Group sues DOJ over withheld communications with Canadian coal company
LAKE KOOCANUSA
A Montana environmental policy group sued the state Department of Justice on Friday, alleging the department is violating the organization’s right to know under the constitution by withholding communications between the department and a Canadian coal mining company whose pollution is flowing downstream to Montana.
The Montana Environmental Information Center is asking a judge to force the DOJ, led by Attorney General Austin Knudsen, to turn over a privilege log and 414 documents so the court can review them to see if they should be handed over to the organization.
The records involve communications between the DOJ and Teck Coal, a company that owns coal mines in British Columbia across the border from northwestern Montana that the U.S. Geological Survey said in November was causing vast increases in selenium pollution in the Elk River. The Elk River flows downstream into Lake Koocanusa.
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