Schweitzer asks Interior to cancel Flathead leases

Montana's governor on Monday asked Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to prevent future drilling outside Glacier National Park by canceling oil and gas leases on more than 200,000 acres. Those leases were among more 700 Forest Service parcels sold by the government in the 1980s. They are now held by ConocoPhillips and other companies. Development on the leases was suspended 25 years ago after a federal court ruled they had been sold without enough environmental study. Although there has been little movement to develop the parcels since then, Gov. Brian Schweitzer wants 218,000 acres of leases canceled so the state can live up to a conservation agreement with British Columbia signed last month. That deal called for a halt to development along the North Fork of the Flathead River. Canada is stopping several gold, natural gas and coal mining projects that were already under way. "They agreed to suspend industrial development on their side. We agreed to suspend industrial development on our side," Schweitzer said.