Montana

Montana Supreme Court overturns district court, restores permit for mine near Smith River – Daily Montanan

Published

2 years ago

February 27, 2024

Montana Supreme Court overturns district court, restores permit for mine near Smith River – Daily Montanan

The Montana Supreme Court on Monday overturned a district court decision that blocked a proposed 1,888-acre mine near Sheep Creek, which feeds into the Smith River watershed.

In a split 5-to-2 decision, Justice Beth Baker wrote for the majority of the court that the Montana Department of Environmental Quality relied on expert resources when considering the mine and remediation, and that it was not court’s role to substitute its judgment for that of the agency experts who concluded the project was safe.

Justices Ingrid Gustafson and Laurie McKinnon disagreed with the majority in their dissenting opinion.

The case focuses on familiar issues in Montana: A copper mine with the potential for devastating pollution near a beloved part of a Treasure State natural attraction, the Smith River.

At issues was whether Sandfire Resources, known as “Tintina,” are proposing the correct safety measures to ensure that the ore that’s processed is not exposed to air and water, causing oxidation which leads to toxic acid mine drainage.

The district court originally cancelled the permit issued by the Montana DEQ, saying it had failed to take proper precautions to safeguard the environment from harmful degradation. Even after the Montana Supreme Court overturned the decision, the mine is not guaranteed. Groups have also challenged the water permit issued to the mine for operations, which was filed in a different case, but could ultimately halt the project. That case is also pending before the Montana Supreme Court.

Mining waste into mining paste

Tintina proposes to handle the mining tailings, which could oxidize and transform into acid rock drainage, by mixing it into a “ultra thick” paste with cement which would be applied in thin layers, allowing it to dry.

The paste would then dry, leading to a thick concrete-like substance that would be hard to permeate, therefore unlikely to leak acidic mine drainage or oxidize because it would not be exposed to air or water. A layer of high-density plastic would also line the material, and it would be surrounded by clay and other materials that are resistant to water penetration.

The Montana Supreme Court found that the Meagher County Judge Katherine Bidegaray had incorrectly substituted her judgment, instead of deciding whether the Montana DEQ had taken sufficient steps to arrive at a sound judgment.

“Courts should not substitute their own judgment for that of the agency by asking whether the agency’s decision was the ‘correct’ one scientifically, morally or politically,” the opinion said. “Courts instead interpret the law and determine if the agency made its decision with sufficient information or if ‘the decision was so at odds with the information gathered that it could be characterized as arbitrary or the product of caprice.’”

The high court noted that the record showed that the binding materials and the approach met standards that are even higher than those set by the United Nations in an effort to eradicate mine failures.

“The binder selection and amount are site-specific,” the court said. “And that surface cemented paste tailings posed an extremely low-to-no-risk of catastrophic failure.”

While Bidegaray’s original opinion seemed to dwell on the specifics of the binder cement of the tailings and if earthquakes or water seepage posed a threat to nearby water supplies, the Supreme Court said that neither the environmental groups challenging the ruling nor the court quibbled with two other methods that would be used to help insulate against an environmental catastrophe. Those precautions include a high-density plastic liner.

“Given the … evidence, we disagree with the district court’s characterization of DEQ’s review of the issue of oxidation as random and unreasonable,” the Supreme Court said in its decision. “Again, DEQ balanced various concerns — ensuring that tailings would have time to set into a non-flowable mass and covering tailings in a timely matter to prevent exposure and oxidation.”

“The agency’s decision was ‘scientifically driven,’ informed by ‘substantial agency expertise,’ and is entitled to considerable deference.”

The groups which had originally challenged DEQ’s permit were Montana Trout Unlimited, Montana Environmental Information Center, Trout Unlimited, Earthworks and American Rivers.

“This marks another sad example of Montana’s lenient mining and permitting laws allowing for the development of a large-scale, high-risk mine to be built without proper regard for the other values of a place, including its water quality, quantity, fisher, wildlife, recreational opportunities and cultural heritage,” said David Brooks, executive director of Montana Trout Unlimited. “Fortunately, our fight to protect the Smith is not over.”

