DEQ sued over permit

MISSOULA (AP) — The Department of Environmental Quality is being sued over its decision to transfer a Clark Fork River wastewater discharge permit from a now-defunct pulp and paper operation to the buyer of the property, which hasn’t stated any concrete plans for its use.

The Missoula City-County Health Board, the Missoula Valley Water Quality District, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, and the Clark Fork Coalition filed the lawsuit against the DEQ in District Court in Helena this week, the Missoulian reported.

It alleges the DEQ violated state and federal clean water laws by authorizing M2 Green to discharge nitrogen and phosphorous into the Clark Fork River near Frenchtown at a rate 30 to 40 times what they requested, “for a facility that does not exist and for a site that has not produced wastewater since 2010.”

“It’s hard to imagine how this permit, which maximizes pollution allowed in the river, fits in with the good work now underway to restore the Clark Fork,” said Karen Knudsen, executive director of the Clark Fork Coalition.

The work has included removing a dam and cleaning up mine waste along 56 miles of the river.

The Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. mill’s closure gave the DEQ an opportunity to protect the long-term health of the river by terminating the permit and requiring an application for a new one, the lawsuit states.

DEQ spokesman Chris Saeger said the agency could not comment until its attorneys had reviewed the lawsuit. He did not immediately respond to an email Thursday asking for a copy of M2 Green’s application for the wastewater discharge permit, or whether it has indicated what it might need the permit for.

The lawsuit also alleges the DEQ did not notify the tribes about the permit application. The tribes are guaranteed hunting and fishing rights in the Clark Fork Basin through the Hellgate Treaty.

The lawsuit asks a judge to void the permit.