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Recent posts
- 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
- Stillwater County News: “Workable framework” adopted for potential southern county zone
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Tag Archives: Tom richmond
Action Alert: Your voice needed on new Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation chemical disclosure rule
Your help is needed. The Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation (BOGC) will be holding a public hearing on its proposed new rules for fracking chemical disclosure. Quite simply, these proposed rules are not strong enough to adequately protect landowners and it is important for you to lend your voice to make sure landowners’ voices are clearly heard.
There will be a live hearing in Billings on September 17 at 2pm. Please come if you can, or send your email comments to the Board no later than September 24.
To find out more, click the link. Continue reading
Action Alert: Prevent the Montana Senate from taking landowner rights
A bill currently being considered in the Montana State Senate significantly reduces landowner rights in protecting property from damage from oil drilling on or near occupied buildings. SB93, currently before the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee, would reduce notification requirements approved last year by the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation (BOGC). Those regulations require oil and gas operators to notify owners of “occupied structures” within a quarter mile of a well before drilling.
The BOGC rule, passed last December, was the result of a 20-month process involving Montana environmental groups, with input from the Montana Petroleum Association. The process grew out of the Legislature’s rejection in the 2015 session of SB177, which would have established a 1000 foot minimum buffer zone, or setback, between wellheads and a home, water well, or surface water. The bill did not make it out of committee.
Following the failure of the bill, Northern Plains Resource Council and others petitioned the BOGC to establish minimum setbacks to protect landowners. After 20 months of hearings, testimony by landowners, and committee meetings, the BOGC passed its new rule last December. The rule requires notification in advance of drilling to any landowner within a quarter mile of a wellhead.
To find out what you can do to keep this bill from passing, follow the link. Continue reading
What’s wrong with the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation
The Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation (BOGC) is not serving the needs of the people of the state and is in need of substantive reform. The current BOGC model may have worked better back in history when mineral extraction … Continue reading
Posted in Community Organization, Politics and History, Fracking Information
Tagged 48 hour rule, Belfry well, Billings Gazette, BOGC, Bonnie Martinell, Bret Smelser, Carbon County Resource Council, Charles Sangmeister, Energy Corporation of America, groundwater contamination, hearing, John Mork, Lawsuit, Linda King, Mark Quarles, Mineral rights, Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation, Northern Plains Resource Council, Peggy Nerud, split estate, Stillwater Protective Association, surface rights, Tom richmond, violations
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Montana Petroleum Forum at the Elks in Red Lodge, January 30
On January 30 there will be a panel on issues regarding petroleum exploration and development in Montana, at the Elks Lodge in Red Lodge from 6-8pm. The panel, sponsored by The Elks, will present on geological studies in Carbon County, … Continue reading
