Company seeks to restore oil lease on land sacred to tribes

By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Attorneys for an oil and gas company are asking a federal judge to reinstate a drilling lease on federal land considered sacred to Native American tribes in the U.S. and Canada. The energy lease in the Badger-Two Medicine area near the Blackfeet Reservation in northwestern Montana was cancelled in 2016. That decision was upheld by a federal appeals court last year. Now the Louisiana company that held the lease is making another run at getting a court to restore its drilling rights. Attorneys for Solenex LLC argue that Jewell exceeded her authority. The Badger-Two-Medicine is the site of the Blackfeet’s creation story.