Suit seeks injunction against Montanore

Three environmental groups have filed suit in United States District Court seeking an injunction against the Montanore Mine project in Lincoln County.

The suit alleges the United States Forest Service failed to comply with procedural and substantive requirements and violated both federal and state law in the issuance of the Feb. 12, 2016, Record of Decision, which permitted construction of the Montanore Mine in the Kootenai National Forest.

“This suit challenges the Forest Service’s failure to comply with mandatory procedural and substantive requirements governing the Forest Service’s approval of mining and other activities on National Forest lands for the Montanore Project,” attorney Kristine Akland wrote in the suit. “These violations include failure to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, 42 USC S. 4321 et seq. (‘NEPA’); National Forest Management Act, 16 USC S. 1600-1614 (‘NFMA’); Forest Service Organic Administration Act of 1897 (‘Organic Act’), 16 USC S. 478, 551; the Administrative Procedure Act (‘APA’), 5 USC S. 701-706, and the implementing regulations of these laws.”

Specifically, the plaintiffs allege the Forest Service did not conduct a proper level of analysis regarding water discharges and tailings impoundment prior to signing the Record of Decision.

“In addition to further drilling/tunneling under the Cabinet Mountains, and discharge of mine water into Libby Creek, during the Evaluation Phase MMC would develop various plans for transportation, road use, mitigation and monitoring plans, water pollution control plans and obtain baseline and other data necessary for the Project, JFEIS at 125-141 (discussing Project activities to occur during the Evaluation Phase),” the suit reads. “Importantly, the JFEIS and ROD acknowledge that critical Project information and designs for major facilities such as the 600+ acre, 120-million-ton tailings waste impoundment facility have yet to be gathered, and will only be obtained during the Evaluation Phase.”

The suit also alleges violation of the Montana Water Quality Act, specifically the clause that prohibits any degradation to the state’s Outstanding Resource Waters.

“Actions that would significantly impair the quality of waters designated ‘outstanding resource waters’ by the state are prohibited in all circumstances; DEQ may not issue an authorization to degrade outstanding resource waters,” Akland wrote in the complaint.

The suit cites water modeling completed for the project that indicate potential degradation of outstanding resource waters between the 22nd and 38th year of mine operations.

The issue of potential degradation of outstanding resource waters is not new to the Montanore discussion. A joint memorandum, dated June 25, 2012, sent from the Kootenai National Forest and the Montana Deparment of Environmental Quality to Eric Klepfer, Mines Management’s project consultant, detailed a number of data issues related to the groundwater inflows and base flow reductions in streams.

“During the meeting, agency specialists did not concur that sufficient documentation had been presented to demonstrate that grouting of the ceiling of a room and pillar mine would effectively reduce inflows to the degree and duration as simulated in Model Rerun D,” the memo read. “The agency specialists agreed that the two mitigations simulated by Model Rerun A (partial grouting of mine end walls that separate the mine void from Rock Lake and the Rock Lake fault, which was presented in the SDEIS) and Model Rerun B (increasing the buffer zones between the mine void and Rock Lake and the Rock Lake Fault) both had a greater potential for long-term effectiveness and recommended that these two model runs be combined and the results be presented in the FEIS as a representation of potential mitigations to protect surface water resources. MMC has not rerun the model to simulate these combined mitigations.”

The plaintiffs request the court set aside both the Record of Decision and both the Final Environmental Impact Statement and the Joint Final Environmental Impact Statement and enjoin any further authorization of mine activity until such time as the documents and processes are brought into compliance with applicable law.

“For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiffs respectfully request that this court: A. Declare that the Forest Service has violated the Organic Act, NFMA, NEPA, the APA, and the implementing regulations and policies of these laws; B. Set aside and vacate the ROD, FEIS, and JFEIS; C. Enjoin the Forest Service from allowing, authorizing or approving mining or mining related operations in reliance on the ROD and JFEIS until the Forest Service has complied with the Organic Act, NFMA, NEPA, the APA, and their implementing regulations; D. Award Plaintiffs their reasonable fees, costs, expenses, and disbursements, including attorneys’ fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2412, and any other applicable federal law; and E. Grant such additional relief as this court deems equitable, just, and proper,” the complaint reads.

Glenn Dobbs, chief executive officer of Mines Management Corporation, the owner of the Montanore Mine, said Monday he had not had time to read the suit and as such could not comment. Kootenai National Forest Supervisor Christopher Savage said he was unable to comment on pending litigation.