Preliminary results from a study of pollution in the Clark Fork River show toxic pollutants are more widespread than previously thought.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, in collaboration with other state agencies, Trout Unlimited, the Clark Fork Coalition and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes took water and fish tissue samples along the Clark Fork from Butte to the Idaho border in 2023.

They then tested those samples for a suite of toxic compounds known to cause cancers, reproductive issues and immune system damage when ingested.

The researchers found elevated concentrations of the toxins downstream of Butte in the Bearmouth area, below Drummond in the Flint Creek drainage, in the Upper Blackfoot River, around the site of the former Smurfit-Stone Mill, and the Plains to Thompson Falls areas.

Trevor Selch, a water pollution biologist with FWP, says this is the first step in an ongoing study.

“We were looking at, you know, kind of bookending different major drainages of this system. And so now we’ve been able to isolate that. It’ll definitely take additional work to really identify where the contamination is coming from,” Selch said.

These toxic compounds are associated with industrial activities, or forest fire runoff, but Selch says pinpointing their sources in the Clark Fork is the ultimate goal of this work.

FWP expects to release the results of the fish tissue sample next month. Depending on what that shows, Selch says they may have to expand fish consumption advisories.

Advisories are already in place on 148 miles of Clark Fork from the Bitterroot to the confluence with the Flathead River to protect human health.

COLSTRIP — Sen. Steve Daines and Gov. Greg Gianforte traveled to Colstrip Tuesday, where they toured a coal mine and heard from workers and administrators concerned about Biden administration policies.

“This Colstrip operation is keeping the lights on in Montana, and, in fact, the whole Northwest,” Gianforte said. “We need reliable power to power our economy, and there just really isn’t an alternative.”

The two leaders took a tour of the Rosebud Mine, a 25,000-acre site that produced almost 7 million tons of coal in 2022. They visited a coal deposit, got a look at the multimillion-pound dragline excavators used in mining and saw areas that operator Westmoreland Mining has restored after extracting coal.

Company leaders said the Rosebud Mine is ideal because of the quality of the coal seam and its accessibility.

“It’s just right,” said Westmoreland CEO Martin Purvis. “This is the Goldilocks of coal mines.”

When the coal is processed, it’s carried on a four-mile conveyor belt directly to the Colstrip power plant’s Units 3 and 4.

Jonathon Ambarian

After their tour of the mine, Daines and Gianforte held a roundtable discussion with mine and utility administrators and community leaders. Their focus was on what they describe as a series of federal policies that threaten Colstrip’s viability.

“EPA’s new rules are a one-two punch combination that’s really just intended to knock Colstrip out permanently and force the plant to prematurely retire,” said Dale Lebsack, chief fossil officer for Talen Energy, which operates the Colstrip power plant.

The most recent policies they’re concerned about include the EPA’s proposed Mercury and Air Toxic Standards, or MATS, regulations, as well as a proposal to end to new coal leases on public lands in southeastern Montana and Wyoming.

Leaders said the MATS changes would require the Colstrip plant, specifically, to make extensive investments to comply with tighter emission standards.

“You always have cycles in pricing in energy – you have ups and downs, whether you’re oil, natural gas or coal,” said Daines. “The problem we have is that the Biden administration is trying to kill this industry, to end it permanently.”

Purvis argued there hasn’t been a solid plan from the federal government for replacing the baseload energy that comes from fuels like coal. He compared Colstrip to military equipment that remains in use while the transition to newer systems is going on.

“You don’t want gaps in national security – and I’ll tell you what, you don’t want gaps in national energy for sure, as well,” he said.

NorthWestern Energy president and CEO Brian Bird said his company is counting on the reliability of power from sources like Colstrip. The utility announced last year that it was expanding its ownership interest in the Colstrip plant, starting in January 2026.

The Manhattan Tigers won their first state softball title May 25, 2024 in Billings by defeating Shepherd and in honor of former teammate Delaney Doherty. 

“Everyone heard us say it, but we proved that that’s what we did for the entire season,” senior pitcher Emma Kabalin said. “We proved it to everyone that we were playing for D the whole time. We did the whole thing for her.”

After the tournament was condensed to two days due to heavy rains on Thursday, Manhattan had to win five loser-out games after falling to Shepherd 12-0 in the second round on Friday afternoon. The Tigers won one elimination game on Friday and four on Saturday, the final two against Shepherd. They came through with an 11-8 win in the first championship contest to force a winner-take-all game in the double-elimination tournament. They prevailed again, winning 6-1 for the championship.

The Tigers put together a 25-6 record this season while playing their home games on what is now dubbed the Delaney Doherty Diamond. Doherty, who died in a car accident before the year, would have been a senior on the team.

The second-place state trophy is the first of any kind for Shepherd since it placed third in 2022. Florence (19-9) also earned its first state trophy since 2022, when it won the crown, by taking third.