3 Gallatin River Updates:

1. Our recent court victory: Waterkeeper challenged DEQ’s renewal of a pollution permit for the Lazy J South subdivision in Big Sky, and the Court upheld DEQ’s legal duty to consider the cumulative impacts of wastewater pollution on water resources. This case has far-reaching implications across Montana and will ideally result in our resource agencies doing the appropriate scientific reviews to prove no degradation to water quality from new or re-development, as opposed to rubber-stamping the same old terms and conditions for decades despite changes on the ground.
2. Waterkeeper and dozens of our members (thank you!) submitted comments to DEQ opposing the draft Environment Assessment for the Quarry Project as it has the potential to put the Gallatin River at risk of increased pollution.
3. In February, we expect DEQ to finalize an impairment designation for the middle segment of the Gallatin River. This determination will trigger a mandatory, enforceable pollution diet for the river that will identify all anthropogenic sources of pollution and then use science and the law to reduce those inputs and return the river to health.