Black Butte Copper Clears Court Hurdle
 | Author:
Amanda Eggert, Montana Free Press
Montana Free Press |
Black Butte Copper Clears Court Hurdle
Amanda Eggert
Montana Free Press
The Montana Supreme Court on February 26 issued a decision that brings a central Montana copper mine one step closer to operation.
In a 5-2 decision, the justices wrote that the Montana Department of Environmental Quality made a “reasoned decision” when it issued a permit to Tintina Montana Incorporated (now Sandfire Resources America) to extract approximately 14 million tons of copper from a mine in Meagher County. “Compiling an extensive record of scientific studies, expert examinations, engineering reports, testing, and comparison with other mining facilities around the world, and after considering a wide range of comments from members of the public,… DEQ made a scientifically driven permitting decision that was supported by substantial evidence,” Justice Beth Baker wrote in the ruling.
The justices ordered a lower court to reinstate a permit it had vacated for the Black Butte project located along a tributary of the Smith River, which the justices deemed “an undisputed Montana treasure.”
Montana Trout Unlimited, Montana Environmental Information Center, American Rivers and Earthworks had challenged DEQ’s decision to issue the permit, arguing that Montana regulators shouldn’t treat the Black Butte project as a “guinea pig” for a mining design that’s untested in the state and that the mining operations could impair water quality in Sheep Creek and the Smith River.
More specifically, they challenged DEQ’s finding that mine tailings –the material that’s left over after ore is removed – would remain secure with the use of a cement-aided technique that aims to make them more stable in the event of heavy precipitation or an earthquake. They also argued that Tintina’s water treatment plan would produce nitrogen four to six times the allowable standard, which could exacerbate the oxygen-depleting algal blooms that occasionally challenge the Smith, a lazy central Montana river that supports a trout fishery, agricultural irrigation and a high sought-after recreational floating experience.
Baker and the concurring justices – Mike McGrath, James Shea, Jim Rice and Dirk Sandefur-devoted more than half of the 65-page majority opinion to technical aspects of the project and its anticipated water quality impacts in their assessment that the DEQ complied with the Montana law in it handling of Tintina’s proposal. The application, first submitted to DEQ in 2015, includes nearly 90,000 pages of documents, the concurring justices noted.
In the dissenting opinion, Justices Ingrid Gustafson and Laurie McKinnon countered that the DEQ generated an “inadequate analysis unsupported by the record” by failing to thoroughly examine the benefits of alternatives that would pose less of a risk to water quality. “We would affirm the District Court’s determination that DEQ’s issuance of the mine permit was arbitrary, capricious, and unlawful, and remand to DEQ,” Gustafson and Mc Kinnon wrote.
In an emailed statement Sandfire Resources CEO Lincoln Greenidge thanked the court. “Today’s victory in the Montana Supreme Court is a validation of the thoughtful and deliberate efforts of the Sandfire America team to design a world-class, environmentally safe mining project from the beginning,” Greenidge said. “Now we look forward to progressing the project in a safe, responsible and sustainable manner.”
DEQ did not provide a comment to the Montana Free Press on February 26.
This story was originally published by Montana Free Press at montanafreepress.org
