Mining

In a neighborhood near the mining town of Butte, many people have a hard time believing the air they are breathing is safe.

The state Department of Environmental Quality is at odds with a governor-appointed board over a rule that could limit pollution levels in a northwest Montana lake.

Updates are underway for the Waterfowl Protection Plan designed to keep birds out of the toxic Berkeley Pit. Cannons, sirens, drones and lasers have been effective in minimizing bird deaths, according to the project's bird protection specialist.

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.

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.

Three U.S. officials from an international transboundary regulatory group will learn more about the upstream Canadian coal mine pollution flowing into...

Democratic Sen. Jon Tester Wednesday asked the U.S. State Department to put pressure on an international commission and the Canadian government to stem...

British Columbia coal mining company Teck Resources has agreed to pay a $60 million fine for polluting rivers upstream of Lake Koocanusa.

The owner of an inactive gold mine east of Butte is proposing to excavate and reprocess mining waste in a project that would extend the mine’s life by up to 12 years. The state is accepting comments on the proposal.

State and federal officials say a large mining clean up project in Montana is nearly complete and open for recreation.