US cancels energy leases in sacred area

MATTHEW BROWN

Associated Press

BILLINGS — U.S. officials are canceling 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, according to details of a planned announcement today obtained in advance by The Associated Press.

The cancellation would preserve the 130,000-acre Badger-Two Medicine area within the Lewis and Clark National Forest, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a statement.

Jewell said it was important to develop oil and gas resources “in the right ways and the right places.”

The move comes ami...