BILLINGS – Court documents indicate the U.S. government has failed to reach an agreement with the owner of a long-delayed energy lease near Glacier National Park.
The Interior Department is planning to cancel the 6,200-acre lease in northwestern Montana.
It’s located in the Badger-Two Medicine area just south of Glacier — land considered sacred to the Blackfoot tribes of the U.S. and Canada.
Government attorneys say it was improperly issued in 1982.
Attorneys for the two sides on Friday asked U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C. to allow a lawsuit in the matter to proceed. The case had been on hold since December because of negotiations.
The lease is owned by Solenex LLC of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The company’s attorneys want compensation for their client if the lease is canceled.