Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Latest on the cancellation of oil and gas leases in Glacier National Park (all times local):
9:25 a.m.
U.S. officials say they've cancelled 15 oil and gas leases in an area bordering Glacier National Park that's considered sacred to the Blackfoot tribes of the U.S. and Canada.
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said the move to be announced Wednesday would preserve northwest Montana's 130,000-acre Badger-Two Medicine area.
Details were obtained in advance by The Associated Press.
The Badger-Two Medicine is the site of the creation story for members of Montana's Blackfeet Nation and the Blackfoot tribes of Canada.
The leases were issued in the 1980s and held by Oklahoma-based Devon Energy. No drilling has occurred.
The cancellation comes amid sometimes-violent protests over an oil pipeline being built near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. The Obama administration has been criticized by some American Indians for its handling of that dispute.
___
This story has been corrected to locate reservation in North Dakota.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
