The Cayuga Nation released a statement Monday in response to the Union Springs School District requesting the Department of Interior to intervene in the school’s use of a natural gas well on the Cayuga Nation’s property. The district claims it had access to the well for more than 40 years until last February when the Nation disconnected the service to the school. The school claims the well hookup went away due to the district’s inability to reach an agreement on payments with the Nation.
On Monday afternoon, the Nation responded:
“The assertions by leaders of the Union Springs School District regarding the gas well on the Cayuga Nation’s property are misleading and inaccurate. The truth is that the District has been taking what the Nation now knows is over $100,000 worth of gas from the well and paying nothing to the Nation. Rather than do the right thing and agree to an orderly disconnection from the gas well, the District—apparently facing financial difficulty—has doubled down on its unsupported claims that it has the right to withdraw gas without paying for it.
“The Nation purchased the land including the natural gas well nearly two decades ago. The same parcel includes the Nation’s Lakeside Entertainment gaming facility. Ever since its purchase, the Cayuga Nation has unequivocally asserted its ownership of the gas well, and the ownership was reaffirmed by the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, placing the land in federal trust in March 2023.
“When the Nation asked for the District several years ago to come current in the payments the District stopped making in 2005, the District refused to do so. When the Nation asked the District nearly a year ago to amicably agree to disconnect from the gas well in an orderly process after the heating season, the District refused to do so. When the Nation asked the District to explain the basis of its rights to the well, the District ignored the recorded documents establishing the Nation’s ownership in the well, and produced a four decades old document with a third party which has never owned the well or the property.
“In an effort to respond to the School District’s request to use the gas until Spring 2024 to avoid a budget impact this fiscal year—the Nation generously offered to allow continued access to unlimited amounts of natural gas from the well through April 30, 2024, for only $1,000 per month, the School District responded with an outrageous demand for a $250,000 payment to disconnect from the well. This demand, which ignores the School District’s long standing breach of lease terms, leaves the Nation with no choice but to assert its rights.
“The days of stealing from the Cayuga people are over. First our land and now our natural resources. We will not hesitate to protect the Nation’s property.” said Clint Halftown, the Nation’s Federal Representative and a member of the Nation’s governing Council.”
Mr. Halftown explained that: “For years the School District refused to tell the Nation how much gas was being taken from the Nation’s land. For the first time in letters to the US Department of Interior, they have now admitted the value exceeds $100,000 per year. And they have been paying nothing.” Halftown went further, “The District’s leadership claims a budget impact now, but that is on their poor planning and not due to the Nation stopping the theft of gas from its well.”
The Nation has engaged in a dialogue with representatives of the United States’ Bureau of Indian Affairs, which holds this land in trust for the benefit of the Cayuga people. The Nation is confident in its rights and will make decisions on the future use of the gas well based on the best interests of the Cayuga people.