2004 Victory in TMDL Lawsuit

It was a lengthy process but MEIC and its co-plaintiffs can finally claim victory in a lawsuit to force the State to develop total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for polluted water bodies in Montana. TMDLs are developed for rivers, streams, and lakes that are already polluted to the point that they can’t support their designated uses (i.e., fishing, swimming, irrigation, etc.). TMDLs are voluntary limits designed to reduce the amount of pollution entering waterways and ultimately allow them to support their designated uses.

TMDLs were originally defined in federal water quality law in 1972. States were given five years to complete their TMDLs. In 1997, 20 years after that deadline, MEIC and four other Montana environmental groups sued the State for failing to live up to this responsibility.

Two years later (August 2003), federal district court judge Donald Molloy ruled in the groups’ favor and ordered the State to finish completion of all its TMDLs by 2007. Judge Molloy further prohibited the issuance of permits for any new sources of pollution into water bodies for which TMDLs were not finalized. DEQ appealed this decision.

This most recent victory came when the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Judge Molloy’s decision regarding the TMDL completion deadline and the prohibition on new sources of pollution.

• Do You Know What TMDLs Are?
• For more information, see Montana Department of Environmental Quality's web site on TMDLs.
• See also: "2000 Clean Water Ruling Disrupts Highway Projects"