Tester says Badger-Two Medicine lease problem could be fixed by Act of Congress

By CHRIS PETERSON

Hungry Horse News

Montana Sen. Jon Tester said he was disappointed that a federal judge reinstated an oil and gas lease in the Badger-Two Medicine region.

“It’s deja vu all over again,” he said during a conference call with reporters last month.

Tester said he hoped the federal government would appeal the case or, if need be, he suggested Congress expunge the lease once and for all legislatively.

Tester noted his supports drilling where it’s appropriate, but the Badger-Two Medicine is not one of those places.

In mid September, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon in a scathing opinion reinstated a long-held oil and gas lease held by the Solenex Corporation.

In his ruling, Leon vacated a 2016 move by then Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell to cancel the Solenex lease on 6,200 acres near Marias Pass, a few miles south of Glacier National Park on the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest.

Earlier this year, the Solenex Corp. represented by the Mountain States Legal Foundation, filed suit, claiming Jewell exceeded her authority when she canceled the lease in the waning days of the Obama Administration. Leon, in his Sept. 9 ruling, found the lease was granted legally and had gone through the proper environmental reviews.

The Badger-Two Medicine is considered sacred by many members of the Blackfeet Tribe.

But the clock is ticking on government action. Leon gave the federal government 21 days to act on the lease and start the permit process.

Louisiana oilman Sidney Longwell owned Solonex. He died in 2020, and held 6,200-plus acre lease since 1982. His family maintains ownership today and continued the legal battle. Since 1985, the Longwells have gone back and forth with various land agencies and administrations on Solenex’s right to drill.

In 1985, the application to drill was approved, but it was constantly delayed by various federal land agencies, including the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.

The government, Leon noted, even did a full-blown Environmental Impact Statement on the lease (and many others in the region at the time). By doing so, it further validated the lease itself, Leon found.

But nearly all of the Badger-Two Medicine is lease free today, as most companies voluntarily gave up their leases or were bought out by the federal government.

Congress also passed a law banning any new leases on the entire Rocky Mountain Front on federal lands, of which the Badger-Two Medicine is part.