Concerns mount over oil exploration near Glacier Park

Concerns are mounting on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation about the impacts of oil and gas exploration on the reservation, particularly wells that could be close to Glacier National Park.

Two wells could be drilled at the doorstep of the Park, explained Lori New Breast. New Breast claimed a well is planned near Divide Peak, just on the border of the Park near St. Mary. Another is planned off Chief Mountain Road, close to the Park’s northeast border.

A spokesman for the tribe’s oil and gas department disputes that claim and says there are no plans for wells in either location.

Critics, however, say there is little public notice when an exploratory well is drilled. Most go through an environmental assessment, which is a short-form environmental review. If the well is on private lands, the state oversees the drilling, and the review is even more cursory.

Currently, the closest well to Glacier Park is about six miles away. More than 70 exploratory wells have been drilled on the reservation to date, but that number is expected to more than double soon.

Rosetta Resources has been working with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on an environmental assessment for 88 more wells on the reservation, BIA regional wildlife biologist Jarvis Gust said last month.

The reservation’s oil and gas leases are split between three companies — Rosetta, Newfield Exploration Co. and Anschutz Exploration.

Well proponents note oil exploration and energy development bring jobs to a community with 70 percent unemployment. If the wells pan out, they’d also bring substantial royalty and tax revenue to the tribe and the state.

Anschutz holds the leases closest to Glacier Park and has drilled 16 wells to date.

New Breast and other Blackfeet women are calling for a cumulative environmental impact statement that would scrutinize further energy development on the reservation.

She says there are simply too many unknowns about the drilling process. Most of the drilling utilizes hydraulic fracturing, which involves pumping large amounts of water, sand and special chemicals into rock seams to fracture underground formations and release oil and gas. Critics claim the chemicals can impact groundwater or surface water when the well is flushed back out.

New Breast said concerns about exploration range from pollution to impacts on cultural resources. The movement is gathering steam. New Breast and others have started a Facebook page called “Blackfeet women against fracking,” which has more than 170 members.

New Breast joined several reporters and photographers on a flight with EcoFlight over the reservation last week to discuss some of her concerns. EcoFlight is a non-profit that advocates protection of wildlands through tours of the air space above them.

“Exploratory wells are just as lethal as production wells,” New Breast said. “They leave the landscape forever changed.”

Elections last week brought a sea change to the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council. Most notably, incumbent chairman T.J. Show lost to Cheryl Lynn “Katooisaki” Little Dog.

In addition, Earl Old Person Sr., the 82-year-old chief of the Blackfeet Nation, was elected to the council. Two other new members are William “Bill” Old Chief and Forrestina “Frosty” CalfBossRibs.

The hope, New Breast said, is that the new members will invoke some changes in the way the oil business is operating on the reservation and will embrace the idea of a cumulative impact study.

Glacier Park officials have also advocated a comprehensive environmental analysis, but the Park has gone largely ignored. Just to find out about upcoming projects, the Park has to keep an eye on the legal ads in local newspapers. The BIA won’t put Park staff on e-mail lists so they could automatically receive environmental review documents.

New Breast said activists are planning a walk from Chief Mountain Meadow to Heart Butte from Aug. 6 to Aug. 9 to raise awareness about oil and gas exploration on the reservation.