State environmental regulators last month
dropped 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 near the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in the ‘90s. It cost taxpayers $35 million to clean up.
Now, seven groups, including the Fort Belknap Indian Community, the Montana Environmental Information Center and Earthjustice plan to sue the state.
In a
motion filed Monday in State District Court in Helena, the groups acknowledged they cannot block regulators’ decision to drop the case against Hecla. However, they intend to sue the Montana Department of Environmental Quality for what they say is a failure to protect the state from ”predatory corporate executives.”