DOI responds to Badger Two Med court order

Responding to a federal court order, the U.S. Department of Interior filed a schedule for a decision on whether to lift the suspension of an oil and gas lease in the pristine Badger-Two Medicine region south of Glacier National Park.

Under the DOI's plan, the first step would be to hold a public hearing on the lease on Sept. 2 to provide public comments on the lease under the National Historic Preservation Act. That sets off a series of government regulations which could see the lease suspension lifted, or the lease cancelled altogether. All told, the government's outlined timeline for the review of the lease would run about two years.

On July 27, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon gave the U.S. Department of Interior 21 days to come up with a plan on whether or not to lift a lease given to the Solonex Corp. owned by Sidney Longwell near Hall Creek back in 1982.

Hall Creek is just south of Glacier National park and considered sacred ground by the Blackfeet Tribe.

Solonex was given a permit to drill a single exploratory well back in 1985 by the Bureau of Land Management, but it has been delayed ever since.

That brought the ire of the judge last month. Leon warned the Department if they didn't adhere to the 21-day schedule, he might lift the suspension of the lease himself.

The next step is for Leon to review the schedule submitted by the government. The judge can accept it as-is, request modifications, or reject it and issue a revised ruling.

"Today's court filing outlines the government's decision-making process for drilling in the Badger-Two Medicine region, but that process can only lead to one legitimate decision-the Badger-Two Medicine leases were illegally issued and must be canceled," said Earthjustice attorney Tim Preso on Monday.

Earthjustice is an environmental group intervening in the case. They maintain the lease was granted illegally in the first place, because it did not undergo a thorough environmental review when it was first issued.

The Tribe, for its part, has offered to swap the lease with another lease on the reservation, but Solonex has declined the offer.