Tribes, groups sue to force Montana to enforce mining law

Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana tribes and environmental groups have sued state regulators after Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration dropped a legal claim against a mining executive over decades of pollution from several mines. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in state district court in Lewis and Clark County. The Department of Environmental Quality in July quit a 2018 lawsuit that sought to block Idaho-based Hecla Mining Co. President Phillips Baker Jr., from involvement in two proposed silver and copper mines because of his links to ongoing pollution from other mines.  Critics say the decision was politically motivated and lets corporate polluters off the hook for environmental damages from mining.