Protecting and advancing air and water quality standards to ensure a clean and healthy climate for future generations. Campaign areas include fighting hardrock mines and pushing for air pollution regulations at power plants and industrial pollution sources.
Reducing our dependence on fossil fuels through an equitable transition to renewable and clean energy sources. Campaign areas include NorthWestern Energy accountability, development of clean and affordable energy, promotion of energy efficiency, and fighting coal, oil, and gas development and use in Montana.
MEIC exists on the edge of government and its operations. If you boil down our day-to-day work, a substantial portion is the pick-and-shovel work of document review in order to hold the government accountable.
Pres. Trump’s Executive Orders were issued fast and furious in his first months in office, a slew of legislation has been introduced in Congress to roll-back basic environmental standards, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is priding itself on instituting the largest “regulatory rollback” in history.
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) thumbed its nose at the Montana Supreme Court, the people of Montana, future generations, and our Constitutional Right to a Clean and Healthful Environment when it released its draft and final environmental analyses for NorthWestern Energy’s gas plant near Laurel.
Data center investors are making plans to come to Montana soon. As in “as soon as possible.” While NorthWestern Energy doesn’t have a clear plan for supplying the vast amount of power it will need, it’s becoming clear who it expects to pay for the generation and grid infrastructure to serve these huge customers. The question is, should Montanans be required to subsidize behemoth tech companies?
For 50 years, MEIC has worked to keep Montana’s air and water clean. We have stopped dirty acid mines and helped pass and defend strong pollution control laws. And it’s all made possible by our members.
MEIC is made up of thousands of Montanans who care deeply about this state – our home. This strong membership has allowed MEIC to remain independent and to always fight for what is right. We would love to have you as a member too.
Sept. 17, 2025 – Kootenai National Forest officials are preparing to decide whether to authorize an underground copper-and-silver exploration project in the Cabinet Mountains south of Libby, marking the culmination of a four-decade effort to evaluate Lincoln County’s untapped mineral interests.
July 14, 2025 – This video by More Perfect Union, featuring MEIC’s Anne Hedges, exposes how for-profit utility companies, like NorthWestern Energy, invest in the most expensive energy resources in order to maximize corporate profits at the expense of bill-paying customers.
Montana’s Smith River is renowned worldwide for its clean water, rugged canyon scenery, and blue ribbon trout fishery. The Smith is Montana’s only permitted recreational river. The permitted section of the Smith River winds 59 miles through a remote canyon in the Big Belt Mountains. Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks classifies the Smith River’s fishery as high-value, owing to its bountiful population of rainbow, brown, westslope cutthroat, and brook trout. The canyon walls of the Smith also boast some of the best examples of Native American pictographs in Montana.
Montana’s Smith River is an extraordinary resource, and deserves our most rigorous effort to protect it from mine pollution and dewatering. Montana Governor Greg Gianforte and the Department of Environmental Quality Director Chris Dorrington will make critical decisions that will determine the future of the Smith River and the Sheep Creek Mine.
Please contact Governor Gianforte and Director Dorrington. Let them know that the Smith River is an incredibly important place for the people of Montana and across the country and world, and should not be sacrificed for temporary and risky mining activities.
The Smith River and its tributaries provide crucial habitat and spawning grounds for regional trout fisheries. The Sheep Creek drainage accounts for over half of tributary spawning of rainbow trout in the Smith River drainage, and rainbow trout have been known to travel nearly 200 miles round-trip from the Missouri River to spawn!
The Smith River depends on clean cold water from its tributaries to sustain the aquatic life within its banks and the agricultural operations along it. Demands on the river’s waters already often exceed available flows in many years, creating challenges for downstream water users.
P: (406) 443-2520
E: meic@meic.org
324 Fuller Ave, #C-8
Helena, MT 59601
Mailing addresses:
P.O. Box 1184, Helena, MT, 59624
225 W. Front, Missoula, MT, 59802