Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer is pushing for the cancellation of federal mining leases that were improperly issued in the North Fork Flathead drainage.

In a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Schweitzer has requested that dozens of leases be canceled as part of Montana’s response to a recent agreement with the British Columbia that bans all mining and oil and gas development in the North Fork on both sides of the border.

Schweitzer maintains that the Interior secretary has had the unilateral authority to cancel the leases since 1988, when an appeals court ruled that the leases on Flathead National Forest land had been improperly issued.

The leases were issued under Reagan-era Interior Secretary James Watt, in violation of the Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act.

“It is interesting that this discussion has been going all the way back to [former governor] Schwinden ... and no one has made this request before,” Schweitzer said Monday.

Partly because of the court ruling, Schweitzer said, none of the leases have been pushed for development and there has been no pressing need for formally canceling them until the recent agreement with the British Columbia provincial government.

“There was apparently no compunction on our side to do anything,” Schweitzer said. “But now the wheels are turning and we want to keep that truck moving.”

Schweitzer has also directed the Montana Department of Environmental Quality not to issue any permits for development in the North Fork that might arise before leases are canceled by the federal government.

“This directive applies to all applications for open-cut mining operations exceeding (4.9 acres) or removing more than 20,000 tons of material per year, as well as to permits for exploration, mining, re-mining, ore processing or ore re-reprocessing operations, and storm water discharge permits related to oil, gas, or coal-bed methane operations,” Schweitzer’s letter to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality states.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at [email protected]