BLM cancels remaining Badger-Two Medicine leases

January 10, 2017 by Laura Lundquist

President Barack Obama added to his conservation legacy Tuesday when he cancelled the two remaining oil and gas leases in the Badger-Two Medicine area.

Department of the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced Tuesday that the Bureau of Land Management had cancelled the leases owned by J.G. Kluthe Trust of Nebraska and W.A. Moncrief Jr. of Texas and would reimburse them for payments associated with the leases. Neither lease had been developed.

State water deadline undermines tribal water compacts

January 11, 2016 by Laura Lundquist

Montana’s legislators may need to extend a self-imposed deadline to help Montana’s tribes secure their water and avoid years of litigation.

The legislative Water Policy Interim Committee learned Monday that three tribes could be forced to sue the state if the Montana Water Court finalizes water-rights decrees before Congress ratifies the tribes’ water compacts.

BLM: Renew mining limits in the Sweet Grass Hills

January 08, 2016 by Laura Lundquist

Just a month or so after the Blackfeet successfully defended culturally valuable places along Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front from oil and gas development, they may have to do the same once again to preserve some mountains to the east.

On Thursday, the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Land and Minerals Management proposed extending for another 20 years an order that locks up undeveloped mineral rights on almost 20,000 acres of public land in the Sweet Grass Hills of north central Montana.

Judge orders deadline for drilling in Badger-Two Medicine

July 27, 2015 by Laura Lundquist

The federal government must quickly establish a timeline for its decision on whether a Louisiana oil and gas company can drill on a lease near the Blackfeet Reservation, according to a federal judge.

On Monday, District of Columbia federal district Judge Richard Leon ordered the Department of the Interior to finalize its timeline for deciding whether Solenex, LLC, can drill an exploratory well within a 6,247-acre lease in the Badger-Two Medicine region.