County extends emergency Bozeman Pass zoning one year

By NICK GEVOCKChronicle Staff Writer

Bozeman Pass landowners were given another year by Gallatin County commissioners Tuesday to draft permanent rules to regulate gas drilling.

Commissioners granted a one-year extension to the Bozeman Pass emergency zoning district that bans oil and gas drilling in Jackson Creek and Bear Canyon area east of Bozeman.

The district was created last year after residents feared J.M. Huber Corp.'s plans to drill test wells for coalbed methane gas would drop property values.

The extension is allowed under state law, but beyond the second year landowners within the district must form a permanent district.

And residents of the area are working intensely to do just that.

"We've been actively working on a permanent zoning district," Bear Canyon resident Tom Skeel said. "It's been a really productive process."

More than 100 landowners within the emergency district have been packing meetings now for eight months, Skeel said. That's a strong show of support in an area that is home to about 300 people.

The work on a permanent set of regulations was crucial to gaining Commissioner Jennifer Smith Mitchell's support for an extension.

"If they weren't working on it, I probably wouldn't be inclined to grant them an extension," she said.

Huber owns the mineral rights on about 18,000 acres of land in the Bozeman Pass area. Some of that land lies within the Bridger Canyon Zoning District, while other parcels were in areas with no zoning rules.

Huber proposed a test well within the Bridger Canyon district in December 2001, but the Zoning Commission turned down a necessary permit. Huber sued the county to reverse that decision in February 2002, a case that is still in court.

Landowners will be able to regulate coalbed methane drilling with zoning. But banning it is probably illegal because federal law ensures mineral rights holders can develop their holdings.

Nick Gevock is at ngevock@dailychronicle.com