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Missoula and Western Montana neighbors: Obituaries for March 11

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6 hours ago

March 11, 2026

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Missoula and Western Montana neighbors: Obituaries for March 11

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Montana AG letter alleges Helena violates law banning ‘sanctuary cities’

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19 hours ago

March 10, 2026

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Montana AG letter alleges Helena violates law banning ‘sanctuary cities’

HELENA — On Monday, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen sent a letter to the City of Helena claiming the municipality is not in compliance with the state’s law banning “sanctuary cities.” The letter comes just under a month after the State of Montana launched an investigation into a city resolution on Helena Police policy and Helena’s involvement in federal immigration enforcement.

In the letter, Knudsen laid out the ways he believes the city’s resolution violated state law. The attorney general gave Helena 15 days to respond or reverse the policy. If the city does not comply, his office will pursue legal action.

“Helena’s resolution appears to contain blatant violations of this law,” wrote Knudsen.

MTN News

On January 26, 2026, the City of Helena adopted a resolution clarifying when and how the Helena Police Department will cooperate with federal immigration officials. The vote was 4 to 1. The Helena commission seats and the mayor are elected in non-partisan races.

In the letter, Knudsen alleges the resolution established “a broad sanctuary city policy” that seeks to protect every illegal immigrant, regardless of whether the individual had committed a serious crime or not. The state further claims the resolution gives illegal immigrants “special privileges” in plea deals and establishes a “free-for-all policy” where a police officer can request the unmasking of Department of Homeland Security and ICE officers.

Knudsen has requested that the City of Helena, in their response, specifically describe in detail how the resolution complies with Montana law, provide emails and correspondence from city staff and the commission regarding the resolution.

Helena City manager Alana Lake told MTN in a statement: “The City of Helena is aware of the issues being raised by the Attorney General’s Office and is reviewing the matter. While we cannot discuss the details of a potential legal issue, the City is committed to transparency and compliance with the law. The City takes these matters seriously and will continue to cooperate with the appropriate authorities while remaining focused on serving our community.”

Passed in 2021, Montana House Bill 200 prohibits a state agency or local government from implementing any policy that prevents employees or departments from communicating with federal agencies regarding immigration or citizenship status for lawful purposes. It also states governments must comply with immigration detainer requests if they are lawfully made.

HB 200 was backed by Republicans and passed with only Republican votes. Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the legislation into law on March 31, 2021.

Passage of the resolution by the Helena City Commission has drawn ire from conservative voices in Montana politics and on the national level.

The resolution said the commission supported the Helena Police Department avoiding “committing its resources to federal action for which it has no authority,” such as entering into an agreement with the federal government to directly enforce immigration laws. Under federal law, immigration enforcement is conducted by federal agencies under the Department of Homeland Security. However, under the Immigration and Nationality Act, state and local governments can voluntarily enter into 287 (g) agreements with the federal government that allow them to enforce immigration laws.

The commission further supported HPD’s policy not to stop, detain, or arrest a person solely on suspected violations of immigration law, including assisting other agencies in an arrest based solely on immigration law.

DEEPER LOOK: Helena has seen a growing debate over ICE and local police involvement

In the resolution, the commission also supported an HPD officer, using their own discretion, requesting the identification and unmasking of a Department of Homeland Security Officer if the HPD officer “feels it will not be interfering with the actions of federal officers exercising their jurisdiction.”

“This adversarial relationship by local law enforcement toward federal officers itself undermines public safety and forces immigration officers to fear for their safety when they are simply carrying out their lawful duties,” wrote Knudsen.

The resolution further supports the City of Helena’s policy not to consider immigration consequences in a plea agreement with a defendant.

The commission also supports the City of Helena not disclosing any sensitive information about any person – including immigration status, sexual orientation, or social security number – except as required by law.

“This is a restriction that directly conflicts with Montana’s prohibition on sanctuary jurisdictions, specifically ‘sending to, receiving from, exchanging with, or maintaining for a federal, state, or local government entity information regarding a person’s citizenship or immigration status for a lawful purpose,’” the attorney general wrote.

