Summer - Northern Plains Resource Council
Summer - Northern Plains Resource Council
Summer - Northern Plains Resource Council
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
1990<br />
From The <strong>Plains</strong> Truth vault<br />
Eastern Montana viewed as waste dump<br />
<strong>Northern</strong> <strong>Plains</strong> begins working on waste disposal issues after a proposal is<br />
made to ship out-of-state garbage to Miles City on empty coal trains.<br />
Rancher’s leases pulled<br />
July/August 1991<br />
Meridian Minerals Co. publicly announced it was canceling grazing<br />
leases held by Pete Tully, President of the Bull Mountain Landowners<br />
Association. The company, a Burlington <strong>Resource</strong>s subsidiary, is pulling the<br />
railroad land-grant leases as retaliation for a letter Tully wrote expressing<br />
the group's opposition to a proposed underground coal mine in the Bull<br />
Mountains.<br />
Congress takes historic step toward 1872 reform<br />
June 1992<br />
Victory! <strong>Northern</strong> <strong>Plains</strong> and our allies throughout the country celebrated<br />
an important and long-awaited victory when the U.S. House Interior<br />
Committee approved a strong, comprehensive reform of the 1872 Mining<br />
Law. In 120 years, no congressional committee has ever voted for reform this<br />
extensive. [The full House later rejected it.]<br />
Non-existent coal railroad proposes extension<br />
August 1992<br />
Members turned out in force at public hearings in Lame Deer, Forsyth,<br />
Miles City, and Sheridan, Wyoming, to voice their opposition to the<br />
41-mile expansion of the (still proposed) Tongue River Railroad from Ashland<br />
to Decker. <strong>Northern</strong> <strong>Plains</strong> submitted more than 1,000 letters from area<br />
residents opposing the TRR.<br />
‘Mine All Mine’ mining claim staked<br />
October 1993<br />
Sixty-five <strong>Northern</strong> <strong>Plains</strong> members staked a mining claim in an off-road<br />
motorbike course in the South Hills of Billings. The area was claimed in<br />
the name of "Mine All Mine Mining Co." to make a point: Until the 1872<br />
Mining Law is reformed, multiple use of public lands will be in jeopardy.<br />
Protecting our water quality<br />
May 1994<br />
t a state Department of Health hearing, Past Chair Richard Parks gave<br />
A a graphic demonstration of proposed changes to Water Quality Rules.<br />
He produced several jars of water and a glass pitcher. One jar was filled with<br />
<strong>Northern</strong> <strong>Plains</strong> 1990s timeline<br />
FOR 40 years protecti<br />
<strong>Northern</strong> <strong>Plains</strong> in 1990s challenge<br />
Jan.<br />
1990:<br />
Paul<br />
Hawks<br />
is Chair<br />
May 1990:<br />
Beartooth<br />
Alliance in<br />
Cooke City<br />
affiliates<br />
with<br />
<strong>Northern</strong><br />
<strong>Plains</strong><br />
The The <strong>Plains</strong> Truth Spring <strong>Summer</strong> 2008 2012 Page Page 8 8<br />
<strong>Northern</strong> <strong>Plains</strong> has never backed<br />
away from taking on corporate<br />
interests that continue to<br />
degrade our water quality, make life<br />
difficult for our family farmers and<br />
ranchers, and in general try to whittle<br />
away at the quality of life we share in<br />
Montana in order to make a quick buck.<br />
This was definitely true of <strong>Northern</strong><br />
<strong>Plains</strong> in the 1990s.<br />
<strong>Northern</strong> <strong>Plains</strong> brought our cando<br />
attitude into a decade filled with<br />
challenges from many directions.<br />
<strong>Northern</strong> <strong>Plains</strong> worked with a<br />
nationwide campaign for reform of<br />
the 1872 Mining Law, a long-obsolete<br />
law enacted to encourage settlement<br />
of the West, but which has led to<br />
terrible damage to lands and watersheds<br />
in Montana and other states. While<br />
our efforts came close to achieving<br />
meaningful reform, hard-rock mining<br />
interests were able to muster enough<br />
political support to stave off reform.<br />
Members of <strong>Northern</strong> <strong>Plains</strong> and affiliate<br />
Beartooth Alliance fought the New<br />
World project, a proposed gold mine at<br />
high elevation just outside Yellowstone<br />
National Park. In 1996, President<br />
Clinton signed an agreement that bought<br />
out the mine, allocated money for mine<br />
