Last chance to tell the Stillwater Commissioners how you feel about proposed zoning policy

Writing letters makes a difference.

We saw it last week when the BLM backed off on a decision to sell oil leases on the Beartooth Front because of public opposition.

The Stillwater County Commissioners have decided to rewrite Montana state law to keep landowners from establishing reasonable protections from drilling. They need to hear that you think that’s a bad idea.

Tuesday, March 13 is the last day they will accept email comments.

Here’s what you can do:

Send an email to commission@stillwater.mt.gov
Tell the commissioners that you oppose their proposed policy on citizen initiated zoning. Your letter doesn’t need to be detailed or brilliantly written. Here are some points you might want to make:
1. I oppose the proposed policy on citizen initiated zoning.
2. It is bad policy. It is impossible for any citizen group to follow it.
3. It was developed without input from local groups that have worked on zoning
4. It opposes the will of landowners
Be sure to send it by Tuesday, March 13.

This will only take a few minutes of your time and it will make a difference. Elected officials react when they know there is strong public opposition to their policies.

If you need more information:

Watch video of last week’s public hearing on the policy, in which 18 people spoke against the policy, and nobody spoke in favor of it:

About davidjkatz

The Moses family has lived on the Stillwater River since 1974, when George and Lucile Moses retired and moved to the Beehive from the Twin Cities. They’re gone now, but their four daughters (pictured at left, on the Beehive) and their families continue to spend time there, and have grown to love the area. This blog started as an email chain to keep the family informed about the threat of increased fracking activity in the area, but the desire to inform and get involved led to the creation of this blog.

View all posts by davidjkatz →

3 Responses to Last chance to tell the Stillwater Commissioners how you feel about proposed zoning policy

Steven says:

March 12, 2018 at 8:39 pm

I would say, that I wish that oil was extracted as cleanly as possible. But, it is never done this way. This is a piggy bank we need to save. Oil companies want the profits now, maybe they should get them decades from now instead.

Becky Grey says:

March 13, 2018 at 7:02 am

I oppose the proposed policy on citizen initiated zoning. It is bad policy. It is impossible for any citizen group to follow it.

summermuth says:

March 13, 2018 at 10:38 am

Dear Stillwater Commissioners,
The citizens have followed procedure correctly, and gathered the required number of signatures for starting the zoning talks. Landowners are just trying to protect their waters and air from pollution, which is inherent in the oil and gas extraction method of fracking. These people aren’t going away, so save the time and costs involved in resisting, and give the people their say!
Deborah in Carbon County, Montana