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  • Regulators order pipeline upgrades after Glendive oil spill

    Matthew Brown AP|Updated Jan 24, 2015

    ILLINGS — Federal regulators on Friday ordered a pipeline company to make major upgrades to a line that spilled almost 40,000 gallons of oil into Montana's Yellowstone River and fouled a local water supply. The order comes after Bridger Pipeline of Casper, Wyoming, announced plans to bury its line deeper beneath the Yellowstone to protect against future accidents. The Department of Transportation order would make that improvement mandatory and require identical action where the line runs beneath the Poplar River in n...

  • Pipeline breach spills oil into Yellowstone River

    MATTHEW BROWN AP|Updated Jan 19, 2015

    BILLINGS — Montana officials said Sunday that an oil pipeline breach spilled about 50,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River near Glendive, Montana, but they said they are unaware of any threats to public safety or health. The Bridger Pipeline Co. spill occurred Saturday night, said Dave Parker, a spokesman for Gov. Steve Bullock. The initial estimate is that 1,200 barrels of oil spilled, which is about 50,000 gallons, he said. Some of the oil did get into the water, but the area where it spilled was frozen over and t...

  • Chippewa Cree paying up front for pipeline

    Matthew brown AP|Updated Dec 18, 2014

    GREAT FALLS (AP) — The Chippewa Cree Tribe is being required to pay up front for work on a $361 million water project after several tribal officials and companies were convicted on corruption charges related to the project, according to a federal official and the head of the tribal corporation building the project. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation typically would release money annually for federally-funded projects such as the pipeline on Montana's Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation. That changed about eight months ago in r...

  • Governor: Montana can cut carbon, keep jobs

    MATTHEW BROWN AP|Updated Sep 20, 2014

    BILLINGS (AP) — Gov. Steve Bullock said Friday that Montana can meet the Obama administration's goal of reducing climate pollution while protecting energy-related jobs and avoiding the closure of coal plants that generate the bulk of the state's emissions. The White House plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 has generated a backlash in many coal-dependent states. Republicans in Montana have sought to capitalize on the issue ahead of November's election, asserting the climate plan amounts t...

  • Sage grouse hunt in doubt as decline continues

    MATTHEW BROWN AP|Updated May 22, 2014

    BILLINGS (AP) - Montana is joining North Dakota and South Dakota as states that plan to curtail sage grouse hunting in response to a continued decline in the game bird's population. Montana wildlife commissioners on Thursday gave tentative approval to a proposal to cancel or scale back a two-month hunting season slated to open in September. Hunting advocates strongly oppose a closure, and Fish and Wildlife Commission Chairman Dan Vermillion says less drastic measures are...

  • 
Judge: Blaine County Indian voting case can proceed

    MATTHEW BROWN AP|Updated Mar 29, 2014
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    PORTLAND, Ore. — A voting rights lawsuit from members of three American Indian tribes in Montana — including tribes at Fort Belknap in Blaine County — will go forward after a federal judge rejected attempts by state and county officials to dismiss the case. Members of the Crow, Northern Cheyenne and Fort Belknap tribes want county officials to set up satellite voting offices to make up for the long distances they must travel to reach courthouses for early voting or late registration. Judge Donald Molloy said in a Wedne...

  • Billings judge's apology rejected by victim's mother

    Matthew Brown AP|Updated Aug 30, 2013

    BILLINGS (AP) — The mother of a 14-year-old girl who was raped by her teacher and later committed suicide appeared at a raucous Thursday protest against the judge who sentenced the man to a month in jail and said the victim was "older than her chronological age." The protest came as prosecutors considered an appeal of the sentence by Montana District Judge G. Todd Baugh, whose actions in the case have drawn condemnation from across the country. Joining in the backlash was Montana's governor, who said the judge's comments "...

  • Billings judge apologizes for comments in teen's rape

    MATT VOLZ MATTHEW BROWN AP|Updated Aug 28, 2013

    BILLINGS — A Montana judge apologized Wednesday for saying a 14-year-old rape victim was "older than her chronological age" and had as much control of the situation as the teacher who raped her — remarks that prompted protests and a petition for his resignation. District Judge G. Todd Baugh made the comments Monday while sentencing former Billings Senior High School teacher Stacey Rambold to a 15-year prison sentence then suspending all but 31 days and giving him credit for one day already served. Yellowstone County off...