Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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Strommen Talks Priorities A.J. Etherington FOR The Courier Luke Strommen, the current Undersheriff and nine-year veteran of the Valley County Sheriff's Office, has filed to run for Valley County Sheriff in the Spring election. So far, he is running uncontested. Strommen sat down for an interview with the Courier last week to talk about his vision, priorities and motivations for seeking Valley County's top law enforcement post. A native of the area Strommen's ties to the county run deep.. As a...
Valley County Commissioner Paul Tweten told the Courier at press time that the commission expects to pick a replacement for Connie Boreson as head of the Valley County Health Department at the Feb. 14 meeting. Valley County Planner Rene Clampitt explained that local permits are in place for Keystone XL Pipeline work camps planned for Burns Road near Hinsdale and Highway 117 near Park Grove. According to Clampitt, TransCanada must still apply to meet Department of Environmental Quality stipulations. New additions to the list of candidates for...
President Donald Trump signed an executive action to move forward with the Keystone XL pipeline on Jan 24. He also indicated movement on the Dakota Access oil pipeline, though timelines and other details remain unclear at press time. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that the moves on the pipelines will be subject to the terms and conditions currently being renegotiated by the government. Senator Steve Daines praised Trump: “The Keystone XL pipeline will create good-paying Montana union and tribal jobs,” he said, adding, “After years of t...
I have largely ignored the Dakota Access Pipeline Protest; unable, thus far, to really form an opinion due to a lack of substantive information. I am an independent-minded person, and a self-professed libertarian who voted for Gary Johnson (protest vote). I believe in industry, but I also believe in equality for all and fair treatment and consideration under the law. That being said, I want to speak about some of the negativity I’ve encountered regarding the protests and protesters. But I digress, so let’s start from the beginning. On Aug. 18,...
As a lifelong sportsman and gun owner, I’m committed to protecting law-abiding Americans’ right to keep and bear arms. And like many Montanans, I know that protecting the Second Amendment isn’t about hunting—it’s about freedom. President Obama started off the new year by unilaterally creating new barriers to purchasing a firearm. His actions are an affront to our Second Amendment rights and a gross abuse of executive power. And like so many times before, President Obama has pursued a “go-it-alone” approach on his gun control agenda. These...
Despite the recent rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline by President Obama in anticipation of December’s COP 21 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, many residents in Valley County rue the project’s demise. “It’s a poor decision,” said Dave Pippin, former County Commissioner and current resident of Glasgow. “I see it as large-scale political payback. It’s bad for the county, bad for our economy, and I think bad for the United States.” As the project floundered amid federal non-committal, jobs related to its progression evaporated in Big Sky...
In a broad field 45 miles from Billings, wind turbines churn, culling energy to be distributed throughout the region. Montana ranks 21st in the nation, according to the American Wind Energy Association, with 466 functioning wind turbines. These machines converted enough energy in 2014 to power 180,000 homes, representing 6.5 percent of all in-state electricity production. “Wind is a viable, sustainable source of power,” said Derf Johnson, Clean Water Project Director and Staff Attorney for Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC), “an...
“Montana matters. We’ve got just one representative in the house — but people care what Montana does. There’s the idea that what Montana is is hardworking, and its a true one.” These were the sentiments Congressman Ryan Zinke relayed to the dense crowd of students, ranchers, and small business owners packed into Farm & Equipment Sales in Glasgow the morning of Oct. 13. Zinke, in his first term as Montana’s lone house representative, has stopped through Valley County eight times in the past two years. His words to the mostly-supportive crowd str...
The projected annual tax influx is $12 million. The two, year-long construction camps would bestow short-term economic tidings on the county, buoying regional business and padding the local government’s coffers. The fiscal boon of the pipeline is incontrovertible to some, and a moot point to other, environmentally-bent parties. In absence of firm federal approval or an unceremonious nixing, the XL bill —along with all the variant, polarized opinions it procures from an anxious populace — dangles high above the heads of congressmen and cattle he...
Fifty-plus Glasgow citizens packed into the city chamber room at the Recreation Department on Sept. 8, eager to speak their mind at the City Council meeting at which they knew the summer’s landmark issue would be decided. For months, the councilpersons had debated Resolution No. 1986, the motion to provide funding for the purchase of a used Quint fire truck. For months, Firefighter/EMT Brandon Brunelle had presented the reasoning behind his department’s need, outlining in detail the declining state of its old truck and spelling out the procedur...
First Of Two Parts A small group from Glasgow made the trip out to Williston last week to get an inside look at what the workforce camps might look like in Valley County if the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline ever gets approval. With the county commissioners and the county planning and zoning approving the two workforce camps that would be located between Nashua and Fort Peck and another just outside of Hinsdale some curious city and county employees and the chamber of commerce decided to take...
This is the second of two articles in The Courier regarding concerns about the proposed Valley County Keystone XL pipeline workforce camps.TransCanada officials visited recently and participated in a public hearing where the plans were discussed. A landowner only a few hundred feet from the Hinsdale camp stated that he had concerns with the landowner keeping a trailer park at the location in the future. He also had concerns with the road conditions and traffic, perhaps someone out enjoying the mud and tearing up the dirt roads. Alan Lietz, the...
