Baucus: Drilling leases along Front to be given up

(AP) — Montana Sen. Max Baucus plans to announce Thursday that five oil and gas companies will relinquish drilling leases they hold on the Rocky Mountain Front, an area prized by conservationists.

In 2006, Congress banned new leasing of federal lands along the east side of the Montana mountain range, but existing lease holders could still develop the property. The same law also created tax incentives for relinquishing leases.

Leases on at least 83,000 acres on the Front have been relinquished since the ban went into effect, according to the Northern Rockies Branch of The Wilderness Society.

According to Baucus' office, the senator will be joined for Thursday by representatives of Occidental Petroleum Corp., the Williams Cos., the Montana Wildlife Federation, the Bureau of Land Management and others.