For those of you who couldn’t make yesterday’s meeting, here is a video of the proceedings.

You can view the video in full screen mode by clicking on the icon to the left of the word “Vimeo” in the bottom right corner of the viewer.

Silvertip organic farmer Bonnie Martinell presents the zone. Click to enlarge.

I received this early Tuesday morning, so in the interest of getting it online I won’t offer much commentary, but I’ll leave you with an overall impression based on conversations with several of the attendees:

The outcome of the meeting was not a strong yea or nay, but the beginning of a process that will take some time. Bonnie Martinell did a great job of presenting the case for a Silvertip zone. Two of the three Commissioners were in attendance, and both asked questions and raised objections and concerns, as did the County Attorney and the County Planner.

The next task will be for the petitioners to present a zoning document, which should happen this week. This document will describe the specific regulations requested for the zone. The Commission will review the signatures and the document, and will come back next month with a response,

L toR: Doug Tucker, County Commissioner; Alex Nixon, County Attorney; Brent Moore, County Planner; John Prinkki, County Commissioner. Click to enlarge.

Much more to come — this is going to take patience and perseverance. Thanks to all those who attended. It was a huge turnout for a public meeting in Red Lodge. It will be important to keep up this level of support for the petitioners as we go forward.

Action items:

• Contact the Carbon County Commissioners to let them know you support the Silvertip Zone. Key points to include: the Silvertip zone is necessary to enable farmers and ranchers in Carbon County protect their land, their water, and their livelihoods. The zone will provide protections that state and federal law do not provide. It enables mineral rights holders to get their oil, but to do it in a way that is fair for everyone involved.
  • The County Commissioners are John Prinkki, John Grewell, and Doug Tucker
  • Their email address is commissioners@co.carbon.mt.us
  • The County Commissioners phone is 446-1595

Public discussion. Click to enlarge.

• Continue to follow developments on this blog and on the Facebook page No Fracking the Beartooth Front
• Plan to attend public meetings to keep the pressure on the County Commissioners
• Join Northern Plains Resource Council or its affiliates, Carbon County Resource Council and Stillwater Protective Association to support the effort.

NEW! Check out Ed Kemmick’s coverage of the meeting over at lastbestnews.com

NEW 8/20/14! Billings Gazette coverage by Tom Lutey

Thanks to Jay West of Red Lodge for the video