September 16, 2003
By SONJA LEE
Great Falls Tribune
Blackfeet tribal members are concerned a proposed gas well in the Badger-Two Medicine will interrupt the cultural and traditional significance of the area.
The Lewis and Clark National Forest is reviewing a proposal to drill an exploratory well in Hall Creek, about three miles south of Highway 2 in the Badger-Two Medicine.
On Monday officials from the tribe, Forest Service, Montana Historic Preservation Office and other groups met in Choteau to discuss how the exploratory well could affect the Badger-Two Medicine Blackfoot Traditional Cultural District.
Tribal Council Chairman Jay St. Goddard said he is opposed to drilling in the Badger-Two Medicine.
He said he supports the cultural district, but he questions how the review got so far along. The cultural significance of the area should have been recognized long ago, shutting down drilling.
"There is a lot of encroachment here," said Tribal Councilman Allen Talks About.
Part of the Lewis and Clark Forest, the 133,000-acre Badger-Two Medicine is southwest of the Blackfeet Reservation.
The area is associated with Blackfeet oral traditions and cultural practices. It is believed to be home to culturally important spirits, heroes and historical figures central to Blackfeet religion and tradition.
Even though the drill site is outside the northern boundary of the historical district, the Forest Service still must examine how drilling might impact the area.
The proposed gas well, formerly known as the Fina well, was approved in 1985 and 1991. But in 1993 former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt suspended approval of the well and instituted a moratorium on all oil and gas in the Badger-Two Medicine.
The moratorium expired in 1996. But because the Forest Service was completing a cultural resource study, the drilling proposal was again put on hold.
The Forest Service has since conducted ethnographic research, field studies and oral history interviews, and it has proposed a 89,376-acre historic district.
In 2002, the National Register of Historic Places agreed the Badger-Two Medicine area is eligible for recognition.
Formal listing, however, has not taken place.
Before listing, the Forest Service wants the tribe's full agreement, said Mike Beckes, regional manager of the Forest Service heritage program. There also is concern the sacred traditions of the area will be in the spotlight with formal listing.
Listing in the National Historic Register would not veto oil and gas development, said Sandra French, heritage program manager for the Lewis and Clark National Forest.
"But it certainly adds prominence," French said.
With a new leaseholder in Hall Creek, Sidney Longwell of Louisiana, renewing the drilling proposal, the historic district is back on the table.
Because the original drilling analysis is 12 years old, the Forest Service must review new information, like possible effects to the traditional cultural district and threatened and endangered species listed since 1991.
If new information doesn't appear to have a significant impact, the 1991 decision to approve the well stays in place.
If the new information shows there are significant changes, the Forest Service will have to do additional studies before making a decision.
Bill Hansen, who is representing Sidney Longwell, said Longwell is sensitive to the tribe's requests. He also said drilling would be done in a way that elk areas are not interrupted.
On Monday, Blackfeet tribal members made it clear more study is needed. Members also said they don't agree with the boundaries of the historic district.
Joyce Spoonhunter, former cultural and preservation director for the tribe, said the boundaries leave out some vision sites and elk wintering and spring calving areas.
Spoonhunter also said the Forest Service's research and oral history interviews are not complete.
Jeri Lawrence with the Blackfeet Planning Department also said the Blackfeet have reserved rights to hunt, gather and fish in the area. Drilling should not move forward.
"Why do so much damage when there is so little payoff?" she asked.