DEQ sued on wastewater permit
The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is being sued over its decision to transfer a Clark Fork River wastewater discharge permit from a now-defunct pulp and paper operation to the buyer of the property, which hasn’t stated any concrete plans for its use.
The Missoula City-County Health Board, the Missoula Valley Water Quality District, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, and the Clark Fork Coalition filed the lawsuit against the Department of Enviornmental Quality in District Court in Helena this week.
It alleges the department violated state and federal clean water laws by authorizing M2 Green to discharge nitrogen and phosphorous into the Clark Fork River near Frenchtown at a rate 30 to 40 times what they requested, “for a facility that does not exist and for a site that has not produced wastewater since 2010.”
“It’s hard to imagine how this permit, which maximizes pollution allowed in the river, fits in with the good work now underway to restore the Clark Fork,” said Karen Knudsen, executive director of the Clark Fork Coalition.
The work has included removing a dam and cleaning up mine waste along 56 miles of the river.
The Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. mill’s closure gave the department an opportunity to protect the long-term health of the river by terminating the permit and requiring an application for a new one, the lawsuit states.
DEQ spokesman Chris Saeger said it is customary for a permit to be issued before a facility begins operations, and that this permit has differed from those conditions under which Smurfit-Stone operated.
“This renewed permit authorizes the discharge of significantly lower amounts of pollutants than the previous Smurfit-Stone permit. The permit also includes a thermal discharge, which must consist of uncontaminated cooling water or unaltered ground water,” Saeger said in an email to The Associated Press.
M2 Green’s permit does not authorize the discharge of industrial wastewater, only treated domestic wastewater such as sinks and toilets.
The lawsuit also alleges the DEQ did not notify the tribes about the permit application. The tribes are guaranteed hunting and fishing rights in the Clark Fork Basin through the Hellgate Treaty.
The lawsuit asks a judge to void the permit.