Case Summary

Federal bureaucrats, including the Secretary of the Interior, have no authority to cancel a lawfully issued oil and gas lease unless Congress has provided them that authority. Our client, Sidney Longwell, first purchased a federal oil and gas lease in Montana’s Lewis and Clark National Forest in 1982. Despite passing decade-long environmental and archeological reviews, the Clinton administration suspended his lease in 1993, and continued to suspend the lease ultimately for over two decades—for a list of ever-changing reasons. A federal judge ruled that the Department of the Interior wrongly cancelled his oil and gas lease. But the government is appealing and our fight for Mr. Longwell continues.

Case History

Patience is a virtue—so the old saying goes. That’s especially true when you are fighting against government bureaucrats who never seem to tire in their battles for control over the land.

In the case of Sidney Longwell, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, his patience was tested to the utter limit. For thirty-five years, Mr. Longwell fought a David vs. Goliath battle against the ultimate legal foe—the federal government.

Thankfully, with the help of Mountain States Legal Foundation, Mr. Longwell won his case. But the government appealed, and the battle continues. The bureaucrats never tire in their quest for power to control the land and the lives of U.S. citizens.

Mr. Longwell first purchased a federal oil and gas lease in Montana’s Lewis and Clark National Forest in 1982. Despite passing decade-long environmental and archeological reviews, the Clinton administration suspended his lease in 1993, and continued to suspend the lease ultimately for over two decades—for a list of ever-changing reasons.

Mr. Longwell’s thirty five-year battle with the federal government appeared to end on September 24th, when a federal judge ruled that the Department of the Interior had wrongly cancelled his oil and gas lease and revoked his right to drill on the lease.

In his ruling, Judge Richard J. Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia criticizes the federal government for its “unreasonable agency delay,” which he characterized as “Kafkaesque.”

In 2015, Mr. Longwell won his initial court battle over the government’s unreasonable delays. In 2016, however, the federal government, when pressed by the judge to make a decision regarding whether Mr. Longwell could drill on his lease, did the unthinkable and unprecedented—it responded by cancelling Mr. Longwell’s lease altogether and voided the permit to drill he received in 1993!

Imagine if a business owner behaved that way. It after the customer paid for the product and then waited in line for thirty-five years only to be told, “Sorry, we’re not giving you what you paid for but we’re keeping your money!”

Judge Leon pulled no punches in his ruling. He blasted the government’s decision to cancel the lease after three decades as “arbitrary and capricious”: “Federal defendants appear to argue that no time-period, however long, would prove too attenuated to reconsider the issuance of a lease under newly discovered legal theories… Horsefeathers!”

Judge Leon ordered Mr. Longwell’s lease and his right to drill reinstated.

But the government appealed Judge Leon’s ruling. The Trump Administration continued to support the decision of Obama’s Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, to cancel the lease. More ominously, radical environmental groups that intervened in Mr. Longwell’s lawsuit said they would never give up on their demand that Mr. Longwell’s rights be taken away from him.

Victory At Last

However, in a major victory, on September 9, 2022, Judge Richard Leon of the US District Court for the District of Columbia once again ruled in favor of our client Solenex. This ruling reaffirmed the lack of authority that a Secretary of the Interior has to cancel a valid lease once it has been issued. Judge Leon’s decision marked a crucial milestone in the legal saga, emphasizing that the DOI’s actions in canceling the lease were “Kafkaesque.”  His stern rebuke of the DOI’s actions sent a clear message about the limits of bureaucratic power and the importance of adhering to the rule of law. This ruling was a decisive victory for the Longwell family, and for property rights advocates, putting an end to what Judge Leon called an “interminable, and insufferable, bureaucratic chess match.”

In a final resolution to the decades-long struggle, the Department of the Interior and the intervening environmental groups agreed to a settlement with Solenex. The settlement, announced in late 2023, involved the federal government and the intervening parties paying a total of $2.63 million to Solenex to conclude the litigation. The federal government contributed $2 million, and the intervening activists provided the remaining $624,700. This settlement not only compensated the Longwell family for the prolonged legal battle but also underscored the legal victories achieved. Sidney Longwell’s enduring fight for justice, which spanned over five presidential administrations, finally culminated in a tangible victory, securing fairness and due process under the law. The resolution of this case serves as a testament to perseverance in the face of bureaucratic intransigence and a reminder of the importance of holding government agencies accountable for their actions.

When fighting a court battle against the government in defense of their rights, many people run out of money to pay the high legal costs involved, or they simply run out of willpower and give up. Thankfully, MSLF’s supporters made it possible for us to stand and fight next to Sidney over the course of this decades-long struggle to uphold the rule of law.

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MSLF’s Solenex Victory Featured in Behind the Black

Mountain States Legal Foundation was recently featured in Behind the Black by Robert Zimmerman. His article featured MSLF’s recent victory in the Solenex case on behalf of Sydney Longwell (1939-2020)…

MSLF Client Dies, Still Waiting for Justice

Sidney Longwell, an entrepreneur in the finest tradition of the American Frontier, passed away after 38 years of waiting for justice in his lawsuit against the federal government.

Final Victory for Sidney

MSLF did not rest until the Longwells got justice. We do not rest until the Constitution, the law, and the natural rights of liberty are restored.

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