Tribal Leaders Hopeful for Appeal in Badger-Two Medicine
Although attorneys with the Department of Justice still have not appealed a judge’s decision to reinstate a lease allowing oil and gas drilling on sacred land flanking Glacier National Park, tribal leaders are hopeful that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will stay true to his promise.
The Whitefish-born secretary’s promise, however, was reported exclusively by Associated Press reporter Matthew Brown on Nov. 14, and neither the Justice Department nor Interior would comment on what would happen leading up to the Nov. 23 deadline.
According to the Associated Press, Zinke said in an interview that it would be inappropriate to allow drilling in the Badger-Two Medicine area, which is site of the creation story for the Blackfeet, and has asked government attorneys to appeal a September ruling handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C.
In that ruling, Leon overturned the 2016 cancellation of a 10-square-mile lease held by Solenex LLC of Baton Rouge, Louisiana in the Badger-Two Medicine area of the Lewis and Clark National Forest, just east of Glacier Park. The lease had been originally canceled by the Interior Department under President Barack Obama, but Leon ruled that action was improper.
Read more: https://flatheadbeacon.com/2018/11/19/tribal-leaders-hopeful-appeal-badger-two-medicine/
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