MEPA Archives - Montana Environmental Information Center - MEIC https://meic.org/tag/mepa/ Clean and healthful. It's your right, our mission. Fri, 06 Jun 2025 18:47:48 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://meic.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/cropped-MEIC_whitesmall-32x32.png MEPA Archives - Montana Environmental Information Center - MEIC https://meic.org/tag/mepa/ 32 32 Legislative Recap: MEPA and Water Quality Suffer Setbacks, But Session Had Some Bright Spots https://meic.org/legislative-recap-mepa-and-water-quality-suffer-setbacks-but-session-had-some-bright-spots/ Thu, 05 Jun 2025 14:13:18 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=38690 by Anne Hedges & Derf Johnson There are so many victories and losses in a single session that it is difficult to write a legislative recap. From a high level, the most significant losses involved the Legislature’s attack on the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) and the Montana Clean Air Act in order to prevent …

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]]> MEPA Gets Scapegoated…Again https://meic.org/mepa-gets-scapegoatedagain/ Thu, 05 Jun 2025 14:09:39 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=38698 by Anne Hedges When the Montana Supreme Court ruled that Montanans’ fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment includes the right to a stable climate, we knew the victory could spell trouble. When the Montana Supreme Court issued its decision in the Held v. State of Montana case in December, the legislative session …

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]]> MEIC Statement on Signing of MEPA Bills https://meic.org/meic-statement-on-signing-of-mepa-bills/ Thu, 01 May 2025 20:49:30 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=38398 The Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) provides everyday Montanans with the details they need to learn more about a project and how it will impact their safety, community, sacred places, and their families’ health. Despite industry talking points, there is no history of the State ever denying a project from moving forward under MEPA.  In …

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]]> Montana Supreme Court Issues Victories for the Climate https://meic.org/montana-supreme-court-issues-victories-for-the-climate/ Sun, 30 Mar 2025 14:18:00 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=38163 By Anne Hedges “The world is experiencing a fast rise in temperature that is unprecedented in the geologic record, with the average global temperature increasing by 2.2°F in the last 120 years. Montana is heating faster than the global average and the rate of warming is increasing.” Montana Supreme Court,  Held v. State of Montana …

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]]> Legislative Overview: It’s Kind of Gruesome https://meic.org/legislative-overview-its-kind-of-gruesome/ Sun, 30 Mar 2025 14:13:36 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=38179 By Anne Hedges This session is a doozy. The Senate began with a power struggle that continues to this day. National politics emboldened some legislators who have introduced bills and resolutions to ask Congress to give the President more power, to eliminate state environmental protections, and to give federal environmental programs to the state (counter …

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]]> 2025 Legislature: MEPA on the Chopping Block https://meic.org/2025-legislature-mepa-on-the-chopping-block/ Sun, 30 Mar 2025 14:10:34 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=38181 By Derf Johnson One of my professors at the University of Montana frequently used the quote, “The world is run by those who show up.” I don’t remember its attribution, but it’s stuck with me for all of these years due to its simplicity and accuracy. However, if I had to tack on an amendment …

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]]> Press Release: Conservation and agriculture groups challenge Montana’s approval of Bull Mountain coal mine expansion https://meic.org/press-release-conservation-and-agriculture-groups-challenge-montanas-approval-of-bull-mountain-coal-mine-expansion/ Mon, 30 Sep 2024 21:24:41 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=36038 Legal complaint cites the State’s failures to consider harms to water, agriculture, wildlife, safety.   CONTACTS Jackson Chiappinelli, Earthjustice, jchiappinelli@earthjustice.org, (585) 402-2005 Dustin Ogdin, Northern Plains Resource Council, dustin@northernplains.org, (406) 248-1154 Derf Johnson, Montana Environmental Information Center, djohnson@meic.org, (406) 581-4634 BILLINGS, MO — Conservation and family agriculture groups challenged Montana’s approval of an expansion of …

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]]> Supreme Court Hears MEIC Challenge to NorthWestern Gas Plant https://meic.org/supreme-court-hears-meic-challenge-to-northwestern-gas-plant/ Mon, 01 Jul 2024 14:14:03 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=35620 By Anne Hedges Is the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) required to consider climate change when it analyzes a large methane-fired power plant’s impact on the environment? DEQ and NorthWestern Energy say no. MEIC disagrees.  In September 2021, Earthjustice, on behalf of MEIC and Sierra Club, filed a legal challenge in state district court …

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]]> MEPA Stakeholder Group Wraps Up: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly https://meic.org/mepa-stakeholder-group-wraps-up-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ Mon, 01 Jul 2024 14:06:19 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=35661 By Derf Johnson Held v. State of Montana made some waves across not just Montana, but the world. In the ruling, a Montana District Court judge ordered that the state of Montana was failing in its duty to maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment by intentionally avoiding the consideration and mitigation of climate …

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]]> Webinar Recording — Montana Climate Action Updates https://meic.org/webinar-recording-montana-climate-action-updates/ Wed, 15 May 2024 20:58:56 +0000 https://meic.org/?p=34878 In this webinar recorded on May 14, MEIC shared updates about some of our climate action in Montana, including the Supreme Court hearing about the Yellowstone County Generating Station, the ongoing MEPA working group at DEQ, and the petition for rulemaking that 40+ Montana businesses and organizations submitted to the Public Service Commission. We’re grateful …

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