The Northern Plains Resource Council ( NPRC ) is an American grassroots conservation and family agriculture group. The organization was established in 1972 by ranchers in Montana who united in opposition to coal industry efforts to strip mine in the Powder River Basin .
6-723: The Fort Union Formation , situated largely under the Powder River Basin , is the richest known coal deposit in the world, with 100 billion tons of coal recoverable by strip mining . In October 1971, one year after the passage of the Clean Water Act , the North Central Power Study was published. The study was written jointly by 35 utilities from Oregon to Illinois along with the United States Bureau of Reclamation . It called for
12-415: The Powder River Basin , it contains important economic deposits of coal , uranium , and coalbed methane . The Fort Union is mostly of Paleocene age and represents a time of extensive swamps as well as fluvial and lacustrine conditions. The rocks are more sandy in southwestern Wyoming and more coal-bearing in northeast Wyoming and southeast Montana, reflecting a general change from rivers and lakes in
18-770: The Rosebud Protective Association and the Bull Mountain Landowners Association with the assistance of environmentalists from the Montana Wildlife Federation and the Sierra Club . As of 2020, Northern Plains has member task forces that address issues in the following areas: Northern Plains is governed by a Board of Directors, composed of delegates representing its affiliate groups, along with at-large delegates and officers elected annually by
24-483: The exploitation of coal reserves west of the Mississippi River and included plans for strip mining and power generation. The Northern Plains Resource Council was formed on April 27, 1972 with the goal of providing a "unified, more powerful counterforce in public 'discussions' with the users of non-renewable resources (minerals), particularly including the coal strip-miners." The foundation was spearheaded by
30-593: The membership. Northern Plains includes 13 affiliate groups in 10 Montana counties. They include: In 1979, Northern Plains co-founded the Western Organization of Resource Councils, a regional network of community organizations that now has member groups in seven Western states. Fort Union Formation The Fort Union Formation is a geologic unit containing sandstones, shales, and coal beds in Wyoming , Montana , and parts of adjacent states. In
36-840: The west to swamps in the east, but all three environments were present at various times in most locations. Coal in the Fort Union in the Powder River Basin occurs mainly in the Tongue River Member, where as many as 32 coal seams total more than 300 feet in thickness. One such bed, the Wyodak Coal near Gillette, Wyoming , is as much as 110 feet (34 m) thick. Most of the coals in the Fort Union Formation are ranked subbituminous . A partial ornithurine coracoid bone found in this formation
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