Rep. Dennis Rehberg, R-Mont., shares Burns' view. The Bush administration confirmed last week that it is looking at a wide variety of public lands, including the Front, as possible sources of oil and gas. The Front, noted for its scenery and stretching from northwest of Helena to the border of Glacier National Park, holds an abundance of oil and gas, people in that industry have maintained for years. However, the chain of jagged peaks that rise from the prairies is also home to grizzly bears, wolves, lynx and other rare species, plus elk, deer and the country's largest bighorn sheep herd. The oil and gas industry maintains that, with current technology, it can work there without disturbing the habitat or the scenery.
Environmentalists scoff at such claims.
In 1997, Gloria Flora, then thesupervisor of the Lewis and Clark National Forest, signed an order withdrawing the front from potential oil and gas development. The Helena National Forest took similar steps. More than 80 percent of the people who commented during the environmental analysis process preceding Flora's order wanted to keep energy development out of the Front, the Great Falls Tribune reported in 1997. Still, a Burns spokeswoman said Tuesday the senator wants to reexamine the possibility of drilling there. She said Burns specifically mentioned the withdrawal of the Front lastweek during a committee hearing on energy issues.