Judge says government must act on gas lease on sacred land

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Mar 17, 2:01 AM EDT
Judge says government must act on gas lease on sacred land
By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) -- A federal judge accused the Obama administration of trying to "run the clock out" on a pending decision on an oil and gas lease near Glacier National Park that's been held up for several decades.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon on Wednesday gave the Interior Department 24 hours to act on the matter. The 6,200-acre lease is in Montana's Badger-Two Medicine area, considered sacred by the Blackfoot tribes of the U.S. and Canada.

The Interior Department said in November it intends to cancel the lease, but it has yet to follow through. Lease owner Solenex LLC of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, wants to drill for gas on the site and says its 1982 lease remains valid.

. . .

Leon has repeatedly expressed frustration in recent months over the government's handling of the case. On Wednesday, he accused Justice Department attorney Ruth Storey of acting "silly" when she suggested the latest delay was out of deference to the court, according to a transcript of a Wednesday hearing in federal court in Washington D.C.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TRIBES_OIL_DRILLING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-03-17-02-01-49

[davidpdx]

1. I saw a clip about this recently and I can't remember where

I hope the decision is to not drill. If I were President Obama I'd tell the judge to go fuck himself.

[melm00se]

2. let me get this straight

you want the President to thumb his nose at the judiciary?

[sendero]

3. A decision decades delayed...

... now gets 24 hours. Yeah, the judge is an idiot.

[melm00se]

4. a reading of the article

seems to indicate that the federal attorney has been dragging her feet and her last excuse ("when she suggested the latest delay was out of deference to the court&quot was the last straw.

This judge is no ideological shill. This is the same justice who challenged the NSA phone collection program.

[davidpdx]

6. He essentially has with some of the EO's

[Igel]

5. Because the Constitution

requires the government to defer to all religions.

Gotcha.

Okay, maybe not all. Just those whose bearers we like and don't dislike. Because of all things, justice and the law must be respecters of persons. Your justice and due process really ought to depend on who you are.

[The Second Stone]

7. So this judge will require the Senate to act on Obama's judicial nomination

for the Supreme Court?