MHA Nation leaders outline energy, water, health and community building priorities

MHA Nation leaders used a committee visit at their reservation to give state legislators a broad briefing on the tribe’s history, economic development and infrastructure priorities — from treaty claims and land loss to oil and gas production, new community centers and a long‑standing need for an on‑reservation hospital.

Chairman Fox, who opened the presentation, traced the tribe’s history through epidemic losses, treaties (including references to agreements from 1825 and 1851) and executive‑order era reductions that left today’s Fort Berthold Reservation at about a million acres. He told committee members the tribe is rebuilding infrastructure to support economic growth and public safety.

Fox said the tribe now produces roughly 300,000 barrels per day from local formations — “nearly 3% of all the crude produced in the United States” at peak levels — and that oil and gas revenues have funded schools, community centers and housing. He described recent investments: multiple new schools in reservation communities, a North Segment community center with aquatic and fitness facilities, new clinics and assisted‑living capacity. Fox said some projects are in or near completion and invited legislators to visit segments including Twin Buttes, White Shield and Newtown.

But he also stressed limits and risks. The tribe’s public‑health leaders described life‑expectancy gaps — a quoted “average is 52 years of age” for the reservation compared with 72–77 in the U.S. — and said access to an emergency department and hospital remains a pressing need, especially given work‑related trauma in the energy industry and long ambulance transport times.

Water security and groundwater protection were another central point. Chairman Fox warned that the Fox Hills Aquifer has shown measurable declines and that recharging that formation is effectively impossible on human timescales; he said earlier surveys showed a two‑foot decline between the late 1970s and 2012 and suggested further drops since then. The tribe has passed a local water code and says it needs stronger state and federal collaboration to prevent outside users from depleting aquifers and damaging reservation water supplies.

Fox also described jurisdictional and payment problems tied to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and federal agency staffing. He and Council members said internal BIA understaffing slows right‑of‑way approvals, leases, communitization agreements and probate processing, creating multimillion‑dollar backlogs and delaying royalty and probate disbursements to individual allottees.

Gaming expansion in the state also drew sustained attention. Fox said casino revenue and jobs fell sharply after statewide expansion of gaming machines and other offerings, reducing casino jobs on the reservation from roughly 430 to about 225 and cutting related revenues. The tribe said it is investing in a new $110 million hotel and peninsula project to rebuild a destination customer base but urged state policymakers to consider tribal economic impacts when authorizing future gaming expansions.

Fox concluded by urging “pay now or pay later” investments, asking for continued state cooperation on emergency response (pipeline breaks, HAZMAT containment and mutual aid), reciprocal law‑enforcement protocols, and technical support for energy‑related permitting, storage and gas capture projects. He called for stronger intergovernmental collaboration to protect shared infrastructure and to honor treaty‑based authorities the tribe cited for law enforcement on reservation lands.

The presentation combined historical context, ongoing economic plans and detailed operational concerns — water and emergency response among them — and set the background for subsequent provider testimony and the committee’s decision to draft IMD waiver legislation for treatment expansion.