Charles E. Robertson
3115 West 81st Street
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74132
E-Mail: crobertson3@cox.net
Web Page: www.fctmc.org
Phone: 918-230-4462
PRESENT POSITION: President/Consultant Five Civilized Tribes Minerals Consulting
EXPERT WITNESS TESTIMONY: Qualified as an "expert witness" in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma: Wagoner, Seminole, Hughes, Pittsburg, Haskell, Latimer, Creek and Mclntosh County District Courts.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Program Analyst, Minerals Management Service Muskogee Area Office, Muskogee, Oklahoma , Realty Officer, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Mineral Appraiser, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Muskogee Area Office.
ACHIEVMENTS
Resolved oil and gas related problems or issues brought by Indian Tribal representatives or by individual Indian mineral owners. Utilized automated tools, retrieved and analyzed data, identified problems and worked with other interior Agencies and royalty payers, as applicable, to initiate a corrective action. Responsible for coordinating and conducting outreach meetings for the benefit of Indian mineral owners including Tribal governments. Meetings provided education and advice for the mineral owners on issues regarding all aspects of their oil and gas leases.
Realty Officer, Division of Trust, Bureau of Indian Affairs Muskogee Area Office, Muskogee, Oklahoma 1971-1999
Created the Inherited Minerals Resources Office, to assist heirs affected by the 1947 Act.
Appraised mineral interests of Individual Indians of the FCT, for sales through District Court, pursuant to the Act of August 4, 1947.
Manager of the Minerals Program - responsible for planning, organizing, directing, and controlling all aspects involved in the leasing of individual and tribal restricted lands of the Five Civilized Tribes. Responsibility included resolving critical or unusual problems for a broad range of complex realty projects.
Served as a technical authority regarding the laws, regulations, and policies affecting tribes under Muskogee Area's jurisdiction. This included the Osage and Miami Agency Tribes. Duties included consultation as to the status of the tribes property holdings to determine if the property in question was trust, allotted, inherited, restricted, unrestricted, and/or taxable or non-taxable.
Responsible for the conservation and development of oil, gas, sand, gravel, and other mineral deposits on individual Indian and tribal-owned lands. Responsible for the mineral deposits on the Arkansas Riverbed for the direct benefit of the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Tribes.
Established quarterly meetings to provide updates of pending court cases, royalties received, new lease recommendations, and to answer questions the tribes had regarding their property. Directed the coordination between various governmental agencies involved in the quarterly meeting project in order to bring together the government agencies in one location for the Individual Indians and Tribes convenience and benefit. This required in-depth knowledge of sub-surface leasing regulations, laws, directives, policies, and guidelines and the ability to apply the governing rules, and regulations.
Provided technical assistance to the agencies' land resources personnel, Arkansas Riverbed Authority, tribal contract personnel, tribal officials, tribal councils, self-governance tribes, individual tribal members, branches of the BIA, MMS, BLM, OTFM, and other branches of Government, private industry, and the general public on matters concerning the minerals leasing program. In conjunction therewith, established meetings, seminars, and outreach meetings to inform and educated as required. This required an in-depth knowledge of regulations, procedural directives, and policies with respect to oil and gas royalty collection, distribution, and accountability.
Work involved various types of real property interest in forty-one (4l) counties in Oklahoma with checkerboard ownership covering over a million acres. Title and land ownership dates back several generations and title transfers are often undocumented. These problems required thorough research to make conclusive determination, which must stand scrutiny under legal proceedings and court testimony.
Thoroughly familiar with Federal and State Statutes; United States Code Annotated; Code of Federal Regulations; Departmental BIA, MMS, BLM, and OTFM Manuals; Secretarial directives; policies; procedural directives; Solicitor's opinions; Court Cases and established criteria dealing with the Five Civilized Tribes.
SPECIAL TASK FORCES
Four Corners Trust Services Laboratory Team: Appointed by Vice-President Al Gore to evaluate, re engineer, and streamline bureau processes in the Farmington, New Mexico Indian Minerals Office in 1996. This led to improved fulfillment of the Department's fiduciary responsibility to Navajo allottees.
Chair of the Arkansas Riverbed Federal Negotiation Team: Appointed by Deputy Secretary of the Interior to facilitate and negotiated a resolution and settlement to a long-standing dispute involving United States Government and various Indian Tribes regarding the Arkansas Riverbed.