ELR Citation: 49 ELR 20073
No(s). CDV-2018-150 (Mont. 1st Jud. Dist. Apr 9, 2019) (Seeley, J.)

A state court reversed the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation's approval of a water use permit for a proposed silver-copper mine in Montana's Cabinet Mountains. An environmental group argued that the Department ignored data in the mining company's permit application indicating that proposed groundwater pumping for the mine could dewater wilderness streams that were classified as outstanding resource waters, and thus that the water was not legally available. The court agreed, finding that the Department should have considered the potential depletion of such waters due to the company's proposed operations before it approved the company's water use permit. It therefore reversed the permit approval and remanded to the Department for further consideration.