A Colorado-based energy company, Prima Exploration Inc., has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) challenging recent decisions that deny the company’s ownership interest in a 60-year-old oil and gas lease on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota.
According to the complaint filed May 23 in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota, Prima Exploration asserts that the DOI, through its Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Interior Board of Indian Appeals (IBIA), wrongly informed the company on April 23 that it does not hold a legally protected interest in the valuable 320-acre lease despite decades of recognized ownership.
Prima Exploration argues that the IBIA’s April ruling ignored critical facts, including a BIA-approved lease assignment into Prima dating back to 1999, the BIA’s 60-year history acknowledging the lease’s validity, and official land title records confirming Prima’s enforceable ownership. The company contends the IBIA relied improperly on a retroactively approved lease assignment and made an arbitrary decision under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) that deprived Prima of its rights.
The lawsuit seeks judicial review to overturn prior BIA decisions from December 2013 and 2015 that terminated portions of the lease and allegedly allowed the agency to lease the same lands to competitors PetroShale and Enerplus. Prima maintains it timely appealed both agency rulings, but its initial case was dismissed in October 2023 for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. The Eighth Circuit took up the appeal, but the IBIA expedited its review, resulting in the contested April 23 decision.
“No damages are specifically cited, but the complaint stresses the significant value of the lease and Prima’s longstanding interest,” the company stated.
Prima Exploration is represented by Jeffery J. Oven and Colby Branch of Crowley Fleck PLLP. The DOI declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Case Reference: Prima Exploration Inc. v. U.S. Department of the Interior et al., No. 1:25-cv-00119, U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota.
