
EPA nixes Montana’s new water quality standards
In a May 10 letter to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, the EPA asserted that a measure the Montana Legislature passed in 2021 runs afoul of the Clean Water Act. The EPA said it’s concerned that the state’s repeal of numeric standards for nitrogen and phosphorus codified in Senate Bill 358 has led to…
Latest Environmental Reporting
The didymo dilemma
The selenium battle of Lake Koocanusa
‘Glamping’ proposal threatens Gallatin River, conservationists claim
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Environmental group sues over new water quality law
Environmental nonprofit Upper Missouri Waterkeeper has filed suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its handling of a new Montana law that loosens nutrient pollution regulations in the state’s waterways.

What’s driving southern Montana’s deadliest avalanche season in more than a decade?
There have been good winters and there have been bad winters, but during an average one, avalanches claim the lives of three backcountry recreationists in Montana. Compared to other mountainous states in the West, Montana is usually somewhere in the top five for total avalanche deaths, but rarely tops the list. But so far this…

Researchers say increasing forest fires are ‘unhinging’ streamflow patterns in the western U.S.
A study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences found that forest fires lead to a bump in streamflows for several years post-fire. Montana-based scientists say the study raises interesting questions about drought, wildfire, water availability and the future of Great Plains grasslands.

Federal judge sides with Forest Service in Crazy Mountains access lawsuit
U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Cavan says the sporting and conservation groups that sued the Custer Gallatin National Forest have failed to identify a “discrete agency action the Forest Service was required to take” in its handling of disputed historic trails in the Crazy Mountains. Although not final — a more senior judge will issue a…

Courts deal blow to southeastern Montana coal mine
A Billings judge ordered the federal government to redo its analysis of a southeastern Montana coal mine expansion it approved in 2019.

The Custer Gallatin National Forest’s new guiding doc
Wilderness designation, motorized and mechanized use, bison management and climate change are among the topics addressed in the rewrite process.
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