Tribe says Chief Mountain leases were canceled weeks ago
<p>This photo was taken from a site several miles to the southeast of Chief Mountain where an oil drilling platform had operated. A very rough dirt road leads to the site from Highway 17 near the Canada border.</p>
The Blackfeet Tribal Council announced in a press release last week that it had canceled oil and gas leases near Chief Mountain weeks ago. The council said the leases were canceled July 24 “due to non-payment by the company.”
The council earlier this year entered into a lease agreement with Nations Energy LLC to drill three wells on 4,000 acres near the mountain. When the news broke last week, tribal offices were closed and tribal officials could not be contacted.
The council claims the intention of the leases was to explore an area on the reservation that was two miles from Chief Mountain and at least one mile from a mandated buffer zone.
The council also notes that a cultural and environmental review would have been completed before any wells were drilled that close to Chief Mountain.
“Oil and gas drilling and development on the western boundary of the Blackfeet Reservation has occurred since 1904 up to the present time,” the press release said. “None of that drilling has impacted Chief Mountain or other sacred areas on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.”
The council also said a one-mile buffer on the east side of Chief Mountain has been in effect since 1992 and prohibits entry to all but Blackfeet people who use the mountain for spiritual purposes.
“It is important that those who criticize the Blackfeet Tribe and its council look first at the facts, before starting a protest without purpose,” the council said.
A Facebook page and an online petition against drilling near Chief Mountain was started last week. The Facebook page had more than 1,000 likes in a few hours and the petition had more than 2,000 signatures.
A rally near the mountain is still planned for 11 a.m. to oppose the leases and to celebrate the development.