Oil and Gas Leases Rile Residents
Plans by the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) to offer oil and gas leases on state lands in the Bridger Canyon and Bozeman Pass area, as well as on the Yellowstone, Shields and Boulder Rivers near Big Timber faced stiff opposition from dozens of concerned citizens and conservationists at the Land Board's August meeting. Despite the turnout, however, the results for conservation were decidedly mixed.
Yellowstone, Boulder and Shields River leases
Area residents and representatives from the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Montana Trout Unlimited, and local TU chapters brought their concerns over DNRC's plans to offer oil and gas leases on state sections through which the Yellowstone, Boulder and Shields Rivers flow.
Initial news reports raised worries that the leases would actually allow drilling in the riverbeds. That, however, did not turn out to be the case. Instead, the Land Board assured the citizens that no drilling would be done in the rivers and DNRC's director, Mary Sexton, said the department was planning to require a quarter-mile setback from the rivers for any drilling rigs.
Scott Bosse, the Aquatic Conservation Director of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, testified that the 28 leases being considered along the rivers amounted to thousands of acres. "Congress is funding a cumulative effects study of the Yellowstone River Corridor," Bosse said, "and it doesn't make sense to lease these parcels while those studies are on-going." Plus, Bosse pointed out that Fish, Wildlife & Parks has fishing access sites in the proposed lease areas, so activities on state lands should match the current uses.
Finally, Bosse mentioned that tens of thousands of dollars have been invested in two Future Fisheries projects to improve natural spawning near the mouth of Rock Creek, and asked that the smaller tributaries also be protected and that "the leases should be withdrawn for 6 months so Fish, Wildlife & Parks' comments can be digested, so the public can understand what's at stake, and so a sensible statewide policy for oil and gas drilling near rivers and streams can be developed."
Bosse's comments were echoed by several other conservationists, all of whom asked that the leases be temporarily withdrawn to give the public more time to be involved. As Kerry Fee from the Joe Brooks chapter of TU noted: "I've been aware of this oil and gas sale for about a month now and gone around with my board to try and inform people of what's going on. About 99% of the people I talk to are totally unaware this is going on. The only way we found it was dealing with DNRC on Mill Creek and my secretary found it. This is not the way this should be done - by having to plow through DNRC's computer. There should be much more transparency, it should be brought out to public more so they can come in and comment. It's our mission to conserve, protect, and restore the Yellowstone River and its tributaries. Big rivers are important, but those tributaries are where the trout spawn and are especially important to cutthroat."
While the setback provisions ameliorated some of the concerns, the issue of which rivers the setbacks would apply to was left unresolved. Nor did the Board take any action to temporarily withdraw the leases. According to Tom Schultz, the administrator of DNRC's Trust Land Division, the Board couldn't postpone the leases because "it wasn't an action item, just a discussion item. So someone could come in and say it wasn't noticed and challenge the action."
Bozeman Pass & Bridger Canyon
Oil and gas exploration, and the damage it can cause, is not a new issue to the residents of the Bridger Canyon and Bozeman Pass area. Back in 2001 the residents of the area organized a zoning and planning district, pushed through county zoning, and even took the fight to the legislature to stop J.M. Huber from drilling coalbed methane wells on state leases in the area. They won and Huber gave up the leases. But now, with new state leases back on the table, the area residents are up in arms again.
Leading off the testimony was area resident Bob Sands, who asked if those who came to oppose the leases would stand and about 20 people did. "As a practical matter," he said, "there was no notice and no opportunity for public comment," adding that DNRC put notice in Great Falls, Billings, and Helena, but none in Belgrade and none in Bozeman. "In terms of good process and reasonable procedure and citizen information, there was no time for us to even make comments." Sands also told the Board it was a "sensitive area with a lot of natural beauty but no commercial activity other than ag and recreation." Pointing out two people who live in the sections being proposed for leases, he asked "should there be holes drilled in their front yards?"
Sands closed by requesting the lease sale be postponed, adding that he "ran into the local elk herd yesterday while walking and we'd like them to remain. You hear owls and sandhill cranes, too, and we'd like them to remain. We need to find some kind of a solution that doesn't require drilling in our backyards or close to our homes."
Deb Strafford, a board member of the Bridger Property Owners Association, told the Board the local paper only picked up the leasing story on July 27th and reiterated the request to defer the leases to allow more time to work something out with DNRC. She also noted that DNRC Director Sexton had told them the only way to permanently remove the minerals from leasing would be some kind of a land exchange.
Governor Schweitzer then asked Sexton what the process is for public notice. Sexton replied that "in the leasing phase we're required to post notice in publications of statewide circulation. We also send out a press release to all newspapers regarding oil and gas lease sales four times a year. We're also looking at other means of notifying landowners, local outreach, and this has been going on for some time."
Schweitzer then asked if there was a lot of activity to lease minerals on private lands in the area and was informed that the Teepee Ridge Homeowners Association had bought all the private mineral rights in that area and re-attached them to surface ownership and that there were no known private landowners subject to a lease.
The Governor then asked if local landowners had received notice of the leases, saying: "I thought we decided that in the future we'd be contacting neighboring landowners. We have someone who owns land within the section - did we do that?"
Director Sexton replied that her agency was "still working on how to contact neighboring landowners. We're still working through it, but we have lots of leases." That prompted the Governor to ask "if I have a thousand acres of land next to a state section and lease the section for grazing, will I get a letter?" "That's what we're going to do," Sexton answered. "But not now?" the Governor asked. "We're working on that now," replied Sexton, adding that "word spreads through the private sector, but we're working on making that process better."
In the end, Director Sexton concluded that the landowners should bid on the leases and "if they bid and win, they'll have 10 years to work out other options."
State Auditor John Morrison, attending via speakerphone, said "the Teepee Ridge residents have made a pretty good case to put off leases until after September 9th. Seems we should have used the Bozeman Chronicle for notice," and adding "the residents seemed unified and that there should be alternatives to compensate the Trust especially since they're in sensitive areas, which I don't particularly like. If feasible, I would propose putting these leases off until after Sept. 9th."
Conclusion
The Board took no action on the leases, but afterwards, DNRC announced that the Bridger Canyon and Bozeman Pass leases would be postponed until they were reposted in the local papers. Unfortunately - and despite the stiff opposition from residents and conservationists -- DNRC decided not to postpone the Yellowstone, Boulder and Shields River leases.
