MISSOULA — The Blackfeet Tribe wants to intervene in a Louisiana oil company’s appeal of the cancellation of its federal leases to drill for oil and gas along the Rocky Mountain Front.
Several other groups also are seeking intervener status in the case between Solenex LLC and the U.S. Department of Interior. Solenex is appealing an Interior Department decision to cancel Solenex’s drilling leases on public land just south of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, on land sacred to the tribe.
Earthjustice attorney Tim Preso tells the Missoulian that Solenex is arguing the leases were improperly suspended in March, but the tribe and conservation groups argue they were improperly granted in the 1980s.