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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
Beartooth Front zone update: Stillwater Commissioners turn their backs on locals who pay their salaries; support unknown outsiders
A portion of this post will appear in the Opinion section of the Stillwater County News on Thursday, February 1.
By rejecting a petition of over 550 landowners to establish the Beartooth Front Zoning District, the Stillwater Commissioners this week, after three years of inaction, delays, and excuses, have decided to turn their backs on the people who pay their salaries to stand up for unknown outside interests.
To do this they had to make up new law that has never been used in a single one of the 111 existing citizen initiated zones that have been established in Montana over the last 65 years.
It’s hard to imagine why they would want to spend precious County resources to defend this fantasy law in court against local landowners who have spent three years coming up with a plan that has received the overwhelming support of their neighbors. But that’s what they’re going to have to do unless they come to their senses pretty quickly.
To find out more, and to learn what you can do to help, click the link. Continue reading
Do mineral rights have anything to do with citizen initiated zones in Montana?
While the Stillwater County Commissioners have conceded that zoning petitioners have met the minimum threshold of 60% of landowners in the proposed district, they are now questioning whether the holders of mineral rights in the district should be included in the petitioning process.
By my research, there are at least 110 citizen initiated zones that have been enacted under the law enabling citizens to petition for zoning, and it appears that not a single one required the signatures of mineral owners.
Why is this an issue now? Continue reading
Stillwater County Beartooth Front Zoning District update
I will be writing more about this in the near future, but want to pass along this update from the Beartooth Front Oil and Gas Committee. This has been a long battle, slowed to a crawl by the Stillwater County Commissioners, who have raised delay to a fine art. Continue reading
Learning opportunity: Earthworks activist training, Thursday, 2/9 at 6pm
Earthworks, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting communities and the environment from the adverse impacts of mineral and energy development, is offering an online training webinar for environmental activists this Thursday, February 9, at 6pm Mountain. This webinar will cover: … Continue reading
How Montanans stopped the largest new coal mine in North America
This article, written by Nick Engelfried at wagingnonviolence.com, is reposted with permission of the author. While it does not directly deal with oil and gas issues, it is an inspiring story of Montana communities working together against seemingly-insurmountable odds to overcome an energy giant. Continue reading
Posted in Community Organization
Tagged Arch Coal, Tongue River Railroad, wagingnonviolence.com
1 Comment
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.
Comparing the 2016 US presidential candidates on climate change
It won’t surprise you to know that there are stark differences between the 2016 Democratic and Republican presidential candidates with regard to their positions on climate change. Democrats accept the science on climate change and, for the most part, hold … Continue reading
Don’t miss! Award winning film director Andrew Renzi in Absarokee, July 26
Don’t miss this opportunity to hear award-winning director Andrew Renzi discuss his film about Montana ranch life. Continue reading
New EPA report links fracking to water contamination. That’s great, but local regulation is still required
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) yesterday released a new draft report on the potential impact of hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas on drinking water. The study concludes that there are “potential vulnerabilities in the water lifecycle that could impact … Continue reading
Preserve the Beartooth Front 
ACTION ALERT: Please write by September 20 to keep BLM from selling oil leases in Stillwater County
The Bureau of Land Management is proposing three oil and gas leases in Stillwater County for sale in March, 2018. Two are in Dean (MTM 105431-HW, MTM 79010-8R) and one is on East Fiddler Creek (MTM 79010-JJ). A public comment period is now open. Please make your voice heard by sending in comments about the lease by Wednesday, September 20.
Your comment is critical. The last time a lease was considered in Dean, it wound up being deferred, partly because there were 40 letters sent to BLM opposed to drilling.
Please forward this action alert to others who you think may be willing to send comments.
Comments should be emailed to: Continue reading →