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Members of the Blackfeet nation, along with conservation and hunting advocacy groups can breath a long-awaited sigh of relief now that one of the last two owners of an oil and gas lease located in the Badger-Two Medicine area in Montana has agreed to retire the lease. Jamie Williams, president of The Wilderness Society, said in a prepared statement, “The Wilderness Society thanks Mr. W.A. Moncrief Jr. for his willingness to negotiate, and we are pleased to have been able to secure the retirement of this lease.”
The Badger-Two Medicine area is sacred to the Blackfeet and is located between their reservation and Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness, and the Helena/Lewis & Clark National Forest. It is also within an area of Montana’s Rocky Mountain Front that Congress withdrew from future oil and gas leasing in 2006.
The remaining lease is owned by Solenex, LLC, a former client of acting BLM director William Perry Pendley. The Bureau of Land Management determined in 2016 that the lease violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historical Preservation Act, but in 2018 it was reinstated. The case is currently being reviewed by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Nominee for Interior Deputy Secretary announced
President Trump announced his intention to nominate Katharine MacGregor to serve as Deputy Interior Secretary. The role has been filled in an acting capacity since it was vacated by David Bernhardt prior to his confirmation as Secretary in April. MacGregor previously worked on Capitol Hill and joined the Interior Department as an appointee in early 2017.
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Only this administration would allow someone like Mr. Pendley — who has spent his entire career advocating for the wide spread sale of public lands — to lead an agency responsible for maintaining our nation's public lands, and fail to put forward a permanent nominee for such a vital position.”
