SOLENEX LLC v. BERNHARDT et al

  1. September 12, 2022

    DOI Told To Revive Solenex Oil Lease After 'Kafkaesque' Delay

    A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered the U.S. Department of the Interior to reinstate a long-obstructed license for oil and natural gas drilling in northwest Montana, finding that the government had no authority to vacate the lease in 2016, more than three decades after it was issued.

  2. April 13, 2022

    DOI Insists It Has Authority To Cancel Solenex Oil Lease

    The federal government has insisted that it has the authority to cancel an oil and gas lease in Montana, telling a D.C. federal court that Solenex LLC has misinterpreted a key U.S. Supreme Court decision in seeking to bring the case to an end.

  3. March 16, 2022

    Solenex Fights DOI's Attempt To Win Lease Dispute

    The federal government has "exaggerated the scope" of precedent it cited to try to establish the Interior Department's ability to cancel oil and gas leases, according to a developer pushing back on an effort to nix a decades-long dispute.

  4. February 22, 2022

    DOI Seeks To End Decades-Long Solenex Lease Dispute

    The Department of the Interior has asked a D.C. federal court to back its decision to ax a Montana oil and gas lease, arguing that the developer was aware of legal issues for decades and can't pretend otherwise.

  5. December 22, 2021

    Solenex Fights To Get Decades-Old Montana Lease Reinstated

    The owner of a canceled oil and gas lease is urging a D.C. federal court to restore its long-suspended ability to drill on a 6,247-acre plot of land in west-central Montana, arguing that after decades of jerking the company around, the government can't just arbitrarily axe its lease.

  6. September 25, 2018

    Judge Renews Oil Leases, Calls Cancellation 'Horsefeathers'

    A D.C. federal judge reinstated two oil and gas leases in an area of Montana sacred to the nearby Blackfeet Tribe, saying the U.S. Department of the Interior's move to rescind the leases years after they were originally issued was "horsefeathers." 

  7. December 19, 2016

    DOI Can't Cancel 33-Year-Old Mont. Oil Lease, Court Told

    The owner of a canceled oil and gas lease in an area of Montana sacred to the nearby Blackfeet Tribe told a D.C. federal judge on Friday that no lease would be "worth the paper it is written on" if the U.S. Department of the Interior's March decision to cancel the decades-old lease is allowed to stand. 

  8. November 14, 2016

    DOI Didn't Have Power To Cancel Mont. Oil Lease, Judge Told

    Solenex LLC urged a D.C. federal judge Thursday to grant it a quick win in its suit to restore the company's oil and gas lease on lands considered sacred by the Blackfeet Nation, claiming the U.S. Department of the Interior exceeded its authority to cancel the lease after keeping it suspended for three decades.

  9. October 11, 2016

    Tribe, Enviros Say DOI Rightly Canceled Mont. Oil Lease

    The Blackfeet Tribe and several other Native American and environmental groups are urging a D.C. federal judge to rule that the U.S. Department of the Interior was within its authority to cancel a controversial Montana oil lease after keeping it suspended for three decades.

  10. October 04, 2016

    DOI Says It Had Power To Nix Controversial Mont. Oil Lease

    The U.S. Department of the Interior on Monday told a D.C. federal judge that it had the power to cancel a controversial Montana oil lease in March, a decision it made after the judge slammed the department for keeping the lease in limbo for 29 years.