cleanup, and facilitated a transfer of<br />
federal minerals to the state of Montana.<br />
The victory was bittersweet, however,<br />
for the minerals the state received are the<br />
Otter Creek coal tracts.<br />
Hard-rock mining in the ’90s included<br />
expansion plans for platinum and<br />
palladium mining in the Beartooth<br />
Mountains and a number of cyanide heap<br />
leach gold mines statewide. Along with<br />
affiliates Stillwater Protective Association<br />
and Cottonwood <strong>Resource</strong> <strong>Council</strong>,<br />
we watchdogged the Stillwater Mining<br />
Company as it expanded operations and<br />
opened a new mine south of Big Timber.<br />
Residents were concerned about traffic<br />
on rural roads, construction of mancamps,<br />
and pollution of the Stillwater and<br />
Boulder Rivers by mine tailings and other<br />
contaminants. Members organized and<br />
entered into negotiations with SMC which<br />
eventually resulted in the Good Neighbor<br />
Agreement. This legally binding document,<br />
now in its 12th year, is a model for how to<br />
include citizens in an ongoing basis in the<br />
operations of large corporations.<br />
<strong>Northern</strong> <strong>Plains</strong> co-led the campaign for<br />
the Clean Water Initiative in 1996. The<br />
<br />
<br />
March 1990:<br />
Stillwater Mining<br />
Company<br />
reveals plans<br />
for large-scale<br />
platinum mine<br />
south of Big<br />
Timber<br />
Sept.1990:<br />
Custer<br />
<strong>Resource</strong><br />
Alliance<br />
affi liates with<br />
<strong>Northern</strong> <strong>Plains</strong><br />
July 1990:<br />
1300 Custer<br />
County residents<br />
sign petition<br />
against a<br />
proposed dump<br />
for Minnesota<br />
garbage<br />
May 1991:<br />
U.S. House<br />
subcommittee<br />
holds fi eld hearing<br />
at Eastern Montana<br />
College on<br />
reforming the 1872<br />
Mining Law<br />
Feb. 1991:<br />
Members hold a<br />
"garbage drive"<br />
at the State<br />
Captiol seeking<br />
a bill to control<br />
siting of large<br />
garbage dumps<br />
Nov. 1991:<br />
Richard<br />
Parks<br />
elected Chair<br />
May 1992:<br />
Ross Electric<br />
proposes to<br />
burn PCBladen<br />
electric<br />
transformers<br />
in Baker<br />
Sept. 1992:<br />
<strong>Northern</strong> <strong>Plains</strong><br />
forms Waste<br />
Task Force to<br />
address proposals<br />
to dump out-ofstate<br />
garbage in<br />
Eastern Montana<br />
Sept. 1992:<br />
State Health<br />
Board grants an<br />
exemption to Water<br />
Quality Act for<br />
proposed platinum/<br />
paladium mine on<br />
East Boulder River.<br />
The fi rst Birney<br />
Barbecue,<br />
an annual<br />
fundraiser for<br />
<strong>Northern</strong> <strong>Plains</strong>’<br />
Tongue River<br />
Railroad Task<br />
Force, was held<br />
at Irv Alderson’s<br />
Bones Brothers<br />
Ranch near<br />
Birney in 1992.<br />
Nov. 1992: In a<br />
memorable <strong>Northern</strong><br />
<strong>Plains</strong> 20th anniversary<br />
speech, Paul Hawks<br />
describes <strong>Northern</strong><br />
<strong>Plains</strong> as a family and "a<br />
community of common<br />
values and common<br />
purpose."<br />
<br />
May 1993:<br />
After 22 years<br />
in the Stapleton<br />
Building,<br />
<strong>Northern</strong> <strong>Plains</strong><br />
and WORC move<br />
offices to historic<br />
Rex Hotel<br />
April 1993:<br />
Southeastern<br />
Montana Alliance<br />
(SEMA) in Carter<br />
and Fallon<br />
Counties affiliates<br />
with <strong>Northern</strong><br />
<strong>Plains</strong><br />
Nov. 1993:<br />
Tom<br />
Breitbach<br />
elected<br />
Chair<br />
<br />
Jan. 1994:<br />
U.S. EPA says<br />
Billings has<br />
worst annual<br />
concentrations of<br />
sulfur dioxide of<br />
476 sites in the<br />
country<br />
1994:<br />
Audubon<br />
magazine<br />
describes Richard<br />
Parks as "the<br />
inevitable man<br />
of Montana<br />
conservation"<br />
Nov. 1994:<br />
Farmer, poet, writer,<br />
and philospher<br />
Wendell Berry is<br />
Annual Meeting<br />
keynote speaker<br />
<br />
May 1994:<br />
Billings residents rally<br />
for clean air and send<br />
a message to the<br />
1995 legislature to<br />
revoke the clean-air<br />
exemption for Billings<br />
<br />
March 19<br />
More than<br />
inside Sta<br />
demand G<br />
veto seve<br />
industry-s<br />
bills that w<br />
Water Qu