Bush Officials Halt Montana Gas Drilling Plan

By J.R. Pegg

WASHINGTON, DC, October 6, 2004 (ENS) - The Bush administration officially abandoned a plan Tuesday that could have allowed a Canadian company to drill for natural gas along Montana's Rocky Mountain Front.

The decision comes in the wake of strong opposition by environmentalists, hunters, anglers and ranchers to development of the scenic landscape, which has long been recognized as one of the nation's most significant wildlife areas.

"Deer, elk, grizzly bears - they all will be impacted by energy exploration in the area," said Robert Model, president of the Boone & Crockett Club. "The Bush administration is making a good decision here for the protection and conservation of wildlife."

The Rocky Mountain Front - where the east slope of the Montana Rockies suddenly merges with the prairies - stretches for more than a 100 miles, from Glacier National Park to near Helena, Montana.

In April 2004 the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) initiated the review process required for new natural gas drilling permits on several existing leases located in the Front's Blackleaf area.

Debate over drilling in the Blackleaf area has sparked greater concern over the future of the Rocky Mountain Front. (Photo courtesy TWS))

Critics said the drilling would provide few jobs and little energy.

Startech publicly stated only five to seven jobs would be created if the drilling proceeded and the BLM estimated there to be .014 -.106 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Blackleaf area - the equivalent of two days of natural gas for the country.

Some 99 percent of the more than 49,000 comments received by the agency opposed the drilling proposal and called for the protection of the area.

"Once again the public has made it abundantly clear that they support permanent protection of the Front," said Gloria Flora, former supervisor of the Lewis and Clark National Forest and a member of the Coalition to Protect the Rocky Mountain Front. "We are please to see that the government again recognized that and responded accordingly."

Assistant Interior Secretary Rebecca Watson rejected the notion that public pressure prompted the decision.

"This administration responds to public input, but it is not a vote," Watson told reporters.

Development along the Front is "a complex issue," Watson said. "President Bush has met with hunters and anglers and told them there are some places that should not be developed in order to protect wildlife."

The Front "could be one of [those] places," said Watson, who announced the BLM would conduct a landscape level analysis of the entire Front.

The analysis will begin by 2008, Watson said, and "creates a time and space and opportunity for folks to weigh in, whether it is a land exchange, an exchange of leases, purchase by the federal government or by other parties."

The Rocky Mountain Front is a spectacular landscape, rich with wildlife. (Photo courtesy Montana Wilderness Association))

"The Service and private landowners are finding common ground in Montana," Fish and Wildlife Service Director Steve Williams said. "Together, we realize that protecting important fish and wildlife habitat and maintaining working ranches go hand in hand. Conservation easements are an effective, proven approach to accomplishing both of these objectives."

Conservationists urged the administration and the U.S. Congress to safeguard the entire Front for its wilderness values.

"We have the opportunity to protect the Front - both for today and for our grandchildren," said rancher Karl Rappold, who is also a member of the Coalition to Protect the Rocky Mountain Front. "It is important that we do not let this moment slip away."

Although the Bush administration has identified the Front as a key source of natural gas, critics question the economical value of drilling in any part of the area.

Analysis of federal data by The Wilderness Society found that all the federal land in the Rocky Mountain Front contains less than a week's worth of natural gas and 20 minutes of oil.

"There are responsible ways, and appropriate places to drill for natural gas, but drilling in the Rocky Mountain Front is neither responsible nor appropriate," said David Stallings from Trout Unlimited. "I hope they will now pursue policies that will provide some sort of permanent protection for this area, so we do not have to keep fighting the same battle over and over."