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TUESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2002

The Department of Interior last Thursday released an environmental analysis that finds no significant impact should eight natural gas wells be drilled in and around a national monument created in the last month of the Clinton administration.

The Bureau of Land Management says Macum Energy Inc. of Billings can drill without hurting the environment or damage wildlife in and next to the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument in Montana. President Clinton declared the area a monument in January 2001.

Clinton's monuments have been the target of Republicans who were angered about many of the designations. Secretary of Interior Gale Norton asked states, local governments and tribes to suggest changes but couldn't do anything about the size or them.

For the most part, the Interior is supposed to honor pre-existing mineral rights in any national monument. The scope is typically laid out in a document accompanying the declaration.

Get the Story:
BLM report backs wells in Breaks (The Billings Gazette 1/21)
BLM OKs proposed wells in Breaks (AP 1/21)
Agency Backs Gas Drilling at New National Monument (The New York Times 1/22)
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Related Stories:
Norton can't do a thing on monuments (10/29)
Mont. national monument opposed (1/12)
Babbitt recommends new monuments (12/22)