1983-02-01 Char-Koosta News

              Salish-Kooteaai Community College Box 1020 Ronan, MT 59364
PABLO, MONTANA 59855 ISSN: 0528*8592
NEWSPAPER OF THE SAUSH, PEND cTOREILLE AND KOOTENAI TRIBES OF THE FLATHEAD INDIAN RESERVATION, WESTERN MONTANA
VOLUME 11 NUMBER 18
COLDEST MONTH
FEBRUARY 1, 1983
Geologist tells Council 'oil potential is tremendous' here
An independent geologic consultant made a presentation to the Tribal Council January 18, the gist of which stirred up some excitement in the Pablo chambers.
James Cavanaugh said western Montana looks to be a very promising region for oil and gas development, and the Flathead Reservation seems to be sitting atop the hottest geologic structures "the largest untested structures in the world", Cavanaugh claims.
An hour's worth of talk punctuated with maps, graphs and overlays "boils down to [the fact] that the potential here is tremendous", Cavanaugh said, adding that it appears to
rival Alaska's North Slope resources.
Answering someone's skepticism that such talk has been going around for years, Cavanaugh pointed out that three million acres in northwest Montana were recently filed on by dozens of oil companies in the space of 90 days. Arco has plans to sink an exploratory well before the year is out on some of their leased acreage, he said.
By the presentation's end, the Council decided that Cavanaugh should get to know the Tribal natural resources people. A comprehensive exploration plan for Reservation lands may be in the offing.
IHS cuts services to non-Indian beneficiaries
A minor, figurative earthquake shook the Reservation last month when the Indian Health Service (IHS) made the unexpected announcement that it wouldn't pay any more non-Indians' medical bills, effective immediately.
An unclear news release from Washington, D.C., byway of the Billings Area IHS office said non-Indian members of Indian households could look for IHS to cover their medical expenses in three specific situations. The news caused a widespread belief that uncounted Tribal member relatives would be in deep financial trouble in case of an accident or serious illness.
Flathead Service Unit director Rose Evans says this isn't the case at alL
The misunderstanding lies in the definition of who's an Indian, she said. According to IHS regulations, anyone who
can prove Tribal descendancy is Indian, regardless of formal enrollment in a tribe. The day may come, she cautioned, when the regulations will change to allow only for enrolled Tribal member eligibility. Right now, however, all Tribal members (enrolled or non-enrolled) living on the Reservation remain eligible for IHS benefits, both direct care (dental, pharmaceutical, and mental health services available at the IHS offices in St. Ignatius) and contract health care (anything not available at IHS). Eyeglasses and examinations are out for everybody, though, she added.
Evans said the new regulations went into effect December 30, 1982, as an amendment to the bill authorizing the Interior Department's FY 83 budget It took 11 days for the
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