Tag Archives: Badger-Two Medicine region

Judge asked to halt cancellation of Badger-Two Medicine drilling lease

January 21, 2016Environmental Issues, NewsBadger-Two Medicine region, oil and gas leases, Solonexnfpa

After a brief pause for closed-door negotiations that just happened to fall over the holiday season, the lawsuit over drilling in the Badger-Two Medicine is back in action . . .

A Louisiana company has asked a federal judge to block government plans to cancel a long-stalled federal energy lease on land considered sacred to American Indians.

The Interior Department announced in November that it plans to cancel the 6,200-acre lease near Glacier National Park because it was improperly issued in 1982. It’s owned by Solenex LLC of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

In a Tuesday court filing, company attorney Steven Lechner said the government arbitrarily reversed course last year after previous determinations that the leases were valid.

Read more . . .

Closed-door discussions fail in lawsuit over Badger-Two Medicine leases

January 16, 2016Environmental Issues, NewsBadger-Two Medicine region, oil and gas leases, Solonexnfpa

After several weeks of closed-door discussions aimed at resolving a lawsuit over drilling leases in the Badger-Two medicine region, the Interior Department and Solonex, the Louisiana energy company that brought the lawsuit, notified the court yesterday afternoon that they intend to resume litigation.

This means the government will press ahead with their decision to cancel all energy leases in the Badger-Two Medicine and Solonex will fight the decision.

Expect some sort of fireworks within the next couple of weeks.

Lawsuit over Badger-Two Medicine leases retreats behind closed doors

December 6, 2015Environmental Issues, NewsBadger-Two Medicine region, oil and gas leases, Solonexnfpa

Here’s a non-surprise: After the Solonex lawsuit forced the federal government to take an official stance on the issue of energy leases in the Badger-Two Medicine region, attorneys on both sides want to move the discussion behind closed doors for a while . . .

The Interior Department and a Louisiana energy company are asking a federal judge to pause court proceedings in a dispute over a drilling lease near Glacier National Park.

Attorneys for the two sides said in a Wednesday court filing that they want more time to see if they can resolve the case outside of court.

They asked U.S. District Judge Richard Leon to put the case on hold until Jan. 8.

Read more . . .

Interior Department plans to cancel Badger-Two Medicine leases

November 24, 2015Environmental Issues, NewsBadger-Two Medicine region, oil and gas leases, Solonex, U.S. Department of the Interiornfpa

No surprise here, but it is good to see the official ruling from the U.S. Department of the Interior concerning the contentious oil and gas leases in the Badger-Two Medicine . . .

The U.S. Department of the Interior announced its aim to cancel a contentious oil and gas lease in the Badger-Two Medicine area, a landscape that connects the Bob Marshall Wilderness to Glacier National Park and is considered a sacred cultural reserve by the Blackfeet Nation.

In a court-ordered response filed Nov. 23, attorneys for the Interior Department submitted a decision hailed by tribal leaders, conservation groups and political leaders as a “critical step forward” in the pursuit of furnishing permanent protections on the region.

The decision follows an earlier recommendation by the U.S. Forest Service that energy exploration on the 165,000-acre parcel would irreparably damage the area’s cultural and historic significance.

Read more . . .

Former Glacier Park supers want drilling leases cancelled

October 9, 2015Environmental Issues, NewsBadger-Two Medicine region, oil and gas drilling, Solonexnfpa

A group of former Glacier Park superintendents want the Badger-Two Medicine drilling leases canceled . . .

If one were to hike in the Badger-Two Medicine region of the Lewis and Clark National Forest right now, they’d likely come upon a sign warning of a grizzly bear prowling in the Sawmill Flats area. The sign is not unusual. The 160,000 acre region on the Lewis and Clark National Forest is not wilderness and isn’t Park Service land, but it is no less wild.

Six retired Glacier Park superintendents want the Department of Interior to keep it that way. In a letter to the Hungry Horse News and other newspapers across the state, they’re asking the Department of Interior to cancel oil and gas leases in the Badger Two Medicine as an energy company pursues legal action to drill exploratory wells on a 3,000-plus acre tract in Hall Creek.

“Industrial energy development of this world-class resource would represent an intolerable assault to the ecological and cultural values of Glacier National Park, as well as to the Blackfeet people,” the superintendents argue. “On behalf of the millions of visitors who cherish the Crown of the Continent, and on behalf of our colleagues whose careers were spent working for the best interests of Glacier National Park, we ask the Department of Interior to exercise its authority to cancel the Badger-Two Medicine leases.”

Judge wants Badger-Two Medicine drilling decision by Thanksgiving

October 9, 2015Environmental Issues, NewsBadger-Two Medicine region, oil and gas drilling, Solonexnfpa

Federal officials were told to make a decision on canceling drilling leases in the Badger-Two Medicine before they sit down for their Thanksgiving dinners . . .

