Oil Co. Won't Drill at Sacred Site
By CHRISTOPHER THORNE
Associated Press Writer

April 23, 2002, 11:25 AM EDT

WASHINGTON -- An oil company dropped plans Tuesday to drill in a Montana valley that is sacred to American Indians and contains centuries-old drawings considered among the most significant collections of tribal art on the Northern Plains.

Denver-based Anschutz Exploration Corp. gave the National Trust for Historic Preservation two oil-leasing rights in Weatherman Draw, which Indians call the "Valley of the Chiefs."

The decision ends nearly a year of negotiations among Anschutz, the Trust and about a dozen Indian tribes, which had appealed to stop the drilling.

William Miller, vice president of Anschutz, said the company made the decision after determining the legal fight could be lengthy, costly and unsuccessful.

"We chose to forgo the opportunity. It was simply risk management," he said.

Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, praised the agreement.

"We thought it was, by far, the best possible solution," Moe said. "We don't know of another instance where a drilling or mining company has donated leasing rights to a nonprofit organization."

The 2-mile valley contains centuries-old carvings and multicolored drawings of warriors, shields and animals. The area also is a religious site. Indians from many tribes -- Crow, Blackfeet, Comanche, Apache, Navajo and Sioux -- have come to the valley for centuries on "vision quests."

The trust, a Washington-headquartered nonprofit group, filed an appeal last year with the Interior Department, challenging the Bureau of Land Management's approval of plans to drill a wildcat oil well in the 4,268-acre valley.

The parcel where Anschutz wanted to drill had the potential to produce 10 million barrels of oil, but company officials acknowledged there was only a one-in-seven chance of drilling a productive well.

The trust's appeal argued that the BLM approved the drilling without considering the cultural and historic value of the area and possible environmental damage.

The appeal was withdrawn when Anschutz gave the trust the rights to the leases.

Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press