Rehberg questions Forest Service on Montanore delays
by Duane Williams, KLCB-KTNY Radio
May 9, 2011
Montana's Congressman, Denny Rehberg, wants some answers as to why the Montanore project is stalled.
Rehberg has asked the United States Forest Service to put an end to the bureaucratic red tape that is holding up job creation and economic development in Lincoln County.
The Montanore project in the Kootenai National Forest was originally permitted in 1993 and has been in the re-permitting process since 2003. The agency has delayed the project again. The Forest Service again extended its deadline to July 2011 at the earliest, and the Forest Service is not providing adequate answers to the public as to why the permitting is stalled. Montanore's Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was originally scheduled to be completed no later than December 2010.
The Montanore project holds the potential to provide Lincoln County with new employment opportunities, which are desperately needed in a region facing a 20% unemployment rates.
So far the Forest Service has given no explanation.
_______________________________________________
Story by Duane Williams, KLCB-KTNY Radio, www.todaysbestcountryonline.com, e-mail: klcb@frontiernet.net.
|
