Greenwire:

A maze of bureaucratic delays and legal entanglements has kept the 11,000-member community from realizing much of its potential as an energy producer, Levings told the Senate Indian Affairs Committee yesterday. Consequently, an estimated 4 billion barrels of oil reserves remain out of reach.

“The light to the west stretches across the horizon,” said Levings, who is also a board member of the Denver-based Council of Energy Resource Tribes. “My elders see this day in and day out, but they say ‘Chairman, I signed my lease … but I’m never going to see royalties, I’m going to die before I see royalties.’ That’s our frustration.”

Levings and three others discussed ways the federal government could help tribes unlock their vast potential for conventional and renewable energy development.

The tribal leaders commented on a framework of proposals released last month by Chairman Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Vice Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) aimed at addressing some of the biggest obstacles to energy development on tribal lands.

Here is the concept paper: