Judge asked to halt cancellation of Montana energy lease

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) – A Louisiana company has asked a federal judge to block government plans to cancel a long-stalled federal energy lease on land considered sacred to American Indians.

The Interior Department announced in November that it plans to cancel the 6,200-acre lease near Montana’s Glacier National Park because it was improperly issued in 1982.

It’s owned by Solenex LLC of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

In a Tuesday court filing, company attorney Steven Lechner said the government arbitrarily reversed course last year after previous determinations that the leases were valid.

He asked U.S. District Judge Richard Leon to bar federal officials from taking further steps to cancel the lease.

Solenex sued the government in 2013 over the repeated delays it has faced as it seeks to drill for natural gas.