The Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) provides everyday Montanans with the details they need to learn more about a project and how it will impact their safety, community, sacred places, and their families’ health. Despite industry talking points, there is no history of the State ever denying a project from moving forward under MEPA.
In 2011, after signing a bill to weaken MEPA, Gov. Brian Schweitzer ordered agencies to consider how the new law would improve business development. A subsequent comprehensive look at MEPA makes no mention of lost profit or jobs due to MEPA, though it does conclude by saying, “Nearly everyone we spoke with suggested that to the extent that MEPA provides more information to the public and allows the public to contribute, it is a great decision-making tool.”
SB 221 and HB 285 attempt to reduce MEPA to a paper exercise, gutting a law that has protected transparency and the public for 50 years. Without the requirements in MEPA to fully analyze a project’s impacts, the state does not have a mechanism to comply with the public’s constitutional rights to know, to participate, and to have a clean and healthful environment. The people of this state will not stand for a loss of these constitutional rights, and so these bills will only result in conflict and wasted state resources.
Anne Hedges, MEIC Executive Director | 406-461-9546, ahedges@meic.org
