Consumer Law
Montana Tribes and Conservation Groups Sue Montana Environmental Regulators to Enforce a Mining Law
Montana tribes and conservation groups sued state environmental regulators Wednesday after Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration dropped a legal claim against a mining executive over decades of pollution from several mines.
The lawsuit was filed in state district court in Lewis and Clark County by attorneys for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the Fort Belknap Indian Community, the Montana Environmental Information Center and other groups.
Under Gianforte, the Department of Environmental Quality in July quit a legal action that sought to block Idaho-based Hecla Mining Co. and its president, Phillips Baker Jr., from involvement in two proposed silver and copper mines.
