Fix the Compact, and let's avoid litigation

Letter to the Editor,

There are so many problems with the proposed CSKT Compact that passing it as is will most certainly invite even more lawyers to town for endless litigation.

The easy way to avoid litigation is to take the time to fix the Compact. This can be done by conducting the environmental, economic and regulatory studies that can identify ways to eliminate or minimize the potential damage the proposed Compact will cause to western Montana. Such studies can be done under the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA).

Former Chief Justice of the Water Court, Judge Loble, stated so in a talk given in Ronan in November. Rather than stick to ideology, he said, take the time to examine and adjust the Compact to fix the problems that have surfaced.

The purpose of the MEPA is “to declare a state policy that will encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between humans and their environment, to protect the right to use and enjoy private property free of undue government regulation, to promote efforts that will prevent or eliminate damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of humans.”

MEPA was “purposeful in establishing a process whereby Montana can anticipate and prevent unexamined, unintended, and unwanted consequences rather than continuing to stumble into circumstances or cumulative crises that the state can only react to and mitigate.”

Simply expressed, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

— Ed Wehrheim

Moiese