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The Tongue River Railroad’s Failed Public Process
* To my readers. Don’t worry about the pessimistic nature of this post. We will still beat the Tongue River Railroad and the Otter Creek coal mine, with or without a fair public process. Last week, during a three-day meeting… 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 >
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 >
Northern Cheyenne Travel 1,200 Miles to Testify Against Coal Port
On Monday, December 3, eight Northern Cheyenne tribal members and one Crow tribal member drove over 1200 miles round trip, in the middle of winter, from their homes on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in southeastern Montana to Spokane, WA where… 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 >
The Tongue River Railroad Tries Again: The Little Engine That Couldn’t, Part 1
For my entire life, the Tongue River Railroad Company has been trying – and failing – to build a single purpose rail line to haul coal along the scenic Tongue River in southeastern Montana. Earlier this year, their permit to… Read more >
Will a Coal Train Kill the Last Dinosaur?
On Wednesday, those of us who are working to protect the wildlife in southeastern Montana were surprised to learn that the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) Commission was planning to vote on an easement agreement that FWP staff attorneys had negotiated with… Read more >
