The Project Horse Creek Hills (HCH) subdivision is a proposed 4-phase, 435 acre development sited in Broadwater County on the eastern shore and directly upstream from Canyon Ferry Lake and nearby Confederate Creek. The proposed site is a rural, predominantly…
Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is proposing a new suite of rules concerning how sectors that discharge wastewater (municipalities, industry, and construction/commercial) may seek a water quality standards variance. The public comment period is open until August 22, 2022…
The Problem Since 2018, the middle segment of the world-class Gallatin River has been plagued by widespread, noxious neon-green algal blooms. This scenic, wild, cold-water stretch of the Gallatin River is home to 3,000 wild trout per mile and supports…
June 2022 Preliminary Determination of Impairment What’s being proposed? Based on a review of best available science from the past 10 years, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has issued a preliminary determination that the middle segment Gallatin River…
Gianforte’s Failure to Act and Forecast For Hot, Dry Summer Doesn’t Bode Well For Montana’s Wild Trout Fisheries Today, Upper Missouri Waterkeeper, the Montana Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, a broad coalition of fly fishing businesses, conservation organizations, and…
Background on ‘WOTUS’ The EPA and USACE have recently issued a Proposed Rule that would replace the recently vacated “Navigable Waters Protection Rule” definition under the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) finalized by the Trump administration on April 21, 2020…
In the summer of 2021, Upper Missouri Waterkeeper submitted a petition to the Montana Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) requesting the designation of Gallatin County as a municipal separate stormwater system (MS4) entity to better control stormwater pollution in the…
Malfunction left the Upper Madison River with significantly diminished flows, causing fish die-offs during a critical spawning time. On Tuesday morning, the Upper Madison River’s Hebgen Dam experienced malfunctions resulting in drastically reduced flows from Hebgen Lake to Madison River….
Clearing the Water: What Montana’s Proposed Changes to Nutrient Standards Really Means After another major story on Governor Gianforte Administration’s efforts to roll back clean water protections for polluting special interests, more questions were raised than answered. What has become…
MT DEQ Fails to Apply Still Binding Numeric Nutrient Water Quality Standards Recent reporting from the Daily Montanan exposed Montana Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) attempt to move forward with wastewater treatment facility permit renewals for the cities of Helena,…
