Tribes, Conservation Groups to Challenge Montana’s Failure to Enforce “Bad Actor” Law Denounce Gianforte Administration Decision to Let Mining Executive Off “Scot-Free”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 3, 2021
Contact: Andrew Werk Jr., President, Fort Belknap Indian Community, (406) 390-2650, [email protected] | Bonnie Gestring, Earthworks, (406) 546-8386, [email protected] | Mary Costello, Rock Creek Alliance, (406) 827-4896, [email protected] | Andrew Gorder, Clark Fork Coalition, (605) 695-3357, [email protected] | Anne Hedges, Montana Environmental Information Center, (406) 461-9546, [email protected] | Whitney Tawney, Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund, (406) 254-1593, [email protected] | Shiloh Hernandez, Earthjustice, (406) 586-9699, [email protected]
(HELENA, Mont.) – Today, tribes and conservation groups announced plans to file a legal action to require the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to fulfill its legal duty to enforce the “bad actor” law against Hecla Mining Co. and Hecla CEO, Phillips S. Baker, Jr. In a response motion filed yesterday in State District Court, the groups informed the court that, as intervenors, they cannot stand in the way of DEQ’s decision to dismiss its case, however they intend to take independent legal action against DEQ for its failure to protect Montana from predatory corporate executives, comply with the law, and enforce the “bad actor” requirement of the Metal Mine Reclamation Act.