Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Joseph Inuquruq Delia, keeping up his grandfather's fight (photo: Telegraph)
The Oenga family of Inupiat Eskimos has filed its second lawsuit against the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) over mismanaging a decades old lease agreement between the family and British Petroleum (BP). The Oenga family is seeking up to $200 million in unpaid rent from BP, which they feel did not accurately inform them of the drilling activities it has been engaged in on their land. The Oenga family claims that BP did not simply drill for oil on their land, but also used it as a starting point from which to horizontally drill offshore oil deposits in neighboring Prudhoe Bay. They also claim that BP allowed other oil companies to drill from their land and charged them for it.
The Oenga family received an Alaska Native homestead allotment of 40 acres in 1971. In 1988 BP approached the family concerning their land and in 1989 signed a lease agreement, for which the Oengas required a Native interpreter to negotiate, with the BIA serving as the executor of payments. Over the years, the agreement has been updated numerous times, raising rental payments, but the Oenga family feels these increases have been negligible in terms of the profit BP has actually been making through the use of their land, and that the BIA has not been adequately representing their interests.
In 2006 the Oenga family filed their first suit against the BIA and the judge ruled in their favor, requiring that BP cease activities on their land. BP has complied and maintains that it has acted fairly in its dealings with the Oenga family.
-Kyle Kuersten
Oenga Heirs Sue Federal Government Over Lease (by David Melmer, Indian Country Today)
Inupiat Hunter's Heirs Strike Blow Against BP (by Wesley Loy, Anchorage Daily News)
Eskimo Family Says BP Owes it $200M (United Press International)
Bureau of Indian Affairs (AllGov)
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