A federal judge alleged the Obama administration of trying to "run the clock out" on Wednesday. The accusation is about the pending decision on an oil and gas lease near Glacier National Park that's been held up a few decades.
According to ABC NEWS, the U.S. District Judge Richard Leon gave the Interior Department 24 hours to act on the gas lease on Wednesday. The 6,200 lease is situated in Montana's Badger-Two Medicine area, which is considered sacred by the Blackfoot tribes of the U.S. and Canada.
In November, the Interior Department stated that it intends to revoke the lease. But it has yet to pursue the act on the matter. The lease owner Solenex LLC of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, desires to drill for gas on the location and stated its 1982 lease remains to be well-founded.
The company filed a lawsuit in 2013 to challenge a longstanding suspension of the lease. Leon has continually expressed his frustration about the issue in recent months over the government's handling of the court case.
However, CNBC noted that in a transcript of a Wednesday hearing in federal court in Washington D.C., he alleged Justice Department attorney Ruth Storey on Wednesday of acting ridiculous when she recommended that the newest delay was out of defence to the court. "It's pretty clear what's been going on at the government. They're running the clock out," Leon stated. He added, "They want to get through this administration....obviously the time has come for a court, some federal court somewhere to say enough's enough."
The U.S. District Judge was nominated to the federal bench by the former President George W. Bush. It is seemingly best recognized for challenging the government's National Security Agency phone records collection program, as claimed by ST. LOUISE POST-DISPATCH.
But he refused the request from Storey to provide the government more time to act. Justice Department spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle turned down the request to comment after the Wednesday's hearing.
Meanwhile, a lot more oil and gas leases were originally sold in the site. and even though some were surrendered by their owners, Devon Energy of Oklahoma held the remaining 18 leases.
