Schweitzer asks for leases canceled in N. Fork

Gov. Brian Schweitzer asked Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar to cancel energy leases on hundreds of tracts of Forest Service land in the North Fork Monday.

Schweitzer claimed the leases were improperly granted. Eighty percent of the land was leased in the early '80s during the Reagan Administration when James Watt was secretary of the interior.

A lawsuit was filed challenging the leases, claiming the proper environmental reviews weren't conducted. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals concurred. But the Forest Service has never done an environmental impact statement on energy exploration in the North Fork and the leaseholders haven't shown an interest in developing them, either.

"We believe that since 1988, any secretary of the interior could have cancelled the leases. It could be that no one asked the secretary of the interior to act. If you don't ask, you don't get. This isn't about talking, this is about action. We believe this action will protect the land indefinitely," Schweitzer said.

Montana Sens. Jon Tester and Max Baucus recently introduced legislation that would place a moratorium on any new leases in the North Fork.

British Columbia also recently announced it would halt mining and energy exploration in the Canadian Flathead. The state and the province signed a memorandum of understanding that bans mining on both sides of the border. It has a deadline of July 2010.

Schweitzer said the Canadians have done their part.

"They have identified as much as $3 billion worth of minerals that they willing to walk away from to protect the Flathead," he said.

A Department of Interior spokesman acknowledged Salazar had received the letter and that it was being "carefully reviewed," but wouldn't comment further at this time.

Salazar visited the Flathead last summer at the behest of Tester and Baucus to see the river for himself. At the time, he called for a moratorium on mining and energy exploration in the drainage.