By now the demise of the Otter Creek mine is old news. I thought I should write something about it but I didn’t. Talking to a good friend a couple weeks later, I told him that it felt weird to write, photograph, organize and spend a significant amount of my life and emotional energy on something and then let the end of it pass without a note or retrospective. He told me that I’ve already written everything I needed to. He was right. I was content to sit…
By now you know that Arch Coal declared bankruptcy. We all knew it was coming. At first I didn’t think there was much to say about it beyond what the news articles were reporting but then I read Tom Lutey’s recent story in the Gazette and I think it is worth addressing the comments by John Tubbs, the director of Montana’s Department of Natural Resources (DNRC). Tubbs told Lutey that it was unlikely that Arch Coal would let Otter Creek collapse given the amount of money they had invested…
It’s nice to see Governor Bullock delegating some big responsibilities. It’s an election year, you know. He must be very busy. And, in terms of addressing climate change policy for our state, I couldn’t think of a better person to hand that over to than Senator Duane Ankney. Bullock’s advisory council line-up is great if the goal is to ensure that the federal government will have to step in to mandate how we will meet our obligations for carbon reduction under the Clean Power Plan. Or maybe he just wants…
“If there is any hope for the world at all, it does not live in climate change conference rooms or in cities with tall buildings. It lives low down on the ground, with its arm around the people who go to battle everyday to protect their forests, their mountains and their rivers because they know that the forests, their mountains and their rivers protect them. ” – Arundhati Roy. On Monday, I sat on the bench just outside the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council chambers. At 12:24 my friend…
On Monday representatives from the Surface Transportation Board came to Ashland, Montana to host a public meeting about the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the proposed Tongue River Railroad. They call it a meeting. I call it a box they can check off when they go back to Washington D.C. The word meeting implies a coming together of people to have a discussion. They make it very clear they won’t be answering any questions from the public. The STB and ICF staff read a pre-written script that was approved by…
According to the Surface Transportation Board (STB), coal miners are going to lose their job if the proposed Otter Creek mine and Tongue River Railroad (TRR) are built. Seems counterintuitive doesn’t it? I’ll explain shortly but before I get started let’s get some things out of the way in the spirit of full disclosure. Am I the right messenger on this? Probably not but no one else seems to want to dive into these waters so here it goes. You all know that I am personally opposed to…
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) released the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the proposed Tongue River Railroad on April 27, 2015 and gave the public 60-days to comment. The document in printed form weighs over 20 pounds and presents 11 different alternative routes. Commenting on an environmental impact statement is tricky stuff. In order to get an actual response to your comment you have to submit a “substantive” comment. A substantive comment, as defined by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), is a comment that suggests the…
It’s here. On April 17, 2015 the Surface Transportation Board (STB) released the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the proposed Tongue River Railroad (TRR) and I am just getting around to writing about it. I was prompted by a reader who commented on my last TRR blog, “why haven’t you written about this yet!!!” The answer is that I am trying to read and take notes and check references on thousands of pages of the DEIS (weighs about 20lbs) so I can write substantive comments in the short 60-day time frame…
Here is a quick update for folks following the proposed Otter Creek mine. (#1 is background for #2 and #3, #4 is just common sense). 1. In 2012, Arch Coal submitted an application to acquire a permit from the state of Montana to mine coal in the Otter Creek Valley, a couple years after they leased the coal tracts. In bureaucratic speak, what they submitted is called a “permit application.” It was a shit permit application. Arch Coal left out entire sections, had poor baseline data and did not come…
In 2010, Arch Coal leased the Otter Creek coal tracts from the state of Montana. If you are interested in how the proposed Otter Creek mine came to be please read my short Otter Creek play that I wrote,”Once Upon A Mine”. There is supposed to be a part II but I’m having a hard time making it funny since whole debacle is so goddamned depressing. However, I am not writing today to talk about the leasing or the corporate pandering by our elected officials or the lack of vision for…