Billings Gazette - 1/19/02
BLM OKs proposed wells in Breaks

GREAT FALLS (AP) - A proposal to drill eight natural gas wells on land within and adjacent to the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument would not harm the environment or wildlife of the area, a federal analysis concludes.

The Bureau of Land Management environmental analysis, made public Thursday, says the proposed wells on existing federal leases should be approved, as long efforts are made to mitigate any potential environmental effects.

"Allowing companies to develop leases that pre-existed the monument designation is consistent with both the monument proclamation and with our interim management guidance for the area," said BLM's state director, Mat Millenbach.

The agency intends to take public comment on its analysis for a month and will issue later a final decision whether to approve the wells.

The wells are in an area on the eastern end of the Missouri Breaks monument known as Bullwhacker Coulee, an area of unique rock formations, steep cliffs and forested slopes along the Missouri River.

President Clinton created the monument during his final year in office, designating an area of about 497,000 acres, including 81,000 acres of private property, as federally protected.

Three companies hold leases - some dating back to 1967 - on federal land in the area and want to develop them. The monument designation guaranteed they could be developed, although no new leases would be approved.

Ralph Gailey, president of Macum Energy Inc. of Billings, one of the companies with leases in the area, said he was pleased with the BLM's analysis.

"These little natural gas wells, they don't make a footprint at all," he said. "We don't do anything like the hunters in there, and they still are going to let them hunt."

The Montana Wilderness Association filed a lawsuit in March 2000 challenging the validity of seven natural gas leases issued to Macum in the Missouri River Breaks area. The association says the BLM failed to analyze potential environmental effects of oil and gas exploration before issuing the leases.

The wilderness group also claimed the BLM did not notify the public about the leases and violated the National Environmental Protection Act.

That lawsuit is pending.