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ANTI Public Participation bills

Public Participation in Environmental Permitting

A number of bills were introduced this session that sought to reduce the public’s role in environmental permitting.  Even the bitterly fought and much-publicized bill (HB 418) allowing horse slaughterhouses in Montana had such provisions, and it was passed.  [Read about WHY THESE BILLS ARE MISGUIDED]

Perhaps the most contentious bill that MEIC worked on was HB 483 (Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad).  [SEE FACT SHEET]  [Also see: U.S. EPA SUBMITS LETTER TO GOVERNOR QUESTIONING LEGALITY OF HB 483]

This bill was written to prevent the public from appealing environmental permits, and the Highwood Generating Station battle was used as the poster child for the cause.  Legislators and industry lobbyists argued, without any factual justification at all, that such appeals were crippling economic development in Montana.  They appeared to assign no value to the public’s need and right to protect itself from poor government decisions that could negatively affect public health, the environment, or private property.

The proponents of HB 483 cited examples of the alleged problems that the bill would fix.  In nearly every example, the public won the appeal or the case was settled with increased public health protections and environmental safeguards.  The Department of Environmental Quality issues thousands of environmental permits each year. 

Only a small handful of those have been appealed in recent years, most by permittees objecting to requirements they thought were too stringent.  In those few instances where members of the public appealed, the appeals resulted in better air quality monitoring, or better pollution controls for pollutants such as mercury and sulfur dioxide, or the like.  None of the public’s appeals were found to be frivolous by any court.

Environmental groups and hundreds of citizens across the State strongly opposed the bill.  But the bill passed the House by a 68-32 vote and the Senate 30-20. 

Environmentalists asked the Governor to veto the bill in its entirety.  Instead, the Governor issued an amendatory veto.  His changes did not make a bad bill into a good one; they merely made a bad bill less objectionable. But considering the provisions of the bill as it was delivered to him, his amendments were a welcome relief.  Both chambers accepted his amendments, and the Governor signed the bill into law on May 5th.

HB 483 was only one of many bills introduced this session designed to stop the public from protecting its interests.  Most of the others, including SB 387 (Sen. Keith Bales, R-Otter), and SB 288 Sen. Greg Hinkle (R-Thompson Falls), were defeated (see bill descriptions below).

 

Montana Environmental Policy Act

With one exception, all the attempts to weaken or eliminate the Montana Environmental Policy Act failed this session. MEPA is the State law that requires agencies to consider the environmental, economic, and social impacts of proposed actions prior to taking them.

  • HB 566: (Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad).  This bill was the first anti-MEPA bill to fail. It would have prevented a court from stopping a project from proceeding even if the State had failed to comply with MEPA. This would have, in effect, made compliance with MEPA optional, as there would have been no consequences for ignoring the law. Thanks to House Democrats it failed to pass 2nd reading in the House by a vote of 50-50.  [READ FACT SHEET ON HB 566]
  • SB 417:  (Sen. Jim Keane, D-Butte).  This bill would have prohibited all lawsuits under MEPA, regardless of whether the State had complied with the law or not. It too would have eliminated any consequence for an agency ignoring MEPA. It died on a party-line 7-7 vote in the House Federal Relations, Energy, and Telecommunications Committee (FRET).
  • SB 440: (Sen. Kelly Gebhardt, R-Roundup).  This bill would have exempted all air pollution permits from MEPA. Thanks, in part, to the efforts of landowners near the proposed Highwood Generating Station, the Democrats in FRET killed this bill on a 7-7 vote.  [READ FACT SHEET ON SB 440]
  • SB 481: (Sen. Greg Barkus, R-Kalispell). This bill would have exempted all projects funded with federal stimulus dollars from MEPA. This bill also died on a party-line 7-7 vote in FRET.
  • HB 529: (Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad).  This was the only MEPA-weakening bill to pass. It exempts wind farms on State school trust land from most review under MEPA. The State only has to consider the impacts to State land from the turbines located on State property. So if a large wind farm is located adjacent to State land but with only a few of its turbines on State land, there will be no environmental review of the entire project, just of the State land portion. Considering the potential cumulative impacts from large-scale wind development, it is very unfortunate that the full impact will not be studied. The bill passed the House 71-29 and the Senate 33-17, and is now law.


Major Facility Siting Act

  • SB 360:  (Sen. Jim Keane, D-Butte).  The Major Facility Siting Act was originally intended to require public review of proposed energy development projects to make sure they were in the best interests of Montana. Over the years MFSA has been chipped away at so many times that it is now only a pitted shell of its former self. This bill continues the damage. SB 360 originally sought broad exemptions from the Act for extensions of existing power lines. MEIC successfully worked to amend the bill in the Senate to narrow the scope of the exemptions. The bill also broadened the exemption for geothermal facilities that generate 50 megawatts or less. The bill passed both chambers by wide margins and was signed by the Governor on May 5th.

 

BILLS THAT (THANKFULLY!) DIED:

ontana Environmental Information Center

SB 288: Sen. Greg Hinkle (R-Thompson Falls). This bill would make it even more expensive and risky to seek an injunction against an industrial facility, and would prohibit a court from waiving the bond that the public must post when it requests an injunction “in the interest of justice.”  MEIC Position: STRONGLY OPPOSE

  • (S) 2nd Reading Passed 2/25/2009 (vote: 25-24); (S) 3rd Reading Passed 2/26/2009 (vote: 28-22).
  • (H) Judiciary Committee Vote Failed 3/23/09 (vote: 9-9); Died in Standing Committee    04/28/2009

 

SB 387: Sen. Keith Bales (R-Otter).  This bill would require citizens to post a bond whenever they appeal an air permit to the Board of Environmental Review.  It would also allow the Highwood Generating Station to continue construction, even though it failed to meet the deadlines in its permit.  The bill also would shorten the already brief timeframe for citizens to appeal air permits, and it would require the Board to decide all permit appeals within 90 days, regardless of the complexity of the case (courts can take years for similar cases). [The bill is nearly the same as HB 483, but it does not apply to water quality permits.]  MEIC Position: STRONGLY OPPOSE.  READ FACT SHEET ON SB 387

 

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