Environmental groups petition to intervene in Badger-Two Medicine lawsuit

Several environmental groups have petitioned to intervene in a legal battle over a disputed oil and gas claim in the Badger-Two Medicine area about two miles southeast of Glacier National Park.

Solonex, a Louisiana-based oil and gas company sued the Forest Service and the Department of Interior claiming it has been illegally prevented from exploring about 6,200 acres of land it leases for oil and gas.

Solonex obtained the leases in 1982, but over the years the government continually delayed exploration.In 1998, the government suspended exploration activities there indefinitely.

Solonex, which is owned by Sidney Longwell, claims this is a violation of federal law. Congress can allow delays but can’t suspend activities on leased lands indefinitely, Solonex claims.

Late last month, the Blackfeet Headwaters Alliance, based in Browning, and the Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, headquartered in East Glacier, applied for intervenor status in the lawsuit. The National Parks Conservation Association, Montana Wilderness Association and the Wilderness Society also filed for intervenor status.

“Any way you look at it, the Badger is important to a large cross-section of Montanans, locally and throughout the region,” said Kendall Flint, a Browning physician and president of the Badger-Two Medicine Alliance. “Whether they hike there, hunt it or fish it, enjoy it with their families, use it for traditional cultural purposes, or just admire it out their windows every day. Montanans seem hungry for a solution here, and we see our involvement in this suit as a critical step to protecting an area that is well loved by so many people in Montana.”

The Blackfeet proclaimed in 2004 that the tribe “will not consent and will not approve any energy development within the Badger-Two Medicine and will vigorously oppose any proposals for such development.”

But the Badger-Two Medicine area is not on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation — the 130,000 acres are on the Lewis and Clark National Forest. In 2009, the Forest banned motorized use on most of the area.

The Badger-Two Medicine area is a popular hiking, hunting and recreation area, with trailheads that tie into the north end of the Bob Marshall Wilderness.

The environmental groups hope that Solonex will reconsider and take advantage of a 2006 law passed by Sen. Max Baucus that entices companies to voluntarily relinquish leases in the area.

Blackfeet tribal member and popular singer Jack Gladstone recently invited Longwell to the Badger-Two Medicine to see firsthand where his company intends to develop.

“By inviting Mr. Longwell to the Rocky Mountain Front, I extended an olive branch similar to the one held by the American eagle, featured on the U.S. dollar,” Gladstone said. “Unfortunately, I have received no response, and we are now responding to his legal challenge by unleashing the contents of the other talon.… Mr. Longwell will learn, as others have, that Blackfeet are excellent warriors.”