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Commissioners urged to file appeal after BLM denies Carter County cooperative‑agency role on EA
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Summary
County commissioners and local conservation groups discussed a recent BLM Record of Decision that denied Carter County a cooperative‑agency role on an environmental assessment; advisors urged immediate filing of a timeliness appeal and flagged possible NEPA/consistency‑review omissions in the EA.
Commissioners spent an extended portion of the meeting on a Bureau of Land Management environmental assessment (EA) and a Record of Decision that, the BLM said, limited county participation as a cooperative agency. The BLM had extended the project deadline; the county was notified in a letter that the agency did not proceed with the county's request to be a cooperating agency on the EA.
An advisor and local advocate (speaker 7) told commissioners the county still has options: the Record of Decision is appealable, and an appeal must generally be filed within 30 days of the record of decision. He urged commissioners and stakeholders to send a certified letter and an email to the Miles City BLM office and the Billings state office and suggested filing for the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA/IVLA) if necessary.
The advisor argued the EA did not include a consistency review against the county land-use plan and questioned whether the BLM had met statutory obligations to allow county participation as a cooperating agency. He recommended a short, timely appeal letter to preserve rights and said Northern Plains and other local groups had prepared filings, including screenshots from ePlanning to document when the decision was published.
Representatives from Northern Plains (speaker 8) and other participants described the technical filing process, including using Bison File-and-Serve to submit appeals and sending copies to the IBLA and the Office of the Solicitor in Billings. Northern Plains said it had filed a notice of appeal and a statement of timeliness attaching screenshots of the ePlanning posting to show the appeal was within the 30-day window.
Commissioners and advocates discussed two parallel tracks: an appeal of the BLM's finding of no significant impact (FONSI) based on concerns about private‑land access, traffic and wildlife impacts, and a separate appeal or challenge regarding denial of cooperating‑agency status and the absence of a consistency review in the EA. Advisors urged commissioners to act that day to preserve appeal rights; volunteers offered to assist with drafting, filing and postage.
No litigation filing by the county was recorded in the meeting minutes during the session, but the transcript records that Northern Plains attorneys were preparing filings and that local advocates planned to post or send certified letters that afternoon to preserve deadlines.
