Editorial: Montanans Don't want Dubya and Candians Drilling the Front

[JoseCuervo]

Responsible natural resource development works in many places around Montana. Responsible mining and drilling will be a part of Montana's future.
But there are some places that development simply isn't responsible. One of those rare, special places is the Rocky Mountain Front — 100 miles of breathtaking landscape where mountains collide with plains south of Glacier National Park. The Front has been described as an American Serengeti.

Here all of the wildlife Lewis and Clark observed on their trek of 1805-1806 still flourish, except for buffalo. It's one of the few places anywhere where grizzlies inhabit mountains and plains. Defenders of the Front have waged repeated battles over the years to conserve this beautiful public land. But each victory for local conservationists gives way to new development plans. The latest push comes from a small Canadian firm that proposes drilling three exploratory gas wells.

The Canadian proposal will require an expenditure of U.S. tax funds of more than $1 million for an environmental study. The Canadian drillers propose to haul 100 semi-truck loads of construction materials up a hillside. The proposed path is a steep trail that crosses private land. The project would require road improvement and eight miles of new pipeline.

The U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that all the economically recoverable natural gas under the entire Front would be enough to fuel this nation for six days.

This is a ridiculous amount of expense and incursion into public wildlands for a relatively small potential return to the public. It is up to concerned citizens to ensure that conservation is counted in the Front equation.

The Friends of the Rocky Mountain Front and many other members of the Coalition to Protect the Rocky Mountain Front are Montanans. Many of them make their living from the Front, as guides, outfitters, taxidermists and small-business people who cater to hunters, anglers and hikers.

They value the quality of life they lead at the edge of this remarkable land. The fact that regular Montana folks support the Front was demonstrated last month when four of them went to Washington, D.C., for what they expected would be a meeting with a staff member in Sen. Conrad Burns' office. When Burns saw Montanans in his office, he made time to talk to them. Soon afterward, Burns' office confirmed that the senator was open to the possibility of trading natural gas leases on the Front.

Sen. Max Baucus has proposed banning drilling in the Front, a plan that would be consistent with a Forest Service moratorium in place for several years.

Montana's U.S. senators should work together on a solution that preserves the Front for us, our children and our grandchildren. Montanans should speak up and let our senators know what we want.

 

[montanahunter]

Very well stated elkgunner if there is a more beatiful spot than the east front of the Rockies in northern Montana you would be hard pressed to find it. The wildness of the country just adds to the mystique and beauty. People who are for extraction in this area have a vested interest or have never experienced the awe inspired by this pristine area. Sacred land to native people, inspiring as seen in Charlie Russells paintings--- leave it a lone. Later TK

 

[JoseCuervo]

Mt-Hunter,
I can't take credit for the words, as they were the Editorial in the Billings paper.

It does kill me the rush to ruin some special places, for some very short term fuel. Hopefully these places can be tied up in courts until Dubya is voted out of office.

 

[RockyDog]

Drill the front! As it is now there are no roads to get my quad in there, land is being wasted.

 

[Nemont]

I have yet to talk to a hunter who is in favor of the development of the front. To entirely blame the Bush administration is not completely accurate. The front has been a target for many years, even during the Clinton administration, for oil and gas development.

I wish front could be given a Wilderness designation and be protected forever but that would be politically impossible regardless of who wins in Nov.


Nemont

 

[RockyDog]

I never heard of the clinton admin. making the Front a target. I remember Gore came up and flew the front in a helicopter and got on tv and gushed about the Front's wild character.

 

[Nemont]

RockyDog,
I will dig up the link for you. Perhaps it was while Gore was busy inventing the internet.

Nemont

 

[RockyDog]

Dig, dig. Personally i'd like to see the front and all our national forests managed just like Bush's crawford ranch.

 

[Nemont]

I stand corrected and misread the date of my info. I am sorry for any misinformation and will be more careful in the future.

In 1997 Gloria Flora, then Supervisor of the Lewis and Clark National Forest,rejected oil industry plans to lease most of the Front and withdrew the national forest from all oil and gas leasing for 20 years.
LINK

So Rockydog you are correct and I was wrong.

Nemont

 

[RockyDog]

Dam that felt good

What a way to start the week

Im sure that if the BLM proposal for Blackleaf proves any large reserves, then Gloria Floria's moratorium will hit the shredder faster than you can say "heat my 20,000 square foot summer home in montana".