The Valley County Planning and Zoning Commission held its first public hearing on work force camps proposed by TransCanada during the Keystone XL Pipeline project. Valley County would house two of the four proposed work camps in Montana, one near Hinsdale, the other between Nashua and Fort Peck. The meeting lasted a little over two hours. A little over a dozen residents showed up to the public hearing, and an additional 10 employees of TransCanada and Target Logistics were at the meeting to help...
True to his word, President Barack Obama vetoed the Keystone XL Pipeline bill that passed both the House and the Senate in the last month. Those votes were not enough to overcome a veto. He released a veto message to Americans. “The presidential power to veto legislation is one I take seriously,” he said. “But I also take seriously my responsibility to the American people. And because this act of Congress conflicts with established executive branch procedures and cuts short through consideration of issues that could bear on our national inter...
Hello to the Hi-Line from your Capitol in Helena. The 64th Montana Legislature is at the halfway point. The easy work has been done and the hard decisions are before us. The House and Senate leadership are working together and await the Executive branch to join in. There any many pieces to the puzzle, we would like them all to fit, but reality is, they will not. We have proposed, through a series of healthcare bills, that will take care of the needy by “getting the right services to the right people.” We are trying to fill the poverty hole cre...
As things possibly could be moving forward, slowly, with the Keystone XL Pipeline, the Valley County Planning Board is also moving forward with discussions on two construction workforce camps that could be placed in the county. A public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, March 3 in the community room at the Valley County Courthouse at 7 p.m. to comment on the proposed work camps near Hinsdale and Nashua. The public will be able to comment in advance of the recommendation to the county commissioners for the camps, one near the gas plant between...
It was a hurdle finally jumped on Thursday, Jan. 29. The U.S. Senate finally passed the Keystone XL Pipeline bill with enough votes to overcome a veto. The final count was 62-36 and Sen. Jon Tester did vote in favor of the pipeline in the end. With amendments added to the bill it will have to travel back to the House and get final approval. The House passed the bill earlier in January, but there weren't enough votes to overcome a veto. A total of 67 votes will be needed to override a presidential veto. A press secretary from the White House...
“It'll pass guys, relax! It's been seven years, what's the hurry,” one commenter stated on a social media post by the radio host of Voices of Montana, Aaron Flint. Once again the Keystone Pipeline has failed as the votes needed to overcome a veto in the Senate didn't come to fruition. A total of 60 votes were needed, and the final vote ending the debate was 53-39. The final vote was pushed to end the debate by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell-R. The Courier interviewed Senator Jon Tester-D just over a week ago and he had stated they were dra...
As many as 2,000 temporary high-paying blue-collar jobs will be created in Montana if the U.S. government approves the much publicized Keystone XL pipeline. More than twice as many similar private-sector construction jobs, however, will result from state government approval of the "Build Montana" program proposed by Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock and sponsored in the legislature by Republican Rep. Jeff Welborn of Dillon. The Montana proposal includes badly-needed improvements in infrastructure in Montana's end of the Bakken energy development,...
Will the hand of power slap it down again? That's the question that many might be wondering in the upcoming weeks, as the Keystone XL Pipeline bill made its way through the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee last week. Sen. Steve Daines spoke at a hearing about the pipeline bringing jobs and tax revenue that could help support infrastructure in Eastern Montana. In November representatives passed the bill, but it failed by one vote in the Senate. As Republicans have taken control of th...
July • While the flood of 2011 is still a topic of conversation, necessary repair work at Fort Peck Dam is ongoing. Even though several repair projects have been completed, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers continues work on the Fort Peck spillway. Consequently the 2011 discharge caused a lot of erosion. The spillway ran for over four months. Downstream dams along the Missouri River are also undergoing flood repairs. The projects, costing around $45 million, are coming closer to completion. • Wh...
January • Has Glasgow really been sucked into some vortex that's dropped the temperatures below zero? The easy answer is no. Tanja Fransen, warning coordination meteorologist at National Weather Service Glasgow, explains that this is actually a low pressure system that came down from the North Pole and brought cold weather with it. The Arctic cold front pushed down farther south than usual, which brought colder than average temperatures to much of the nation. • Resigning one city council sea...
The highly charged debate surrounding the Keystone XL Pipeline, which could heavily impact Valley County, found approval and rejection in a week's time. Last week on Friday, Nov. 14, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill of approval for the pipeline, 252 to 161. Rep. Steve Daines stated in a release that it took Canada seven months to pass the pipeline and it has taken the U.S. Senate and President Barrack Obama six years to move forward. Incoming Rep. Ryan Zinke stated that the president has been putting politics before the needs of...
The Valley County budget is still getting some last minute adjustments before the commissioners look at passing the finalized budget in the upcoming week. While there wasn't a lot of changes made from the previous year there were a few noteworthy items. The commissioners support a 1.5 percent raise in salary for county employees across all departments. That increase adds to about 30 cents an hour for employees. The raise was eligible for employees who worked at least 20 hours and were permanent employees who qualify for insurance, leaving...
Waiting on pipe dreams is a literal term when some groups refer to the Keystone XL Pipeline. Members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are in this category, and this week they will be traveling around 900 miles along the proposed pipeline to have what they're calling a lost opportunity tour. Energy Institute Vice President Matthew Koch explained that they've spent years working on getting the pipeline project approved, and that there would be tremendous benefits to the community. The group hitting the road this week started at the Canadian...