Conservation groups out of Badger-Two Med lawsuit

Several conservation groups will not be allowed to file as intervenors in a lawsuit filed by an oil company seeking to force U.S. officials to lift a suspension on drilling in the Badger-Two Medicine area south of Glacier National Park.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon made his ruling on June 10, denying a request by the Blackfeet Headwaters Alliance, Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, Montana Wilderness Association, National Parks Conservation Association and Wilderness Society to intervene as defendants in the case.

Solenex LLC filed suit against federal officials and the Department of the Interior in 2013, seeking to lift the suspension of a federal oil and gas lease granted to company owner Sidney Longwell. of Baton Rouge, La.  in 1982. Solenex alleges the government unreasonably delayed action on the lease.

The conservation groups filed for intervenor status, claiming their dedication “to the conservation of the natural and/or cultural environment.” Judge Leon agreed that the groups met most of the criteria for intervenors but that the federal agencies already represented those interests.

“As proposed intervenors themselves point out, the aim of their advocacy is the very reason the government suspended the lease in the first place,” Leon said.

The gas and oil leases are located near Hall Creek, in the Two Medicine River and Badger Creek drainages about two miles south of Glacier Park. The area provides connectivity between wilderness in the Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.

The Blackfeet Tribe considers the Badger-Two Medicine area sacred, and 93,000 of the more than 130,000 acres that make up the roadless area are eligible for inclusion as a traditional cultural district into the National Register of Historic Places.

The Forest Service placed a moratorium on new oil and gas development along the Rocky Mountain Front in 1997, including the Badger-Two Medicine area. A bill introduced by Sen. Max Baucus in 2006 made the moratorium permanent. The bill also offered tax incentives to companies that would sell their leases to conservation groups. Solenex is one of two remaining leaseholders.