Word: jicarilla
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Council members of the Jicarilla Apache tribe were jubilant last week as they gathered to discuss the use of 55,000 acres of new tribal land. The Jicarilla Apaches had paid for the land with $30.2 million raised by selling tribal revenue bonds, the first offering under a 1983 federal law that permits Indian tribal governments to enter the municipal bond market. Said Jicarilla President Leonard Atole: "We desired this fertile land for future economic development and for the housing needs of our people. The bond issue allows us to manage our financing needs without relying on the Federal Government...
...Apaches engaged Boettcher & Co., a Denver investment banking firm, for the deal. The tax-exempt bonds, which carry interest rates of 9.1% and 9.6%, are backed by revenues from Jicarilla oil and gas wells, which total about $20 million annually, plus $108 million of other financial assets. After Standard & Poor's officials met with members of the tribal council last month, the credit rating firm gave the bonds an A rating. That is two notches below the top grade of AAA, but higher than the BBB+ rating given bonds issued by Chicago or New York City...
...Jicarilla Apaches in New Mexico now have 100 percent ownership of oil and gas wells on their land and won a 1982 Supreme Court ruling which allowed them to impose so-called "severance taxes" on oil, gas and minerals extracted from their lands...
Mountain States' current suits include one that would prevent the Jicarilla Apaches, who like other tribes are overseen by the Department of Interior, from levying taxes on natural gas piped out of their reservation in northern New Mexico. In another case, Watt's law firm in October persuaded a federal district court in Cheyenne, Wyo., to rule that the Departments of Interior and Agriculture could not refuse to consider applications for exploratory oil-and gas-drilling leases on federal land that is being considered for reclassification as wilderness...
There are exceptions to this dismal catalogue. The Agua Caliente band, which owns most of the real estate in Palm Springs, Calif., is wealthy indeed. The Jicarilla Apaches in northern New Mexico, blessed with rich oil and gas deposits on their lands, have made investments in movie productions and are developing hunting and tourist facilities...