Environment

Conservation groups are suing Montana environmental regulators over new laws they say violate federal protections against coal mining impacts.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is revising the environmental analyses for mineral leasing in eastern Montana and north central Wyoming following legal challenges from conservation groups.

If you drive through Montana’s Paradise Valley this time of year you’ll likely see elk in their winter range. A new fund will help offset the cost ranchers who provide elk habitat could accrue if their herd contracts brucellosis.

State wildlife officials say chronic wasting disease was detected in a deer within the city limits of Baker in southeastern Montana. CWD is a fatal neurological disease that infects members of the deer family.

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, costing taxpayers $35 million to clean up.

Additional fishing restrictions took effect Monday for rivers in western Montana. The restrictions are intended to prevent fishing during the heat of the day, when high temperatures can stress trout and other cold-water species.

Gov. Greg Gianforte joined six other western governors Friday in a meeting with President Joe Biden to talk about wildfires. Thousands of acres are burning across the state of Montana amid a severe drought and high temperatures.

As more than 20 fires burn in Montana, a debate over how to manage forests to prepare for burns flared up in a Bozeman City Commission meeting Tuesday night. Commissioners narrowly passed a measure to support a controversial logging project.

The City of Polson has declared a water emergency, and is the latest Montana community to implement temporary water restrictions. Water to 60 homes in the city was shut off Monday as the region faces extraordinary demand and low supply.

In 2018, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality sought to prevent Hecla Mining from getting future mining permits, citing CEO Phillips Baker Jr.’s past work as a vice-president of Pegasus Gold. Pegasus abandoned mines near the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in the ‘90s and cost state taxpayers over $35 million to clean up.