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Arch Coal: Incompetent or Arrogant?
That is the question that some of us are asking after Arch Coal submitted an obviously incomplete permit application for the proposed Otter Creek coal mine to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) at the end of last year. Following Montana’s… Read more >
Kill the Bad Bills, Not the Buffalo: UPDATED
Last March marked a historic step forward in restoring wild bison to the American prairies when more than 60 bison from Yellowstone National Park were released on the Fort Peck Reservation in eastern Montana. Tribal members from Fort Peck and Fort… Read more >
Why the Otter Creek Coal Mine Will Never be Built
Guest post by Vanessa Braided Hair. Yesterday, a news station in Billings, Montana ran an interview with Arch Coal representative Mike Rowlands in which he stated that the Otter Creek coal mine, proposed for southeastern Montana, will be in operation by… Read more >
Northern Cheyenne Tribal Members Demand Comprehensive Study of the Otter Creek Coal Mine
Yesterday more than 170 Northern Cheyenne tribal members submitted detailed and substantive comments to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) asking for a thorough, transparent and comprehensive study of the proposed Otter Creek coal mine in southeastern Montana. Tribal… Read more >
Montana’s Otter Creek Valley and Its Wildlife Need Your Help
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is accepting comments from the public on the proposed Otter Creek coal mine in southeastern Montana. Arch Coal, the second largest coal company in the nation, wants to strip mine the valley for… Read more >
Building a coal train, Tongue River Railroad style
This week, in a calculated move, backers of the Tongue River Railroad Company submitted a new route to the Surface Transportation Board (STB). This route change comes almost a month after the STB held scoping hearings in southeastern Montana. This new… Read more >
Leave the Tongue River valley alone: The Northern Cheyenne have the last word about the Tongue River Railroad
We don’t want a coal train to destroy the Tongue River valley and we don’t want a coal mine to destroy the Otter Creek valley.That is the message that the Surface Transportation Board (STB) staff heard all week in eastern… Read more >
What Voice Do We Have?: Environmental justice and the Tongue River Railroad
On Wednesday evening, the auditorium of the St. Labre School in Ashland, Montana was packed. Northern Cheyenne tribal members, land owners, ranchers and hunters came to the third public scoping hearing on the Tongue River Railroad (TRR) and told the… Read more >
Cows and trains don’t mix: Ranchers stand up against the Tongue River Railroad in second public hearing
Yesterday, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) staff members moved down the valley to hold public scoping hearings in Forsyth, MT after meeting with the Northern Cheyenne in Lame Deer on Monday. They met a similar level of opposition to the railroad as… Read more >
Northern Cheyenne raise concerns about the Tongue River Railroad in first public hearing
Yesterday, braving Montana’s icy roads and freezing temperatures, over 50 Northern Cheyenne tribal members from the small community of Lame Deer gathered to tell representatives of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board (STB) of their concerns about the Tongue River Railroad, a proposed… Read more >

