What prompted this rulemaking and the elimination of Montana’s numeric nutrient criteria? Short Answer: DEQ was directed to eliminate numeric nutrient criteria by Senate Bill 358 of the 2021 Legislative Session. Long Answer: In 2014, Montana adopted precedent-setting numeric nutrient…
State of Montana Held Accountable for Rolling Back Science-Based Water Quality Standards On Tuesday, May 10, 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) a letter disapproving core sections of Senate Bill 358 (SB…
Legal Clarification on SB 358 Rulemaking Still Absent On Monday, May 9, 2021 Upper Missouri Waterkeeper, Montana Environmental Information Center, Montana Trout Unlimited, Clark Fork Coalition, and Gallatin River Task Force submitted a letter to Montana Department of Environmental Quality’s…
DEQ Failed to Address Concerns Raised by Conservation Groups and Montana Citizens On Friday, March 11th, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) finalized New Rule 1 as proposed, the first of a two part rulemaking process to amend ARM…
Narrative Standards Set Forth in Senate Bill 358 Remain Unapproved by Federal Oversight Agency Today, Upper Missouri Waterkeeper filed a Notice of Intent to Sue to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its failure to comply with its mandatory duty…
On October 30, 2020 the Federal District Court of Montana Issued An Order In Our (Second) Nutrient Pollution Exemption Lawsuit Holding EPA & MT Accountable to Improve Wastewater Pollution Controls For Most of MT’s Largest Polluters In response to our…
What does a win for clean water at the U.S. Supreme Court means for Montana’s battle against nutrient pollution and algal blooms? In a big win for clean water, on Thursday, April 23rd, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with environmental…
Today Upper Missouri Waterkeeper filed a lawsuit challenging the EPA’s February 2020 approval of a series of “Poison Pill” variance rules that undermine critical nutrient pollution controls for Montana waterways. This lawsuit is the latest action we’ve taken to protect…
On February 24, 2020 EPA acted on Montana DEQ’s November 2019 submission of revised nutrient variance rules and ‘disapproved’ the revised rule package. EPA’s February 24, 2020 Letter to MDEQ disapproves the recently submitted and revised variance rule, but also…
The Clean Water Act was passed in recognition of the fact that we should not be using our waterways as sewers, but incredibly, primarily due to outdated infrastructure, sewage spills still occur regularly around the country, leading to unsafe water…
