News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, March 28, 2018 Groups join states in seeking to ensure companies pay their fair share for taxpayer-owned minerals OAKLAND, Calif.— Four conservation groups moved today to intervene in a lawsuit challenging a loophole that allows fossil fuel companies to avoid paying their fair share of royalties when publicly owned minerals are […]

Join us for a people’s hearing on Sunday, March 25 to tell the EPA Montanans stand with clean power!

After several years of complaints from neighbors in Dawson County, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality released a draft of proposed regulations for landfills licensed to hold low-level radioactive waste last August. The only such landfill licensed and operating in Montana or in North Dakota is located in Dawson County. It holds radioactive oilfield waste […]

By Matt Hudson Montana’s capacity for radioactive oilfield waste could be expanded soon as regulators finalize rules for disposal. State officials are reviewing the license application for the Yellowstone Disposal landfill. It’s a project backed by a North Dakota-based company, which plans to build on 2,600 acres of land 4.5 miles southeast of Sidney. Within […]

Today, the federal Bureau of Land Management finalized the delay of much of its Methane and Waste Prevention rule until January 2019. In response, Northern Plains Resource Council issued the following statement: “Secretary Zinke’s decision to suspend these protections that safeguard the clean air, health, and economic vitality of oilfield communities is a deep betrayal […]

Pipeline Challenge is Allowed to Proceed Great Falls, MT—Today, Judge Brian Morris of Great Falls ruled that a federal lawsuit brought by conservation and landowner groups over the Trump Administration’s approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline could proceed. Morris’s decision rejected a motion made by the State Department and TransCanada to dismiss the […]

By Jeanie Alderson Northern Plains Resource Council Montana has been shaped by the image of the cattle industry. Cows grazing, hardy ranching families working the land and the rough-hewn hands of butchers are all iconic images of our state’s heritage. We represent two different ends of this heritage – the rancher who raises the cattle, […]

By Holly Michels Many who support the Department of Environmental Quality’s first-time effort to regulate radioactive oilfield waste disposal sites still find a draft of the rules severely lacking. More than a dozen people testified in Helena on Thursday, all proponents of DEQ’s proposal for how to handle radioactive oilfield waste dumps. The rules will […]

By Nate Heygi On Thursday, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality held a public hearing on draft rules to oversee the disposal of radioactive oil waste in the state. Radioactive oil waste, also known as TENORM, is the sludge that’s pulled out of the ground when companies are fracking or drilling for oil. It is […]

When the Bakken boomed, North Dakota got the bulk of oil development and Montana got most of the radioactive waste. North Dakota prohibited disposal of radioactive filter socks and other radioactive drilling waste. Montana had no rules, so the waste ended up here. Finally, Montana is moving forward with public health and safety rules specific […]