The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday is expected to mark up a $26 billion spending bill for fiscal year 2007 that would prohibit Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Agriculture Department’s U.S. Forest Service from issuing new oil and natural gas leases on federal land along the Rocky Mountain Front.

The language, which was put in the appropriations bill by Committee Chairman Conrad Burns (R-MT), would prevent any new leasing for oil, gas and hard-rock mining in all of the Forest Service land within the Rocky Mountain District of the Lewis and Clark National Forest in central and north central Montana, as well as new leasing on contiguous parcels controlled by the BLM. The two major areas affected by this provision would be the Badger-Two Medicine and Blackleaf Canyon regions.

Existing leases will not be affected, but if they expire, are traded, donated or purchased back by either the federal government or a third-party group, the area will become exempt from re-leasing, Burns said.

“It’s clear this is a critical area for habitat, recreation, agriculture and just to appreciate the majesty of Montana. This language will prevent any new leases from being approved and [will] help protect the area even further,” the Montana lawmaker noted.

The prohibition on new leasing “may be revoked by an act of Congress in the event of a clear and present national emergency resulting from a shortage of oil and gas reserves,” according to the spending bill.

The language was included in the Senate’s appropriations fiscal year 2007 appropriations bill for the Department of Interior, Forest Service and the Environmental Protection Agency, which was approved by the Senate Appropriations’ Interior and Related Agencies Subcommittee Tuesday.

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