An oil company whose drilling lease on Native American lands was revoked by the Obama Administration in 2016 is suing to have the license reinstated so it can drill in an area of lands sacred to tribes in the US and Canada, the Associated Press reports.
Solenex LLC, a Louisiana-based oil exploration company, held the lease on the lands in the Badger-Two Medicine area of northwestern Montana near the Blackfeet Reservation since 1982 but never drilled on the land because of various legal and regulatory challenges. The lease was canceled during the Obama Administration by under then-U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, a decision that has been upheld by various court decisions.
The land, near Glacier National Park, is part of the creation story of the Blackfoot Nation in both the US and Canada. Tribal leaders have opposed drilling on the site since Ronald Reagan issued the first permits. In its lawsuit, Solenex claims the federal government illegally abdicated its jurisdiction over the permit by outsourcing its rulings to the Blackfoot Nation.