News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 26, 2019 Click here for DEQ draft radioactive oil waste rules and hearings schedule. BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) last week released an update to proposed rules guiding the disposal of radioactive oil waste in Montana. Among the proposed changes is a quadrupling of Montana’s radioactivity concentration limit for […]

MINT and Northern Plains team up to bring Wild and Scenic Film Festival to Babcock Theatre September 21 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 16, 2019 BILLINGS, Mont – The Montana International Film Festival (MINT) is partnering with Northern Plains Resource Council to host the Wild and Scenic Film Festival on Saturday, September 21, at the historic […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 1, 2019 BILLINGS, Mont. – Northern Plains Resource Council is hosting the fourth annual Montana Local Food Challenge. This August, participants are encouraged to eat something local every day of the month, participate in weekly challenges, and compete for weekly prizes. Local foods build local communities and local economies, support farm […]

Groups aim to ensure companies pay a fair return for taxpayer-owned minerals FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 25, 2019 Cheyenne, Wyo.— Five conservation groups moved today to intervene in a lawsuit to preserve the 2016 Valuation Rule, a set of federal requirements requiring fossil fuel companies to pay full royalties when extracting publicly owned minerals. The […]

Once-polluted stream is first to be removed from Montana’s Impaired Waters List FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 18, 2019 SILVER GATE, Mont. – Soda Butte Creek is the first stream polluted by mining ever to be removed from Montana’s Impaired Waters List. A celebration of this achievement takes place today with events in Cooke City and Silver Gate. For years, […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 11, 2019 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee held an oversight hearing on “The Future of the Federal Coal Program” to consider reform of the Department of the Interior coal leasing program. The Subcommittee heard testimony from four expert witnesses including Steve Charter, a rancher from Shepherd, MT and member of the Northern […]

Trump administration violated National Environmental Policy Act and Clean Water Act by approving controversial tar sands pipeline FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 1, 2019 Great Falls, MT— Northern Plains Resource Council joined a coalition of conservation groups in filing a federal lawsuit today challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ illegal approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline to […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 1, 2019 HELENA, Mont. – Today, Governor Steve Bullock announced an agenda for the state of Montana to address climate change during a “Facebook Live Town Hall” streamed on the social media platform. Becky Mitchell, the chair of Northern Plains Resource Council, responded to the Governor’s proposal with the following statement on behalf of the […]

This op-ed by member Jeanie Alderson was first printed in the Billings Gazette on Jun 30, 2019. It was also published in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the Missoulian, and the Montana Standard. The recent announcement of the closure of Colstrip Units 1 and 2 should concern all who live and work in Rosebud County. We […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 19, 2019 BILLINGS, Mont. — Today, the Environmental Protection Agency released its final carbon rule for the U.S. power industry which diminishes many of the air quality protections found in the Obama-era Clean Power Plan it replaces. Northern Plains Resource Council member, Mark Fix, a Miles rancher along the Tongue River, issued the following statement on behalf of Northern Plains: “This […]