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Montana environmental regulators are dropping their case to disqualify Hecla Mining from getting future mining permits in the state. The company’s CEO was previously an executive with Pegasus Gold, which abandoned mines in Montana.
Critics say there could be consequences for not seeking penalties under Montana’s “bad actors” law.
Montana Department of Environmental Quality Director Chris Dorrington says the state dropped its case against Hecla Mining Company after three years in court because the cost of litigating the case wasn’t worth the likely outcome.
“One of our original goals was also to seek reimbursement costs, which now seems an unlikely outcome of the case,” Dorrington says.
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Enviro, tribal groups upset with Gianforte over Hecla mining decision
Bureau of Land Management historical photo
The Pegasus Mine at Zortman
and last updated 2021-07-15 23:12:29-04
MISSOULA â Environmental and conservation groups, and some tribal leaders, are saying they re deeply disappointed with the Gianforte administration for deciding not to use a recent ruling to press bad actors to clean up mine waste.
A Gianforte spokesperson said the governor is simply empowering state agencies to act as they see fit.
The question first came up in 2018, when the Bullock administration, through the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, faulted Hecla Mining President and CEO Phillip Baker Jr. for his involvement in the ill-fated Pegasus Gold operations in the Little Rocky Mountains. That company went bankrupt 20-years ago, leaving behind cyanide and other contamination at Zortman, which costs the state $2 million per year.
In a reversal, Montanaâs Department of Environmental Quality wonât press for âbad actorâ sanctions against Hecla Mining Co. executive Phillips Baker for leaving unfinished reclamation work on several past gold mines.
Under former Gov. Steve Bullockâs administration, DEQ had attempted to use Montanaâs Bad Actor law to prohibit Baker from working with Hecla to develop new copper and silver mines next to the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in Lincoln County.
Phillips S. Baker Jr. J. CRAIG SWEAT
In the departmentâs brief to the court, DEQ attorney Sarah Clerget wrote that the election of Gov. Greg Gianforte and appointment of a new director of the agency prompted âa very careful look at the entire record of this case.â
Enviro, tribal groups upset with Gianforte over Hecla mining decision
Bureau of Land Management historical photo
The Pegasus Mine at Zortman
By: Dennis Bragg
and last updated 2021-07-16 10:58:08-04
MISSOULA â Environmental and conservation groups, and some tribal leaders, are saying they re deeply disappointed with the Gianforte administration for deciding not to use a recent ruling to press bad actors to clean up mine waste.
A Gianforte spokesperson said the governor is simply empowering state agencies to act as they see fit.
The question first came up in 2018, when the Bullock administration, through the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), faulted Hecla Mining President and CEO Phillip Baker Jr. for his involvement in the ill-fated Pegasus Gold operations in the Little Rocky Mountains.
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