BIA tells energy firm to pay $418K for drilling on Blackfeet land

Thursday, March 27, 2014  

The Bureau of Indian Affairs has told an energy company to pay $418,264 to landowners on the Blackfeet Nation in Montana.

Anschutz Exploration Corp. entered into 41 leases for oil and gas activity on Indian allotments. The company said it withdrew extensions to the agreements but the BIA said they were in fact approved.

“I feel great,” Ronnie Rutherford, a landowner who said he's owed about $16,000, told The Great Falls Tribune. “It’d be nice to see the money.”

Rutherford, however, fears Anschutz will appeal. The company did not provide comment to the Tribune.

"We’re fully anticipating an appeal,” Darryl LaCounte, the acting regional director of the BIA’s Rocky Mountain Region, told the paper.

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BIA says Anschutz owes lease holders $418,264 (The Great Falls Tribune 3/27)