Three Decades Of Federal Delay – Mr. Longwell’s Odyssey:

March 7, 2012 by NEO 1 Comment

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This is from the Montana Oil Report, which comes out of Fairfield, MT. Just for adding a fun fact, I lived in Simms (about 15 miles from Fairfield) for about 6 months back in the 80′s. I was doing contract work for the Rural Electric Coop in Fairfield, it’s pretty neat to wake up and look out the window in July and see the glaciers in the mountains.

This is a story of a man who has a lease to drill for oil up there and how the government has been stalling him for 30 years.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE – Just some of the redactions in the study done at taxpayer expense.

Mr. Longwell’s Odyssey: An Editorial

By Darryl L. Flowers
Sun Times Publisher

One of the fascinating aspects of covering the oil and gas industry in Montana has been the fact that I’ve been able to see just a little bit of what is happening around the world when it comes to energy discoveries.

And, there is a lot happening. Far too much to cover with any adequacy in this newspaper.

Daily, reports cross my desk showing new discoveries of oil and gas in every corner of the globe. Even in places that are the very definition of poverty and despair, such as Somalia, new technologies are locating massive energy deposits.

And, closer to home, in Montana, oil and gas deposits are ready to be tapped. The deposits have long been known, and now the extraction technology is proven.

It’s time to roll up our sleeves and get this state, and this nation to work.

I am heartened in this by the bipartisan efforts as elected officials of every political stripe have, in recent weeks, taken to the record to express their support for energy development in the Treasure State.

Only weeks ago, Montana Senator Jon Tester issued a statement in support of “…responsible energy development as a ‘powerful’ tool to create jobs and spur economic growth in Montana’s Indian Country.”

In the same press release, the state’s Junior Senator described the delays encountered by Native Americans as they worked through the government bureaucracy in pursuit of minerals under Federal Lands.