Montana Supreme Court justices voted 5-2 to maintain the water use permit that the Montanas Department of Natural Resources and Conservation issued for the Black Butte Copper Mine, proposed by Tintina Montana. Five justices supported DNRC’s decision to only include a portion of the water pumped out of the mine in its consideration under the permit.
The permit authorizes the mine to use close to 114,000 gallons of water pumped out of the ground for its operation near Sheep Creek, a tributary of the Smith River. The permit doesn’t consider the additional water that will be removed from the mine and then treated to be put back into groundwater resources.
A coalition of environmental groups including Trout Unlimited, the Montana Environmental Information Center, Earthworks, and American Rivers fought the construction of the mine for over a decade. They challenged the permit on the grounds of that exclusion, arguing that additional water should be subject to water use and environmental requirements.
Scott Bosse with American Rivers says, "I fear with this decision, the Smith River that we enjoy today is not going to remain that way a couple decades from now."
He says this decision establishes a dangerous precedent that could allow mines to pump groundwater away without needing a water right.
In a statement to MTPR, DNRC spokesperson Moira Davin wrote “The Court’s opinion confirms that DNRC performed its analysis objectively and in accordance with Montana law.”
Justices Ingrid Gustafson and Laurie McKinnon voted against upholding the water permit and wrote that this decision “needlessly created a glaring loophole in state oversight of Montana waters.”