U.S. settles royalties dispute with Indian tribes

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The Obama administration says it is settling a long-running and contentious lawsuit over royalties owed to American Indians.

Under an agreement announced today, the Interior Department will distribute $1.4 billion to more than 300,000 tribe members to compensate them for historical accounting claims, and to resolve future claims.

The settlement resolves a 13-year-old dispute in which Indian tribes claim they were swindled out of billions of dollars in oil, gas, grazing, timber and other royalties overseen by the Interior Department since 1887.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called the settlement a historic, positive development for Indian country and a major step toward reconciling decades of acrimony between Indian tribes and the federal government.

-- Associated Press