Exempt water ain’t free water

Update 12/03/2009: I just found a link to a pdf of the 40-page petition filed by the Montana ranchers. It is extremely fascinating reading. Gives a good quick and dirty outline of the history of exempt wells as well as outlining their case for a declaratory ruling changing the definition of  “combined appropriation“.
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Exempt groundwater wells [...]

Drill baby drill

Don’t strain your neurons, but think way back to when the legislature was in session. A bill (SB437) to slightly restrict the use of exempt groundwater wells was introduced. Exempt wells (<35gpm) don’t have to go through the regular well permitting process. This was a good idea way back when small homeowners used the wells [...]

Sweet Ride

Another Montana Superstar hits the show circuit. In February, the Bugle covered the coming out party for another International Superstar Ford F-1066 which was headed for the IH Collectors Club convention in Iowa. Now Big Bud 16V-747, the mammoth machine owned by the Williams brothers of Big Sandy is heading heading out and will be [...]

Stupid People Rule

June 5th marked the 33rd anniversary of the collapse of the Teton Dam in Idaho. Following the recommendations in a 14-page EIS, the newly-built dam was filling for the first time. When it reached 270 feet in depth and was backing up a 17-mile-long reservoir it began to fail. Eleven people perished, 18,000 head of [...]

International Superstar

You don’t want to miss this one. The International Harvester Collector’s Club is holding it’s Winter Convention March 5-7 in Waterloo, IA. The star of the show this year will be a Montana Native.
This 1974 Model F-1066 International Harvester Farmall is the 5-millionth produced. It rolled off the assembly line Feb. 1, 1974, making IH [...]

This is a joke. Right?

Update 02/09/2009: Good News. Friday’s committee hearing on SB314 has been canceled. Twice! We can only hope that Senator Laible has come to his senses and withdrawn this stupid bill.
Who says Montana Legislators don’t have a sense of humor. Senator Rick Laible (R) of Darby has introduced a bill (SB314) in the legislature to “Clarify [...]

Good News and Bad

The USDA 2007 Census of Agriculture has good and bad news for Montana versus 2002.

Good: Number of farms is up 6%
Good: Land in Farms is up 3%
Bad: Average farm size is down 3%
Very Good: Market value of production is way up 49%
Bad: Average age of farmers is up 57.8 years compared to 55.7 in 2002
Good: [...]