet via : M Amoco, Southern Utes unite By Electa Draper Denver Post Staff Writer May 14 - Amoco Production Co. and the Southern Ute Tribe announced Thursday a final agreement to partner up, with the company continuing to produce natural gas from tribal coal beds but giving 32 percent of revenues to the tribe. The partnership agreement, retroactive to Jan. 1, was first struck tentatively and secretly, under federal District Court seal, in late January. The settlement largely resolves the tribe's eightyear lawsuit against Amoco and other gas companies. The tribe claimed full ownership of the billion-dollar energy resource. The agreement, still pending court approval, allows Amoco and other gas operators to retain all the production revenue they earned on coal-bed methane for more than a decade, up to and including 1998. The tribe's 32 percent interest will fall off La Plata County's property tax rolls because the tribe is a sovereign nation and tax exempt. The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments from Amoco and the tribe April 19 to determine who actually owns natural gas extracted from tribal coal deposits underlying 200,000 acres of land owned privately in southern La Plata County. These land and mineral owners had leased gas rights to Amoco and 20 other companies, and in turn received a percentage of the revenues as a royalty. The Southern Ute Tribe also has offered the roughly 3,000 royalty owners involved in the case a 50-50 split of disputed royalties. Tribal attorney Thomas Shipps said Thursday that the tribe anticipates about 200 royalty owners will accept the settlement by the deadline, Monday, and that many of those settling are large institutional investors with a disproportionate share of the millions of dollars at stake. In spite of the tribe's settlement with Amoco, the other gas companies and some royalty owners, the Supreme Court will still rule on ownership of coal-bed methane. The decision will affect the status of royalty owners who didn't settle as well as tribal severance taxes. It will also determine whether coal-bed methane is an integral part of coal formations or simply natural gas. The ruling will affect millions of acres in Western states where gas is extracted by private companies from federally owned coal beds. A high-court decision is expected in late June, BP Amoco spokesman Andrew Van Chau said Thursday. Copyright 1999 The Denver Post. All rights reserved. http://www.denverpost.com/business/biz0514e.htm Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
