Montana Environmental Information Center

This week, our friends from Forward Montana share updates on bills they’re following, and MEIC talks about EVs and how to engage in the second half. Links shared during this call: Catch up on Forward Montana’s legislative work here: https://forwardmontana.org/category/what-the-helena-2023/ and here: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/ceda749e177b4ef397b67c3d561d871a Legislative Services phone number: 406-444-4800 – Legislator Roster: https://leg.mt.gov/legislator-information/roster/ Ask legislators to …

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By Anne Hedges and Katy Spence, Missoula Current Protecting the climate and clean water will be an uphill battle in the second half of the Montana legislative session. The Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC) is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization advocating for clean air, clean water, a livable climate, and sustainable communities in Montana. MEIC has …

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By Amanda Eggert, Montana Free Press Senate Bill 232 seeks to enact timely response to public records requests. Most state agencies presented with public records requests will have clear deadlines for compliance if Senate Bill 232 clears the Legislature and the governor’s desk. The likelihood of both of those things happening is looking good: SB 232 sponsor Sen. …

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By Tom Lutey, Billings Gazette Signal Peak mine has been ordered to stop mining federal coal at least until a study can be done to determine the environmental impacts of burning the fuel. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy has vacated federal approval allowing Signal Peak to mine federal coal at its underground mine 40 miles …

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This week, we review the first half of the session, starting with some big wins! Then a long, long list of what’s to come. Take a break during transmittal — you’ve earned it! Links shared during this call: Here’s an article on the tabled SB 353 if you’re interested in learning more about transmission and …

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By Joshua Margolis, NBC Montana HELENA, Mont. — As Friday’s transmittal deadline looms in Helena, legislators are working furiously to advance general bills out of their respective chambers before it’s too late. In the House, the Business and Labor Committee put the brakes on a bill that would phase out the use of plastic foam containers for food-related …

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This week, we are rapidly approaching transmittal, and that means a bunch of bills in a bunch of hearings over the next week. Tonight, we reviewed our top priorities in land use, mining, energy, and more. Links shared during this call: Here’s the writeup for SB 382: https://meic.org/bill-tracker/#/bills/detail/id/33151/type/state Send a message through the legislature’s tool: …

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By Eric Dietrich, Montana Free Press Bill would require high-level analysis of urban housing needs, limit project-specific public comment. Montana lawmakers got an initial look Wednesday at a major land planning bill that aims to overhaul how development decisions are made in and around Montana’s fast-growing urban areas. Senate Bill 382 would require additional planning by …

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By Caven Wade, Missoula Current (UM Legislative News Service)  A bill moving through the Montana Legislature would add an annual fee to all completely electric vehicles in the state. Rep. Denley Loge, R-St. Regis, is sponsoring House Bill 60 which would add an annual fee for each electric car to substitute for the gas tax that drivers …

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This week, we dive into bills that will impact access to justice and dirty our clean water. But first, we review a few good bills!! Two bills that would improve the opencut mining law are up for consideration. Check the links here for more info and links to comment. Links shared during this call: If …

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By Tristian Scott, Flathead Beacon A Republican lawmaker from Libby is seeking to repeal a two-year-old water quality rule to protect fish species in Lake Koocanusa and the Kootenai River, proposing a bill that would nearly double the allowable limit for selenium — criteria set in place to defend against toxic loads of the pollutant …

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By Amanda Eggert, Montana Free Press A Republican lawmaker from Libby on Wednesday spoke on behalf of a bill that seeks to strike the existing water quality standard for selenium in Lake Koocanusa and double the limit. Selenium is a chemical element entering Lake Koocanusa, a reservoir shared by British Columbia and Montana, from Canadian mining company …

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By Bret Anne Serbin, Missoulian Missoula City Council President and Ward 3 Councilor Gwen Jones defended Missoula’s ability to manage plastic recycling at the Legislature on Tuesday. She joined numerous Montanans seeking to return control to local governments for the regulation of plastic items. House Bill 413, heard in the House Local Government Committee, would …

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By Greeley Neighborhood Community Development Corp. and Montana Environmental Information Center, The Montana Standard It’s not often that a mining company and an environmental group agree on something, but it’s clear from Montana Resources’ survey and Mark Thompson’s position in the press: We all want the Greeley neighborhood residents to be confident that they are …

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By Laura Lundquist, Missoula Current During a Legislative debate on the ability of communities to restrict the use of plastics, Democrats struggled to convince Republicans that local control is best. On Tuesday, 15 Montanans, led by several from Bozeman and Missoula, testified in favor of House Bill 413, which would reverse a law passed two …

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By Tom Lutey, Billings Gazette A federal judge has blocked Signal Peak mine from beginning a 175-million-ton expansion into coal on federal land, at least until the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement studies the environmental impacts. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy on Friday halted the expansion of the mine, located 40 miles north …

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By Darrell Ehrlick, Daily Montanan Coal mining company said the decision could cause it to close. A federal judge has vacated a decision that would have allowed a coal mining company to move ahead with an expansion plan near Roundup because officials in the Trump administration granted a permit there without any consideration of what it may …

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By Amanda Eggert, Montana Free Press Judge found ‘sufficiently serious’ errors in the Interior Department’s environmental review of a 7,100-acre expansion of the Bull Mountains Mine. A federal judge in Missoula has tossed out an Interior Department decision that would have allowed Signal Peak Energy to expand a coal-mining operation in central Montana. In a ruling on …

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By Megan Myscofski, Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE — Two lawmakers are looking to add environmental rights to the state constitution through an amendment that, if passed by the Legislature, would be on the ballot in November. Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, D-Albuquerque, and Rep. Joanne Ferrary, D-Las Cruces, pre-filed a joint resolution that would add the …

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By Hiroko Tabuchi, The New York Times The Signal Peak Mine was embroiled in a web of criminal activity. Now, environmental groups want to shut it down. Just before 2 a.m. on April 18, 2018, Amy Price, the wife of the coal executive Larry Price Jr., called the police in Bluefield, Va., to report her …

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