Conservation groups filed lawsuits Thursday challenging a state board’s assertion that it overturned a pollution standard for Lake Koocanusa.
Four environmental groups based in Montana and Idaho are challenging a governor-appointed board’s claim that it invalidated the current selenium standard for Lake Koocanusa. The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) filed a similar lawsuit in January.
An increasing amount of selenium, which is known to harm fish, is flowing into the lake from British Columbia coal mines.
The Board of Environmental Review approved the selenium standard in 2020. Board members appointed under Gov. Greg Gianforte voted to invalidate the selenium rule in 2022, after the Legislature stripped the board of its rule-making authority.
Both the DEQ and federal environmental regulators have refused to acknowledge the board’s order to throw out the current selenium rule.
The DEQ and the environmental groups are now arguing in court that the board lacked the authority to change the pollution standard.
