Water watchdog groups and tribes are suing federal environmental regulators. The suit challenges the federal approval of Montana’s new water quality standards.
The new law changed how the state measures nutrient pollution in waterways. State regulators must now use narrative standards, which rely on metrics like fish health, or the water’s appearance to determine quality. The state previously relied on numeric measurements of the amount of nutrients in the water.
Too many nutrients can cause harmful algal blooms or fish die-offs.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the changes last fall. State changes to water quality standards must receive federal approval.
Flathead Lakers, Upper Missouri Waterkeeper and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes say that approval is illegal. In their lawsuit filed late last month the groups say EPA violated the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act by approving subpar standards and not using the best available science.
Coby Gierke runs Flathead Lakers.
"Moving to undefined, unagreed upon, non-science-backed narrative standards is just something that DEQ and the Legislature chose to do on their own without the input of the citizens of Montana and without the input of the scientists of Montana," he said.
Gierke added that this rollback could impair Montana waterways.
