Judge gives state green light to start work on Laurel psychiatric facility

Montana can begin construction on a forensic psychiatric facility just west of Laurel, despite pushback from town residents and officials, a District Court judge ruled this week. 

Yellowstone County District Court Judge Ed Zink issued an order Tuesday dissolving the preliminary injunction that’s been in place since August, which halted construction shortly before it was scheduled to begin. The order was first reported by The Billings Gazette. 

That preliminary injunction ordered the state Board of Investments and the Department of Public Health and Human Services, which are jointly overseeing the project, to redo the environmental assessment and more closely examine potential water supply problems. It also required the state agencies to allow for public comment. 

The lawsuit was brought by a group of Laurel residents called Laurel CARED. The organization has more claims pending before the court, including that the further environmental analysis the state completed was insufficient. For instance, the group questions a portion of the analysis that states the proposed 32-bed facility would use 2,000 gallons of water per day, but that if expanded to 64 beds, the facility would use only 2,600 gallons per day. 

“In other words, despite a 100% increase in patients and a 60% increase in employees, the State projects only a 30% increase in potable water demand,” Laurel CARED attorney Liz Forster wrote. 

The state agencies, meanwhile, have continued to argue that the plaintiffs haven’t met the legal bar for another injunction and the public interest favors “urgently moving forward with the acutely needed” psychiatric facility. 

The facility is a key part of the state’s plan to address a backlog at the state hospital and in county jails, where current psychiatric resources can’t meet demand. The proposed facility would serve only people involved in the criminal system, including those awaiting trial. 

The delay in the project is costing the state $10,242 a day, according to the state agencies’ estimates in court filings. Laurel CARED argues the estimate is unreliable. 

When deciding whether to grant or lift an injunction, the court must consider the impact on the local and state economies, the judge wrote. Any injunction must be “as narrowly tailored as the facts allow,” Zink wrote.

“In balancing these factors, the Court is compelled to lift the injunctive relief because the economic harms to the State of Montana are significant and growing,” the judge wrote. 

The preliminary injunction was needed to make sure the state answered questions about water capacity, Zink wrote. But since the state agencies conducted further analysis, as the judge ordered, he said he needed to lift the preliminary injunction. An “ongoing full stop to all work” would be inconsistent with the applicable state law, the judge wrote. 

Forster, the attorney for Laurel CARED, declined to comment on the recent order, aside from Laurel CARED’s court filings. Jon Ebelt, a spokesperson for DPHHS, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It’s unclear when construction will begin. 

Earlier this month, a group of bipartisan lawmakers accused Laurel city officials of discriminating against people with disabilities in their ongoing fight with the state over the psychiatric facility. City officials have denied the allegation and say the city has imposed a moratorium on all new development because the city’s water infrastructure can’t support it.