Experts say new rules could help 4 groups in Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Experts say that new U.S. Department of Interior regulations may benefit four groups in Oklahoma in their efforts for federal recognition.

The four groups had sent letters of intent to petition for federal recognition dating as far back as 2003, according to the department. The groups are the United Band of the Western Cherokee Nation in Moore; the Cheyenne Nation in Longdale; the United Chickamungwa Band in Wister; and the Muscogee Creek Indian Freedmen Band in Moore, The Journal Record reported.

Freedmen Band spokeswoman Gail Jackson said the tribe filed its petition in 2012, and received a request from federal officials a year later for more details about the nation.

"We submitted 8,000 documents in the petition," she said. "We were good at research."

Professor Bob Anderson at the University of Washington School of Law said the new rules will allow documents submitted by the petitioning group to be seen online, increasing transparency.

He said that another positive change is that a tribe can ask for a court hearing with an administrative law judge if it’s denied federal status. Otherwise, the updates don’t change the requirements in any substantive way.

The newspaper reports that since tribes could first apply for federal recognition 37 years ago, 17 groups have been granted federal status, 11 tribes have obtained land in trust, and nine of those groups have put gambling operations on that land. Obtaining trust land is a separate process that has an additional set of regulations.