Our Mission
Eastern Montana Resource Council is a grassroots organization of farmers, ranchers and concerned citizens who wish to promote, preserve and protect our land, water, air and food for future generations. EMRC will work for a fair economic environment for agriculture and to preserve rural communities.
Our History
Dawson Resource Council (DRC) was established in 1978. After more than four decades of successful local organizing, DRC voted to expand its work and rename itself Eastern Montana Resource Council in 2024.
Issues We Work On
Rural Economic Development
In December 2022, Montana Dakota Utilities (MDU) filed for a rate increase with the Montana Public Service Commission (PSC). This proposal increased rates for residential electricity customers by 19.2% and commercial customers by an average of 14%. By MDU’s calculations, this would have increased electricity bills for the average customer by over $200 a year. Working together, we managed to force the PSC to cut the rate increase by more than half, saving eastern Montana communities over $5 million a year.
Agriculture and Local Foods
Agriculture is the backbone of eastern Montana. But money leaves the state every day when we feed our families. The Eastern Montana Resource Council is supporting policies like Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) to keep agriculture viable, diversify our local economy, and revitalize our rural communities by rebuilding a food system that works for both farmers and eaters.
Rural Schools
In November 2023, we got a note from a concerned parent in Glendive, “My community needs work on all of their schools. I have an 8th and a 6th grader and have literally contemplated moving so they can attend safer schools.” After a contentious school bond and levy barely passed in Glendive, our eastern Montana members knew that we had to start looking for solutions. Unfortunately, this story is not unique to Glendive. Many Montana communities have been struggling to upgrade aging school infrastructure and need help now.
The Eastern Montana Resource Council worked to submit a proposal to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. We are proud to announce the state has incorporated our proposal into a federal grant application and asked for almost $25 million to fund it.
Radioactive Oil Waste
Glendive is home to Montana’s first radioactive oil waste disposal facility, which receives waste from North Dakota’s oilfields. In partnership with Northern Plains, Eastern Montana Resource Council has worked since the facility’s opening in 2013 to watchdog operations there, and push for better landowner and water protections around radioactive oil waste disposal across our state.
Industrial Development
Corporations have a fiduciary responsibility to their shareholders to maximize profits. That means that they will try to get the best deal possible for themselves when they negotiate agreements with landowners.
Eastern Montana Resource Council (EMRC) organized a seminar to inform landowners about property rights as proposed wind farm projects enter the region. Montana-based property rights attorney Hertha Lund shared insights about how landowners can negotiate the most beneficial deals with potential energy developers if they choose to.
Click here to view resources on how to negotiate with landmen and corporations.
History and Accomplishments
- Wrote a grant used by the state to apply for $25 million for school infrastructure upgrades.
- Fought utility rate increases from MDU and saved eastern Montana millions of dollars.
- Wrote stricter protections on radioactive oil waste adopted by the state of Montana.
- Helped to found Glendive Recycles Our Waster (GROW), Glendive’s volunteer recycling
service. - Makoshika State Park is one of Glendive’s most treasured landscapes, and the largest
state park in Montana. In the early 2000s, the park was under threat of oil and gas drilling. EMRC successfully passed legislation to protect Makoshika from drilling, and managed to double the park in size, while we were at it. - In the 1980s, EMRC helped rewrite foreclosure laws to ensure that farmers and ranchers facing loss of their land could walk away with more than what existing laws guaranteed them (hint: it wasn’t much). We also helped recover bank shares owned by farmers (through farm loans) that farmers were losing as banks went out of business.
- Protected taxpayers from footing the bill for a proposed coal synfuels plant in Wibaux County. The company proposing the plant, Tenneco, sought government funding to pay for the biggest share of their project. When Tenneco couldn’t get the funding they wanted, they withdrew their plans to build it.
- Ensured that all coal mining leases would be subject to updated environmental standards. In 1976, the federal government gave anyone that had filed for a permit prior to that year the right to not do a full environmental impact statement, under what was called “preference rights leasing.” EMRC successfully lobbied against that grandfather clause, ensuring that all mines would be held to the same rules.
- In the 1990s, EMRC worked on international trade issues in NAFTA, GATT, and the importation of Canadian grain. We coordinated an effective local campaign to fight NAFTA, and our members even met with Max Baucus, Conrad Burns, and Pat Williams. In 1994, we worked closely with farm organizations and allies in Canada to change policy around Canadian grain imports. Our panel discussion of the trade conflict redefined the debate for the Canadian Wheat Board.
Leadership
Chair
Melissa Holt
Vice-Chair
Debbie Olson-Sevier
Secretary
Millie Robinson
Treasurer
Bruce Peterson
Northern Plains Board
Representative
Kristine Aus
Community Organizer
Annalise Eiffert
annalise@northernplains.org