Prosecuting the Yellowstone Club for Clean Water Act Violations.
Cottonwood v. Yellowstone Mountain Club
Cottonwood has filed a Clean Water Act lawsuit against the Yellowstone Club for knowingly discharging its treated sewage directly into the South-West Fork of the Gallatin River without a permit. The private ski and golf resort is allowing a stream of treated sewage to run off its property and drain into the river. The Yellowstone Club also sprays treated sewage into the river. The Yellowstone Club threatened a former employee and local business owner if he spoke about its unlawful activities.
Cottonwood collected water samples that confirm the Yellowstone Club is polluting the river. In response, the Yellowstone Club had the State of Montana arrest Cottonwood Executive Director John Meyer for “criminal trespass.” The charges were dismissed with prejudice. Cottonwood’s expert, a Ph.D professor from the University of Maryland, used isotopic analysis to determine the algae in the river contains, and is caused by, the Yellowstone Club’s treated sewage. Cottonwood is now asking a federal court to stop the Yellowstone Club from discharging its sewage into the river and to stop construction in the resort.
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What is the remedy for a Clean Water Act violation?
Polluters typically pay a fine and apply for a discharge permit after they have been caught polluting. Once a stream is “water-quality impaired,” however, no more pollution permits can be issued. The Yellowstone Club cannot apply for a permit in this case because the Montana Department of Environmental Quality has placed the South Fork of the Gallatin River on its list of water-quality impaired streams.
The Montana DEQ has previously placed a moratorium on building in Big Sky. Cottonwood has asked the federal court to issue a similar order that stops construction in the Yellowstone Club because it cannot dispose of its waste water without polluting the Gallatin River.