Circuit Court of Appeals Cancels Oil and Gas Lease!!!
Major victory for Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, the Blackfeet Nation, Earthjustice, and conservation allies!
Hikers along the South Fork Two Medicine near Glacier National Park. Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance received a major victory recently in our legal fight to keep this area free of oil and gas development.
(Photo: Peter Metcalf)
On June 16th, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in our favor and canceled the last oil and gas lease in the Badger-Two Medicine. While we celebrate, we also know this may not be the end of the line just yet in our decades-long effort to defend critical wildlife habitat outside Glacier National Park from industrial development. Legal representatives for the only oil company still trying to drill these lands held sacred by the Blackfeet have vowed to fight-on. If they do, we will defend these lands for as long as it takes.
How Can I Help?
You can help keep the Badger-Two Medicine free of oil and gas drill rigs:
Join our mailing list to receive updates on the case and calls to action if the company refuses to do the right thing and instead seeks again to drill;
Make a donation to ensure Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance has the resources to continue to defend these revered lands. Solenex’s legal team — Mountain States Legal Foundation — has vowed to take this case to the Supreme Court. Our legal defense fees are funded solely by individual donations.
For more information on this decades-long effort, keep reading…
The Badger-Two Medicine — too precious to drill
The threat of oil and gas development has loomed over the Badger-Two Medicine area of the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest since the early 1980’s when the Reagan Administration illegally issued 47 leases in the area. Ever since, the Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, the Blackfeet Nation, and other tribal and conservation partners have worked diligently to prevent any energy development from occurring in this area long considered sacred by the Blackfeet Nation. To date, our collective efforts have resulted in the voluntary retirement or cancellation of 46 of the 47 improperly issued oil and gas leases! And we’ve done so without so much as one shovel of dirt ever being moved! Yet despite our success, the specter of unwanted oil and gas development continues to loom over these mountains and our community.
A backpacker looks over the Solenex lease site in the Badger-Two Medicine area with Glacier National Park in the background. The proposed energy development in this area of Blackfeet sacred land threatens vital wildlife habitat and connectivity, clean water, Blackfeet archaeological sites and cultural practices, and the outdoor heritage and way of life important to our local communities. (Photo: Peter Metcalf/Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance)
Until the last lease is retired, we will keep fighting to ensure this spectacular area is never transformed into an oil patch, but rather remains a healthy space for wildlife, a source of clean water, a place where Blackfeet people can continue to practice their culture and way of life, and a place of abundant recreational opportunities for hunters, anglers, hikers, horseback riders, and all who seek solace in wild nature.
Current Status of Oil and Gas Leases in the Area
The proposed Hall Creek drill site, leased to Solenex, is visible in the swath of forest at center. Located adjacent to a clean mountain stream full of wild trout, in the middle of critical core grizzly bear habitat, elk summer range, and wildflower filled meadows, preventing drilling at this site has been at the heart of our decades-long struggle to keep oil and gas out of this wild country. (Photo: Peter Metcalf)
Today, only ONE company, Solenex LLC of Louisiana, still actively seeks to drill in the Badger-Two Medicine area. While other oil companies have voluntarily relinquished their leases in recognition of the lands sacred status and ecological significance, Solenex has pressed ahead, repeatedly suing the federal government for the opportunity to drill. The latest legal challenge began in 2016 after the Department of Interior cancelled the company’s lease. The government determined it had legally erred in issuing the lease and could not otherwise correct these errors without causing unmitigatable harm to the Blackfeet or the land. Solenex challenged the government’s decision in federal district court. Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, along with five other Blackfeet and conservation organizations, intervened in support of the government. Unfortunately, the district court ruled in favor of Solenex and ordered the lease reinstated. Along with our partners and the Trump Administration, we appealed the ruling to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., which heard oral arguments in January 2020. The circuit court’s released its decision in June 2020. The court resoundingly rejected the lower court decision and re-instated the lease cancellation. The circuit court then remanded the case back to the lower court for continued proceedings. Solenex has until later this summer to decide whether to do the right thing like all other oil companies have and stop trying to drill Blackfeet sacred lands, or continue to press its legal case. We stand ready to defend these spectacular wild lands if necessary yet again.
The outstanding water quality and wild trout populations of important headwater streams, like the South Fork Two Medicine River, remain at risk so long as oil and gas development still looms over this area. Glacier National Park is in the background. (Photo: Gene Sentz)
In the News
Selected recent Press coverage of the issue
The Badger-Two Medicine Area: Too Sacred to Drill - Earthjustice Blog, June 16, 2020
Appeals Court Upholds Protection of Sacred Badger-Two Medicine - Flathead Beacon, June 16, 2020
Ruling Cancels Energy Lease in the Badger-Two Medicine - Montana Public Radio, June 16, 2020
D.C. Circuit Court to determine fate of Solenex lease - Cut Bank Pioneer Press, Jan. 29, 2020
Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance celebrates recent energy lease retirement - Cut Bank Pioneer Press, Dec. 4, 2019
Second to last lease permanently retired in voluntary settlement - Great Falls Tribune, Oct. 1, 2019
After Moncrief Oil announced it was voluntarily retiring its lease, we celebrated by burning a copy of its lease. Thankfully the heat from this fire was the only energy this lease ever produced! We look forward to an even bigger celebration once the Solenex lease is permanently eliminated. (Photo: Bear Star Photography)