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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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Category Archives: Community Organization
Action alert: Watch court hearing on Zoom, Thursday, 2:00 pm
County Commissioners will be held at the County Courthouse in Columbus at2:00 pm on Thursday, May 14.
Because of coronavirus restrictions, the hearing will be held live on Zoom. In person attendance is not allowed.
To access the meeting on Zoom: Continue reading
Action alert: Stillwater County Planning Board meeting, Wed, 9/4, 7pm
The September meeting of the Stillwater County Planning Board will be held in Columbus on Wednesday, September 4 at the Stillwater County Pavilion (known as Little Metra) on the County Fairgrounds at 328 E. 5th Avenue North in Columbus.
This meeting will likely be a tough one for us, since we do not have a defined place on the agenda. We presented our draft regulations at the last meeting, and much of this meeting will be devoted to reaction to those regulations. This is why it is important for us to continue to come out in force for these meetings. This will be a long process, and we need to be out in front at every juncture.
Here is how you can be in action: Continue reading
Action alert: Your attendance needed at Stillwater County Planning Board meeting, July 3, 2019
There were continued positive developments in June in the Stillwater landowners’ attempts to establish a zoning district that will regulate oil and gas activity in southern Stillwater County. At the June meeting of the Planning Board, the Board voted to … Continue reading
Last chance for your voice to be heard on chemical disclosure; email comments due to Board of Oil and Gas today by 5pm
This is an urgent request for your personal action. The Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation (BOGC) is about to pass a rule on the advance disclosure of the chemicals used in fracking. This rule trades the rights of landowners for the rights of oil and gas companies. It’s a bad trade, and only your voice can make a difference at this point.
Comments are due at by email at 5pm today. Everything you need to know to comment is in this post. Please spend five minutes to make your voice heard. Continue reading
Media Coverage of Beartooth Front Coalition efforts to preserve landowner rights
The efforts of landowners in southern Stillwater County to guarantee long-term protection of their land has generated a lot of media coverage locally and across Montana over the last several weeks. The reason is clear — the landowners’ lawsuit against the County has long-term implications not only locally, but for landowner rights across the State.
In addition to this coverage, local residents deluged the Commissioners with dozens of letters opposing their position on citizen-initiated zoning.
This post provides links to published articles and letters. Continue reading
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.
Please click the link to find out what to do. It will only take a few minutes. Continue reading
Thanks to all who wrote: BLM will NOT sell leases on Beartooth Front next week
Good news for those of us working to maintain the balance between oil and gas development and the natural beauty and agricultural economy of the Beartooth Front.
Three leases in the Beartooth Foothills will not be put up for sale as planned next week, the BLM announced today. The parcels were scheduled to be part of an online auction on March 13.
Special thanks are due to those of you who wrote to the BLM last September to urge that these leases not be sold. Continue reading
BREAKING: Beartooth Front landowners file legal action against Stillwater Commissioners
The Beartooth Front landowners who have been working since 2014 to set up a citizen-initiated zone in southern Stillwater County have filed a legal action against the Stillwater County Commissioners and the County Clerk and Recorder.
The landowners made the decision to sue reluctantly, but felt they had no choice because the Commissioners have for years ignored the will of the overwhelming majority of landowners in the proposed zone. Over 550 of them petitioned in November, 2015 to set up a zone in accordance with Montana law.
To find out more and read the lawsuit click the link.
ACTION ALERT: Please contact the Stillwater County Commissioners to stop them from taking landowner rights
Not content just to block Beartooth Front landowners from setting regulations that would protect their own properties, the Stillwater County Commissioners have devised a policy that will forever keep any local landowners from using their rights under Montana state law. The policy will be voted on after a public hearing in Columbs at 9:30am on March 6.
The Commissioners tried to sneak this policy past the public on January 24, but were stopped when local landowners forced them to follow their own policy on public notice.
This is not a policy. It is just a way to keep landowners from exercising their rights under the law.
The Commissioners have asked for public comment. This is where you come in. Please click the link and let them know how feel. Continue reading
Stillwater County Beartooth Zone: The Commissioners’ position is not only illegal, it is completely undemocratic
The Stillwater County Commissioners seem dead set on fighting County taxpayers in court to protect the rights of outsiders. No county in the history of Montana has ever taken their position, it is untested in court, and it is completely undemocratic and unfair.
To see how undemocratic the Commissioners’ position is, this post looks at two actual properties in the proposed zone.
No matter how County Attorney Nancy Rohde and the Commissioners try to spin it, there is no principle of law or justice in the United States of America in which a vacation cabin on a half acre should have 33 times the voice of a 1500-acre ranch that has been owned by the same family for 108 years.
To find out how to contact the people responsible for this nonsense, read the post. Continue reading
Preserve the Beartooth Front 