New mining laws in Montana rejected by federal regulators |

The federal government has rejected changes to state water reclamation laws advanced by the 2023 Montana Legislature.

The law intended to lower the bar on water contamination from coal mines and offered the public less protection than the Surface Mining and Control and Reclamation Act. States can legislate restrictions tougher than federal law, but not less stringent. The U.S. Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation informed the state last week that the new laws didn’t pass muster.

Mine neighbors told OSM last fall at a Billings hearing that Republicans in the 2023 Legislature went too far in softening water quality laws. Witnesses produced bottles of water the color of brown shoe polish to suggest Montana’s new tolerance for mine runoff was unacceptable.

At issue at the hearing were two bills. Rep. Rhonda Knudsen’s House Bill 576 and Sen. Steve Fitzpatrick’s SB 392. Knudsen at the hearing said the intent of HB 576 was to allow mine runoff water to be no worse than surface water on adjacent lands. In some cases, water on non-mined neighboring lands wasn’t fit for crops, livestock, or human consumption.

But HB 576 blurred the lines on what constitutes unacceptable mine damage on area water. Mine neighbors said the new law referenced “significant long-term permanent damage,” without specifically saying what that was. That lack of definition would have made enforcement akin to nailing Jell-O to a wall, opponents said.

The second law, SB 392, created a “loser pays” law requiring anyone challenging a surface mine permitting decision by Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality, to pay the legal fees of DEQ and the mining company if the plaintiff lost the lawsuit. OSM is still reviewing SB 392, which opponents said was intended to chill public challenges to government permitting.

“It’s like the bad old days under the Anaconda Company,” said Shiloh Hernandez, senior attorney for Earthjustice’s Northern Rockies Office in a press release. “The Montana Legislature caved to coal industry lobbyists and effectively let them rewrite the law to weaken environmental protection and public involvement. Thankfully, federal law prevents this sort of brazen attack on our communities and environment. Those who live downstream of these mines can breathe easier.”

Hernandez represented Citizens for Clean Energy, Montana Environmental Information Center, Sierra Club and WildEarth Guardians in a lawsuit filed shortly after the bills were signed into law.