Legislature Advances Visions For MEPA’s Future

The Montana Legislature on Wednesday, Feb. 12, advanced four Republican-introduced measures that will tweak and redefine environmental policies in the state.

Two of the measures that change the Montana Environmental Policy Act — one in each chamber — passed with bipartisan support, while a third bill brought by the Speaker of the House skirted through on party lines.

The suite of environmental bills are a response to district and Montana Supreme Court decisions in the constitutional climate change lawsuit Held v. Montana, which upheld Montanan’s constitutional right to a “clean and healthful” environment and said limitations on MEPA fly in the face of the framers’ vision.

But that lawsuit “ignored common sense and handed down an agenda-driven ruling,” according to Speaker of the House Brandon Ler, R-Savage.

“Let’s be honest. This isn’t about climate This is about control,” Ler said at a Republican press conference on Wednesday. “It’s about shifting decision-making power away from the people, away from their elected representatives, giving it to judges and activists who have no accountability to the voters.”

Ler is carrying House Bill 285, which he said would provide clarity and efficiency to MEPA.

“What was designed to be a procedural tool for transparency and information decision making process over the years has been twisted into something it was never meant to be,” Ler said on the House floor. “This bill streamlines the MEPA process, eliminates unnecessary red tape, and reaffirms its true purpose — providing clear, accurate, balanced information about environmental impacts, not creating endless hurdles for responsible development.”

The Speaker said the bill would not weaken the statute, but opponents in the chamber pushed back on that notion.

“I know that every single person in this body knows that both jobs and the environment are important to Montana, but it’s a hard, nasty conversation to have,” said Rep. Marilyn Marler, D-Missoula. “Where do you put the balance between jobs and environment? Different people will put it in different places.”

MEPA, Marler said, provides a structured way, in law, to have the hard conversations and facilitate conflict resolution.

“Unfortunately House Bill 285 tries to take out the conflict by taking out half of the conversation,” she said.

Ler’s bill clarifies that MEPA does not carry any regulatory weight, and prohibits a state agency from withholding, denying, or conditioning a permit due to any findings from an environmental analysis. It passed the House 58-42 on party lines.

Another MEPA bill that drew a broader coalition was House Bill 270, introduced by Rep. Katie Zolnikov, R-Billings. Her bill updates the language of MEPA to remove the parts invalidated by the Held decision, alters the process if someone fails to comply with the act, and prevents state agencies from acting beyond their purview.

HB 270 passed unanimously out of the chamber.

The House also passed House Bill 291, brought by Rep. Greg Oblander, R-Billings, with two Democrats joining all Republicans. The bill would prevent an agency from enacting stricter air quality standards at the local or state level than what is currently in place federally.

“If the federal government sets a standard, that’s the bar. We’re not going to let state agencies or local boards move the goal post,” Oblander said during the press conference. “We’ve seen what happens when agencies are left unchecked. Businesses that meet every federal requirement are suddenly hit with additional layers of regulations from state or local entities, rules that do nothing to improve the environmental outcomes, but everything to drive up cost, delay projects and kill jobs.”

House Democrats vowed to keep fighting for Montana’s environment, specifically against Ler’s proposal.

“Montanans expect us to defend their Constitutional right to breathe clean air and drink clean water, and that’s exactly what House Democrats did today. We supported a common-sense bill that upholds that right while providing clarity for businesses and workers under MEPA. But some Republican politicians are determined to erode what makes Montana the last best place,” said Democratic Whip Jonathan Karlen of Missoula. “We will continue to fight those efforts every step of the way.”

On the Senate side, Sen. Wylie Galt, R-Martinsdale, got a 37-13 vote on his Senate Bill 221, which he described as a “Goldilocks bill.”

SB 221 aligns MEPA with the Held ruling and directs the Department of Environmental Quality to develop guidance on greenhouse gas emission assessments, while not stymieing industry and development.

During the floor debate on his bill, Galt’s bill earned support from a handful of Democrats.

Sen. Derek Harvey, D-Butte, said that while MEPA can help protect the state’s environment, litigation over MEPA can adversely impact workers and unions. He said SB 221 helps “strike this balance.”

While the bill requires greenhouse gas emissions for fossil fuel projects, Galt said the bill contains a catch.

“These assessments are information only. They cannot be twisted into tools to deny permits or slap on burdensome conditions,” Galt told the press. “No activist lawsuits, no bureaucratic overreach, just facts.”