Settlement agreement helps to restore water quality to nearly 40 rivers and streams across Montana

May 5, 2014

On May 5, 2014, Cottonwood Environmental Law Center and Montana River Action settled a lawsuit against the Montana Department of Environmental Quality that requires the agency to update and issue more than 40 expired Clean Water Act permits.

The Clean Water Act and Montana Water Quality Act require polluters to obtain a permit before discharging pollution into Montana’s waterways. The permits are valid for five years. After the permits expire, polluters are required to apply for new permits.

When a polluter applies for a new permit, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality must determine whether there is better available technology to treat the pollution. Instead of issuing new permits and requiring polluters to use the best available technology to treat pollution, the Department of Environmental Quality allows polluters to continue discharging pollution under expired permits. In some cases, the permits had been expired for more than ten years.

This settlement agreement will clean up Montana’s waterways by ensuring that more than 40 polluters across Montana, including oil refineries, coal-fired power plants and other polluters, are in compliance with the latest water quality standards and have the best available technology to treat water pollution.

Case Files:

Read the settlement.