If a government is found to be violating Montana’s law banning “sanctuary cities”, the state could fine them $10,000 every five days, prevent them from receiving new grants from the state, and have their projects with the state re-prioritized. A government in violation can avoid penalties by becoming compliant with the law within 14 days of being notified of the violation.

Read the full letter from the Montana Attorney General to the City of Helena:

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Dispatches from the Wild: Montana’s wild inheritance at risk | Explore Big Sky

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1 day ago

March 10, 2026

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Dispatches from the Wild: Montana’s wild inheritance at risk | Explore Big Sky

Steve Pearce and the future of the BLM

By Benjamin Alva Polley EBS COLUMNIST

If you care about hunting elk in crisp October air, floating a clear-running river for cutthroat trout, or simply taking your kids camping beneath a sky unspoiled by drill rigs, you should be outraged that Steve Pearce was ever considered to run the Bureau of Land Management.

The BLM is the largest landlord in the West. It oversees nearly 245 million acres of public land—millions of those acres in and around Montana’s most cherished places. This land is the backbone of our elk and mule deer herds, our sage grouse leks, our pronghorn migration routes and our blue-ribbon trout streams. It’s also the stage on which Montana’s hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation economy plays out.

Putting someone with Steve Pearce’s environmental record in charge of that land is like handing your cabin keys to the arsonist who’s always hated it. In the four months since Pearce was first nominated, it emerged that, if confirmed, he and his wife would divest from more than 1,000 oil and gas leases in Oklahoma to address potential conflicts of interest. While some senators strongly support his “active forest management” approach, he still faces opposition from groups alarmed by his record on public land transfers. On March 4, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 11-9 to advance his nomination, despite concerns from conservation groups.

Pearce’s track record is no mystery. He has consistently sided with extractive industries at the expense of wildlife, habitat and public access. He has supported opening more public lands to oil and gas drilling, weakening bedrock environmental safeguards and undermining science-based management. His votes and public statements have signaled again and again that he sees wild country as an obstacle to be overcome, not a legacy to be stewarded.

For Montana, that posture is an existential threat. Our big-game herds rely on intact winter range and unfragmented migration corridors across BLM lands. Aggressive drilling, poorly planned roads and relaxed reclamation standards shred those habitats. Once you carve up a landscape with pads, pipelines and traffic, you don’t get solitude—or mature bull elk—back with the stroke of a pen.

Anglers should be just as alarmed. Headwater streams and riparian corridors on BLM ground are the life support system for native bull trout, cutthroat and wild trout. A BLM director hostile to environmental safeguards is far more likely to greenlight development that increases sediment, degrades water quality and depletes the cold, clean flows our rivers depend on.

If Pearce takes office, outdoor recreation—and the rural economies built around it—will not be spared. In Montana, hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation pump billions of dollars into local businesses, guiding operations, gear shops and main-street cafes. People travel here precisely because of the open space, healthy herds and functioning ecosystems that BLM lands help sustain. When those landscapes are sacrificed to short-term profit, we don’t just lose scenery; we lose jobs, identity and a way of life.

This is not a partisan issue, especially in Montana. Public lands are one of the few things we truly share: ranchers who graze allotments, tribal communities with cultural ties to these places, hunters and anglers who’ve long defended habitat, and families who just want a place to pitch a tent. A BLM director should be a careful, science-driven steward accountable to all Americans—not a politician with a history of dismissing environmental protections as red tape.

Montanans know what’s at stake. We’ve fought bad ideas before—land transfers, giveaway leases, rollbacks to bedrock conservation laws—and we’ve won when we stood together. Steve Pearce’s nomination should have been dead on arrival. The fact that he was even on the list tells us how vigilant we must remain.

Our outrage must translate into action: calling elected officials, packing public hearings, writing letters and voting as if our public lands are on the line. Truly, they are. The BLM needs a director who sees these landscapes the way Montanans do: as sacred ground, not a balance sheet.

Anything less is a betrayal of the wild inheritance we’re supposed to pass on.

Benjamin Alva Polley is a place-based storyteller. His words have been published in Rolling Stone, Esquire, Field & Stream, The Guardian, Men’s Journal, Outside, Popular Science, Sierra, and WWF, among other notable outlets, and are available on his website.