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Full-Text Articles in Water Law
Upper Missouri Waterkeeper V. Epa, Clare Ols
Upper Missouri Waterkeeper V. Epa, Clare Ols
Public Land & Resources Law Review
State water quality standards developed under the Clean Water Act play a key role in curtailing the negative environmental, economic, and human health impacts of water pollution. Under the state water quality regulatory framework, EPA may grant variances to state standards should the state demonstrate the compliance with its standards is infeasible for a certain pollutant discharger or waterbody. Montana DEQ developed a variance for nutrients based on evidence that compliance with those standards would cause economic harm. EPA approved Montana's nutrient pollutant variance, and Upper Missouri Waterkeeper challenged EPA's approval on the grounds that the variance violates the Clean …
Meic V. Deq, Kirsten D. Gerbatsch
Meic V. Deq, Kirsten D. Gerbatsch
Public Land & Resources Law Review
Hecla Mining Company and its subsidiaries want to develop two industrial silver and copper mines––the Montanore and Rock Creek projects––beneath northwest Montana’s Cabinet Mountains Wilderness. Environmental organizations, in just one of a series of legal challenges to protect high-quality designated resource waters and unique bull trout and grizzly bear habitat, brought an action seeking a declaration that Montana Department of Environmental Quality’s issuance of a permit for the Montanore Project was unlawful. The Montana Supreme Court, in a four-member majority, affirmed the district court’s vacatur and remanded the case to the state agency for further proceedings. The decision is celebrated …