Montana Public Radio

U.S. Department of the Interior

Proposed Rule Change Sparks Debate Over Coal Royalties

By • Jul 28, 2015
Montana Activists Rally Against Coal Trains
Flickr user Erin Kinney (CC-BY-NC-ND-2)

Critics say that for decades the coal industry has gamed the system to underpay its fair share of federal coal royalties. They say those alleged schemes have padded the bottom lines of coal companies while short-changing state and local governments of tens of millions of dollars.

Judge Orders Fast-Track Review Of Badger-Two Medicine Gas Leases

By • Jul 27, 2015
Map of Solenex lease site in the Badger-Two Medicine near Glacier National Park
Courtesy Montana Wilderness Association

A federal judge has given Interior Secretary Sally Jewell three weeks to take action on a Louisiana company’s natural gas leases near Glacier National Park that have been held up for 29 years.

Forest Service Predicts Above-Average Fire Season For Western U.S.

By Jackie Yamanaka - Yellowstone Public Radio • Jun 9, 2015
Fire fighters building fire line.
BLM (PD)

The Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior and the U.S. Forest Service chief expect above average wildfire activity this year, especially across the Western U.S.

The three held a telephone briefing with reporters yesterday afternoon on the upcoming 2015 wildfire season.

Blackfeet Campaign To Ban Drilling On Badger-Two Medicine

By Corin Cates-Carney • Apr 22, 2015
Gene Sentz

Wednesday, the Blackfeet Nation launched a campaign urging the termination of oil and gas leases in the Badger-Two Medicine area southeast of Glacier National Park.

Badger-Two Medicine is home to the Blackfeet stories of creation. Chief Earl Old Person says oil drilling should never be allowed to disrupt the land.

Chippewa Cree Chairman Illegally Ousted Says Interior

By Steve Jess • Dec 23, 2014

The U.S. Interior Department has ruled that former Chippewa Cree tribal Chairman Ken Blatt St. Marks was ousted from his job illegally in 2013. 

John Paul Schmidt, a staff writer with the Havre Daily News, says St. Marks was voted out when he was helping federal investigators look into missing money from a pipeline project on the Chippewa-Cree Reservation.

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