OSMRE Jurisdiction To Administer the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 Within the Exterior Boundaries of the Cherokee Nation Reservation and the Choctaw Nation Reservation in the State of Oklahoma

Résumé

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), are notifying the public that the recent decisions of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals in Hogner v. Oklahoma, 2021 WL 958412 (Okla. Ct. Crim. App. March 11, 2021), and Sizemore v. Oklahoma, 2021 WL 1231493 (Okla. Ct. Crim. App. April 1, 2021)--which held that the historic Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Reservations, respectively, had not been disestablished-- necessarily foreclose the State of Oklahoma's authority to implement the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA) on Indian lands within the exterior boundaries of the Cherokee Nation and Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Reservations. This determination follows the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court in McGirt v. Oklahoma, 140 S Ct. 2452 (2020), which legally recognized the ongoing existence of the historic Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation in the State of Oklahoma and necessarily foreclosed the State of Oklahoma's authority to implement SMCRA on Indian lands within the exterior boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation. As OSMRE stated in its recent notification regarding SMCRA j