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Recent posts
- Beartooth landowners victorious in lawsuit against Stillwater County
- PLEASE NOTE: Change in Zoom access code for today’s hearing
- Action alert: Watch court hearing on Zoom, Thursday, 2:00 pm
- Action alert: Stillwater County Planning Board meeting, Wed, 9/4, 7pm
- Must attend! Stillwater County Planning Board: Wednesday, August 7, 7pm
Blog Archives
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Author Archives: davidjkatz
Guest editorial by Bonnie Martinell: “Protecting property rights in Montana: You have to do it yourself.”
The following guest editorial by Bonnie Martinell will appear in the Billings Gazette on Tuesday, August 25. It concerns the failure of Montana government agencies to protect landowner property rights, and the efforts of a group of Belfry landowners to secure those rights in the Montana Supreme Court. Continue reading
Announcing the latest winner of the Rex Tillerson Fracking Hypocrite Award
We here at Preserve the Beartooth Front are pleased to announce the latest recipient of the Rex Tillerson Fracking Hypocrite Award. The Award is a 160-foot water tower, engraved with Rex Tillerson’s photo, delivered to the recipient’s front yard.
We’ve written often about Rex. He’s the CEO of ExxonMobil who publicly complained that “dysfunctional regulation of hydraulic fracturing is holding back the American economic recovery, growth and global competitiveness,” and then joined with his neighbors in a lawsuit to block construction of a large water tower, to be used to support fracking operations, next to his Texas home.
Click to see which Montanan is today’s award winner.
Montana Board of Oil and Gas refuses to take up setbacks
At its meeting on Wednesday, the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation (BOGC) decided not to take up rulemaking for setbacks. Instead, they created a review panel to consider the issue. This is another example of a Montana state agency running roughshod over the rights of surface owners, whose only recourse is local regulation.
The record speaks for itself. The state of Montana has no interest in setting up reasonable protections for landowners from oil and gas drilling. It is up to local landowners to do it themselves, using provisions for citizen initiated zoning established in Montana law. Continue reading
Energy Corporation of America Stillwater drilling permit expires
Energy Corporation of America (ECA) has allowed the company’s permit for the Holman Morse 1-H well in the Dean area of Stillwater County to expire, according to the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation (BOGC). For those familiar with the area, the well is across the road from Montana Jack’s, which has also expired.
While this is welcome news in the short term, it shouldn’t change our resolve to put in place meaningful local regulation of oil and gas. Continue reading
Silvertip landowners appeal to Montana Supreme Court
“The ability of neighboring landowners to unilaterally strip us of our right to protect our properties will remain an obstacle to local control throughout Montana unless the state Supreme Court decides this important issue.” Continue reading
Time for the Montana Board of Oil and Gas to step forward on setbacks
The Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation (BOGC) will take up the issue of whether to begin rulemaking on establishing oil and gas setbacks — the minimum distance between oil and gas wells and homes or other occupied buildings … Continue reading
Important documents for Thursday’s meeting on the Stillwater River Road closure
” When these seeps are no longer visible, then it is our opinion the risk of failure is basically the same as it was before the recent rock slide. Assuming some risk is acceptable, then it is our opinion the road can be cleared and opened when the visible seeps are no longer apparent.“ Continue reading
The resource curse: how dependence on oil and gas hurts communities in the long run
New evidence clearly shows that communities impacted by an oil boom suffer long-term loss of per capita income, higher crime and lower educational attainment. Continue reading
Preserve the Beartooth Front 