FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 29, 2025
CONTACTS
Meridian Wappett, Western Environmental Law Center, 208-596-9870, wappett@westernlaw.org
Perry Wheeler, Earthjustice, pwheeler@earthjustice.org
Anne Hedges, Montana Environmental Information Center, 406-461-9546, gro.ciem@segdeha
Conservation groups today challenged an inadequate environmental analysis from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality for the 175-megawatt methane gas plant near Laurel, Mont. In August, DEQ issued a supplemental final environmental assessment for the Yellowstone County Generating Station, but the agency has once again not fully considered or disclosed the plant’s greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related harm despite being ordered to do so by the Montana Supreme Court following an inadequate 2021 analysis.
Montana Environmental Information Center and Northern Plains Resource Council are represented by Earthjustice and Western Environmental Law Center in the lawsuit.
“The Montana Supreme Court recently affirmed that the people’s right to a clean and healthful environment includes rigorously evaluating projects like this gas plant so we know their climate impacts,” said Meridian Wappett, Equal Justice Works attorney-fellow at the Western Environmental Law Center. “It is disheartening that the Department of Environmental Quality immediately flouted that ruling in this case, and it is crucial to hold the agency accountable to the law.”
The conservation groups claim that the state’s final environmental assessment still violates the Montana Environmental Policy Act. The groups have asked the court to order DEQ to complete an analysis that actually complies with MEPA, Montana’s Constitution, and the Montana Supreme Court’s January directive.
“It is deeply disappointing that the Montana DEQ granted NorthWestern Energy an air quality permit based on a flawed and misleading assessment that ignored the daily harms this plant inflicts on Laurel’s community,” said Steve Krum, member of Northern Plains Resource Council and Laurel resident. “This is the latest example of DEQ downplaying the plant’s harmful impacts. This facility, built just over half a mile from Laurel and next to a century-old neighborhood, is classified as a major source of hazardous air pollutants, in addition to being a significant source of climate-harming emissions. Our families see the brown clouds, feel the vibrations, and live with the hidden toxins every day, proof that a full environmental impact statement is required, not a superficial review. This plant should never have been sited in a populated area, and certainly not without constitutional protections for our community’s health and safety.”
Groups first filed suit in October 2021 challenging the state’s approval of the gas plant on the banks of the Yellowstone River. In 2023, the district court ruled in favor of conservation groups, finding that the issuance of an air quality permit for the plant was unlawful. The Montana Supreme Court then affirmed the district court ruling in January of this year, finding that DEQ unlawfully permitted construction of the plant without first considering its harm to Montana’s environment, including from climate-harming carbon dioxide emissions. Operation of the plant was allowed to proceed even while DEQ undertook the court-ordered review of its impacts.
“Once again, DEQ ignored Montanans’ constitutional right to a stable climate when it failed to disclose the impact of a whopping 25 million tons of greenhouse gases from NorthWestern Energy’s large methane gas plant along the Yellowstone River,” said Anne Hedges, executive director of the Montana Environmental Information Center. “Following its woefully inadequate draft analysis, DEQ had months to incorporate feedback from hundreds of Montanans and the numerous studies that explicitly outline the impacts that climate change will have on Montana. Unfortunately, DEQ still presented no analysis of how this significant increase in pollution may harm Montana agriculture, outdoor recreation, and human health. It is an egregious misuse of public time and taxpayer dollars when DEQ obviously intends to phone in its constitutional obligation for pollution permits unless a court requires it to do its job right.”
The Montana Supreme Court’s January decision followed the court’s ruling in Held v. State of Montana, which found that a law passed by the Montana legislature to prohibit the state from considering climate impacts in MEPA reviews was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court reiterated that Montanans have a fundamental right to a clean and healthful environment — a right that includes a stable climate and requires the government to actively take steps to realize this right.
“By completing yet another inadequate assessment, DEQ has blatantly ignored MEPA, Montana’s Constitution, and a directive from the Montana Supreme Court,” said Lars Phillips, senior attorney with Earthjustice’s Northern Rockies Office. “A sufficient analysis of the environmental impacts would have revealed the plant’s climate impacts and informed the public of the associated consequences to the environment, human health, and the economy. The people of Montana deserve better than for costly and harmful projects like this to be rubber-stamped by our environmental regulators.”
Contacts:
Meridian Wappett, Western Environmental Law Center, 208-596-9870, gro.walnretsew@tteppaw
Perry Wheeler, Earthjustice, gro.ecitsujhtrae@releehwp
Anne Hedges, Montana Environmental Information Center, 406-461-9546, gro.ciem@segdeha
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