A federal judge wants the government to speed up its consideration of a long-stalled drilling proposal near Glacier National Park that’s on land sacred to American Indians in the U.S. and Canada.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ordered the Interior Department to decide by Nov. 23 whether to start the process of canceling the energy lease at issue, or move to lift a suspension on drilling.

Louisiana-based Solenex LLC sued the government in 2013, challenging the three-decade suspension.

Read more . . .

Federal panel says Badger-Two Medicine too special to drill

September 21, 2015Environmental Issues, NewsAdvisory Council on Historic Preservation, Badger-Two Medicine region, oil and gas drilling, Solonexnfpa

Here’s some good news: Following up on their hearings about three weeks ago, the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation issued a report stating that the Badger-Two Medicine region is inappropriate for energy development . . .

The Badger-Two Medicine area south of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation can’t be drilled for oil and gas development without ruining its cultural and traditional values, according to a report by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

“They recommended cancellation of all the leases in the Badger-Two Medicine,” Blackfeet Tribal Historic Preservation Officer John Murray said Monday afternoon. “We’re grateful there’s hope in this world for people who’ve been marginalized, racially and economically. There’s a lot of hope from what’s in the report.”

The council’s analysis stated drilling plans by Louisiana-based Solenex LLC “would be so damaging to the (Traditional Cultural District) that the Blackfeet Tribe’s ability to practice their religious and cultural traditions in this area as a living part of their community life and development would be lost.”

Read more . . .

Also read: Panel recommends canceling drilling lease near Glacier (Missoulian)

Frank Vitale: Badger-Two Medicine is no place to drill

September 11, 2015Commentary, Environmental IssuesBadger-Two Medicine region, Frank Vitale, oil and gas drillingnfpa

Frank Vitale says his piece — Frank Vitale

NFPA member Frank Vitale has a nice op-ed in today’s Daily Inter Lake concerning drilling in the Badger-Two Medicine region . . .

The Blackfeet call it “Mistakis,” the Backbone of the World. The Continental Divide snakes its way through this land also known as the Badger-Two Medicine. It is the cornerstone of the Blackfeet creation story.

I have ridden, hiked and hunted through this area and know it well. It is some of the wildest country in the Northern Rockies. It lies between Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness and the Great Bear Wilderness. It is one of the largest unprotected roadless areas in the state at 165,588 acres.

The Badger-Two Medicine is a rugged, remote, pristine ecosystem that’s home to grizzlies and black bears, wolves, mountain lions, wolverines and lynx. Moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, mule deer and whitetail deer and one of the largest herds of elk on the northern Rocky Mountain Front (numbering around 800 head) also live here. Its cold rivers and streams support some of the last pure populations of westslope cutthroat trout east of the Continental Divide.

The Badger and Two Medicine rivers spill out on the high prairies. Life zones range from the alpine and montane forests to short-grass prairies where grizzlies and antelope intermix.

This is not a place to drill for oil or gas. No mitigation can avoid the negative impacts of oil and gas exploration in this sacred and wild land.

Badger Two-Medicine hearing draws overwhelming support for preservation

September 8, 2015Environmental Issues, NewsAdvisory Council on Historic Preservation, Badger-Two Medicine region, Choteau, oil and gas leasesnfpa

Two Medicine Lake – Flikr User Phil’s Pixels

There was a big turnout to oppose drilling in the Badger-Two Medicine region at the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation hearing in Choteau. Among many other groups and organizations, the NFPA had several representatives there . . .

A Sept. 2 meeting held by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation in Choteau featured overwhelming support for the withdrawal of leases on the Badger-Two Medicine, an area with cultural and ecological linkages to the Blackfeet Nation and Glacier National Park.

In addition to the public testimony, letters of support for lease cancellation by Gov. Steve Bullock, the Glacier County Commissioners and seven former Glacier Park superintendents were submitted.

The meeting was the latest step by the Blackfeet tribe and a coalition of conservation organizations to interdict an exploratory oil well proposed by Louisiana-based Solenex LLC, which acquired the energy lease in 1982. The efforts to drill have long been delayed by legal challenges, and Solenex has filed a lawsuit arguing the delays have been unreasonable.

Read more . . .

Love the Badger-Two Medicine? Don’t Miss This!

September 3, 2015Environmental Issues, NewsBadger-Two Medicine region, Glacier-Two Medicine Alliancenfpa

Stolen shamelessly from an announcement sent out by Dave Hadden of Headwaters Montana . . .

Blackfeet Tribal leaders and conservationists have made significant progress in recent months toward permanent protection of the Badger – Two Medicine sacred landscape.

The Glacier Two Medicine Alliance’s annual Fall Gathering is well worth attending and supporting. Good food, good music and GREAT people. (See poster below.)

Put this event on your fall calendar and contribute your energy to a positive future for this place.