NEWS

Meeting attendees urge cancellation of Badger gas lease

Erin Madison
emadison@greatfallstribune.com

CHOTEAU — Public comments given at a hearing held by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation in Choteau on Wednesday urged overwhelmingly that a lease for an exploratory natural gas well in the Badger-Two Medicine be canceled.

The hearing was the latest step in a decades-long process involving a lease that has been approved and appealed many times.

The well is proposed by Solenex LLC, a Louisiana company that acquired the lease in 1982. Solenex holds a federal exploration lease in the Badger-Two Medicine but the efforts to drill there have been delayed by legal challenges from environmental groups. Solenex filed a lawsuit against the federal government for what it says are unreasonable delays in the project over three decades. The permit to drill is currently suspended.

The proposed well sits on the north end of the 165,000-acre Blackfeet Traditional Cultural District.

The Blackfeet tribe, as well as numerous conservation organizations opposed the well.

Joe McKay speaks on behalf of the Blackfeet Tribe during a hearing on a proposed natural gas well in the Badger-Two Medicine.

Joe McKay, who spoke at the hearing on behalf of the tribe, said there were no mitigation efforts that could prevent a well from damaging what is an extremely spiritually and culturally significant area to the Blackfeet people.

“This is a significant spiritual and cultural area to our people,” McKay said. “We ask you to see the land as we see it...and understand that it has to be preserved.”

The idea of mitigating the effects of the proposed well was at the heart of Wednesday’s hearing.

As part of the process to decide whether to allow drilling to go forward, a review of the affects the well would have on the cultural district is now being considered.

The purpose of Wednesday’s meeting was to look at ways to mitigate the affect drilling could have on the Badger-Two Medicine.

Many meeting attendees argued that no mitigation effort could prevent the area from being damaged.

Steve Lechner, an attorney representing Solenex, said the well would have little affect on the area.

“Only one well would be drilled,” Lechner said.

That well would be located three miles from the Great Northern Railway line and Highway 2.

The railroad would muffle any sounds of drilling, he said. And the area is already developed with roads, power lines and trails.

“It is certainly not a pristine area,” Lechner said.

Lechner was the only person out of about 50 who spoke Wednesday to argue in favor of the well.

Casey Perkins of the Montana Wilderness Association shows on a map the area around Badger-Two Medicine where oil drilling is proposed.

The Forest Service is in the final stages of reviewing a currently suspended permit to drill an exploratory well near Hall Creek. As part of that review process, the Forest Service is required to comply with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires the drill to accommodate historic preservation concerns.

In April, the Forest Service hosted a series of meetings aimed at reaching an agreement between the Blackfeet Tribe and Solenex to outline ways in which Solenex could mitigate the impact drilling would have of the Traditional Cultural District.

Those meetings ended without an agreement. Tribal representatives said no mitigation efforts would prevent the Badger-Two Medicine from being impacted.

Because those meetings were unproductive, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation held a hearing on the issue.

Wednesday’s meeting was the latest step in an effort to create an agreement that both Solenex and the tribe found agreeable in regards to drilling the well.

Typically, the Section 106 consultation process is concluded when an agreement resolving the adverse impacts is executed by the consulting parties.

Because no agreement could be reached, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation was tasked with making a recommendation on the issue to Secretary of Agriculture who oversees the Forest Service.

“These hearings are very, very rare,” said Milford Wayne Donaldson, chairman of the council.

The council serves an advisory capacity to the president and to congress. Its members are appointed by the president.

An exploratory natural gas well is proposed near Hall Creek in the Badger-Two Medicine.

The ACHP must submit its recommendation to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack by Sept. 21. Vilsack will then make a recommendation to the secretary of the Interior on whether the lease permit should be released from its suspension. Interior Secretary Sally Jewel will have the final say on the issue.

Kendall Flint, a physician in Browning who lives four miles from the trailhead to Hall Creek, argued that Solenex is trying to portray the proposed drill site as an industrial area that has already been developed.

“I’ve been to the proposed well site at least a dozen times,” he said, adding that the area is pristine.

Those who gave testimony at the hearing came from a wide range of ages, ethnicity and geographic location. Some people who spoke traveled from as far away as North Dakota and New Mexico.

Kendall Edmo, a member of the Blackfeet tribe, said she was opposed to the proposed well because she wants her children to grow up knowing the cultural heritage contained in the Badger-Two Medicine.

“I have two children and they are the reason I am here today,” she said.

Jesse DesRosier addresses the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, urging it to cancel the lease for a natural gas well in the Badger-Two Medicine.

The Badger-Two Medicine abuts the Blackfeet Reservation and carries religious and cultural significance to the Blackfeet Tribe. The area is associated with Blackfeet oral traditions and cultural practices. It is believed to be home to culturally important spirits, heroes and historical figures central to Blackfeet religion and tradition.

“It’s a place you can go and feel the spirits of our people,” McKay said. “If you go there and open your heart and your mind, then you’ll experience what we experience. Until you go there and experience it, you can’t describe it.”

Solenex has said it is open to suggestions on how to mitigate the impact of its well. However neither the Forest Service nor the tribe has proposed any mitigation, Lechner said.

At most, the well would disturb 23 acres of land, or 0.014 percent of the traditional cultural district, he said.

Those in attendance of the meeting argued that any impact on the area is unacceptable and that allowing this lease to operate would set a precedent for other outstanding leases in the area to move forward.

No data gathering tool can quantify the importance of this area, said Joseph Grady, a member of the Blackfeet tribe. Reducing noise or the number of trucks is inconsequential.

“This is something that goes to the core of who we are,” Grady said.

Michael DesRosier, chairman of the Glacier County Commission, said the commission realizes gas development in the county would create jobs and tax revenue.

"Inspite of that, as a county commission, we are opposed to the development of the site," he said.

Those who did not attend the meeting can still comment on the issue. The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation will accept comments until Friday at 5 p.m.

Still time to comment

Written comments on on the impacts of a natural gas exploration in the Badger-Two Medicine may be sent to 106permittodrill@achp.gov, faxed to 202-517-6381 or mailed to Ms. Katry Harris, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, 401 F St. N.W., Suite 308, Washington, D.C. 20001-2637. Comments submitted by 5 p.m. Friday will be part of the public record and reviewed by the ACHP.