Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
Look West: Public lands and energy news from the Center for Western Priorities
** Montana's Badger-Two Medicine is permanently lease-free
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Tuesday, September 5, 2023
Buffalo Lakes in the Badger-Two Medicine, Montana. Troy Smith | Flickr ([link removed])
Last Friday, conservation groups, leaders of the Blackfeet Nation, and the federal government reached an agreement ([link removed]) with oil and gas company Solenex, LLC to permanently retire the last remaining federal oil and gas lease within the Badger-Two Medicine.
The Badger-Two Medicine is an area in northwestern Montana nestled between Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area, and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. The area consists of about 130,000 acres, and is considered sacred by the Blackfeet Nation due to its cultural and historical significance to the Blackfeet people. The Badger-Two Medicine also serves as a migration corridor for elk, wolverines, grizzly bears, and westslope cutthroat trout.
The agreement follows a years-long ([link removed]) legal battle to protect the 6,000 acres leased by Solenex from development, and a 40-year effort by Tribal leaders and conservationists to prevent oil and gas drilling along the Rocky Mountain Front. In the early 1980s, the Reagan administration leased 147,000 ([link removed]) acres along the Rocky Mountain Front to oil and gas companies. The 6,000-acre lease held by Solenex was the last remaining lease of 47 original oil and gas leases in the Badger-Two Medicine. Now, all leases ([link removed]) in the Badger-Two Medicine have been permanently eliminated without any development having occurred.
** Quick hits
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Last Badger-Two Medicine oil and gas lease canceled
Associated Press ([link removed]) | Flathead Beacon ([link removed]) | Montana Free Press ([link removed]) | Missoulian ([link removed]) | KTVH ([link removed])
A new satellite will help tackle methane leaks, a major driver of global warming
NPR ([link removed])
The climate crisis could mean the twilight of the American West
Rolling Stone ([link removed])
After more than 100 years, gray wolves reappear in Giant Sequoia National Monument
Los Angeles Times ([link removed])
BLM recreation strategy preps for growing numbers of visitors
E&E News ([link removed])
Arizona's pipe dream: Could desalination replenish aquifers?
The Daily Podcast ([link removed])
Big farms and flawless fries are gulping water in Minnesota
New York Times ([link removed])
Judge says Trump-era rule change allowing the logging of old-growth forests violates laws
NPR ([link removed])
** Quote of the day
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” I am happy to see this oil and gas lease go away in the Badger-Two Medicine. We are back to where we were 40 years ago.”
—John Murray, Blackfeet Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Associated Press ([link removed])
** Picture This
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@usinterior ([link removed])
For many people, seeing wildlife on our public lands is thrilling! But for wildlife, seeing us in their homes where they eat, sleep and breed may not be such a thrill.
Let's celebrate National Wildlife Day with space and respect for these amazing creatures!
Photo at @isleroyalenps ([link removed]) by Carl TerHaar
#nationalwildlifeday ([link removed]) #moose ([link removed]) #isleroyale ([link removed]) #michigan ([link removed]) #publiclands ([link removed])
Alt Text: A photographer using a zoom catches two young bull moose testing each other out in a shallow lake on a very foggy morning.
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