Groups challenge Cabinet Mountains mine – again
Laura Lundquist
(Missoula Current) A coalition of environmental groups is once again suing the U.S. Forest Service for green-lighting an exploratory mine under the Cabinet Mountains. This time, they’re also fighting an approval process streamlined by the Trump administration.
On Tuesday, Earthjustice attorneys filed a complaint in Missoula federal district court on behalf of six environmental organizations who say the U.S. Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service failed to consider or properly analyze the negative effects of a Montanore Minerals Corporation mine on the wildlife, fish and water of the Cabinet Mountains. The six organizations include the Clark Fork Coalition, Montana Environmental Information Center, Earthworks, Cabinet Resource Group, Save Our Cabinets and the Yaak Valley Forest Council.
The biggest issue for the environmental organizations is how the mine could affect the water, particularly the streams, such as Libby Creek, where mine wastewater will be released. The wastewater will carry higher levels of nitrogen and will at times be warmer than the Forest Service predicted in its biological assessment.
Libby Creek is one of only two stretches of stream in the Kootenai River Core Area where threatened bull trout still spawn due to its cold clear water. Bull trout need water colder than 48 degrees for spawning and 59 degrees for normal survival. But, the maximum temperature of the wastewater was 62 degrees, according to a permit application. With the high rates of flow used during dewatering, the warmer wastewater could raise the temperature of the stream, harming bull trout.
In addition, with climate change, stream temperatures are increasing and sometimes portions of Libby Creek dry out. Both could cause Libby Creek to be warmer than it was between 2008 and 2017, when the Forest Service did its measurements. So adding warm effluent to streams that are already warmer than normal could further stress bull trout. But the Forest Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service didn’t take that into account, the complaint says.
Another thing the Forest Service didn’t consider is the state of Montana’s recent change from numeric to narrative water quality standards for nutrients, which includes nitrogen. The Forest Service biological assessment depended on Montana’s numeric standards to limit nitrogen concentration to 275 micrograms per liter in order to prevent algae growth in Libby Creek, which normally carries a very low concentration of nutrients.
Later, in its environmental assessment, the Forest Service acknowledged that the nitrogen concentration in the mine effluent could reach as high as 3,460 micrograms per liter. After the effluent was discharged into Libby Creek, the concentration would still be 3.5 times the numeric standard calculated by the Forest Service, according to the complaint.
However, after gaining approval from the Environmental Protection Agency on Oct. 3, Montana no longer uses a numeric standard for nitrogen pollution, so it's more likely that excessive nitrogen will degrade Libby Creek. With any large change in conditions, the Forest Service is required to consult again with the Fish and Wildlife Service, but that didn’t happen. In addition, the Fish and Wildlife Service did no independent analysis of how high water temperatures and nitrogen concentrations would affect bull trout.
“The Libby Mine project raises significant concerns about its potential harm to bull trout populations and watershed health,” said Anthony South, Yaak Valley Forest Council interim executive director. “Habitat destruction, water contamination, and changes in water flow caused by mining operations will degrade the pristine wilderness conditions, which are essential for the survival of the already vulnerable bull trout. Such disruption threatens the watershed's delicate balance, biodiversity, and the area's long-term ecological integrity.”
The complaint also says the Forest Service didn’t consider how the increased industrial activity on the east side of the Cabinet Mountains would add more pressure on the Cabinet-Yaak population of grizzly bears, which is limping along with an estimated 70 individuals, far below the minimum of 100 needed to keep the population from winking out. While the project won’t require additional roads, the mine footprint would further reduce the amount of secure core grizzly habitat. It would also block an area that could serve as a migration pathway between the Northern Continental Divide and the Cabinet populations.
Since 2016 when Hecla Mining Company bought the mine, Montanore Minerals Corporation, a subsidiary of Hecla, has been trying to expand the copper and silver mine below the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness. Most recently, the mine stalled after environmental groups challenged an 2017 wastewater permit issued by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality that would have allowed Montanore Minerals to dewater more tunnels and discharge effluent to more mountain streams.
So in February 2022, Montanore Minerals submitted to the Kootenai National Forest a new operations plan for a 16-year “Libby Exploration Project.” The first two years would be spent dewatering and rehabilitating the existing 7,000 feet of horizontal tunnel known as an adit. Then the adit would be excavated another 4,200 feet and small lateral extensions would be added to allow for 35 drill stations for probing the mineralized zone below.
Once again, Montanore Minerals applied to DEQ for a wastewater permit because eventually more than 2 miles of tunnel would have to be continuously dewatered. The first month of dewatering is predicted to exceed 135 gallons per minute.
Derf Johnson, Montana Environmental Information Center attorney, said what the operation plan describes is much larger than a normal exploration project.
“Typically, it’s just a bunch of drilling holes with minimal earth-moving,” Johnson said. “With a half-mile of additional adit, this is more like actual mining.”
In September 2022, the Forest Service started its environmental assessment, which was supposed to take three to four years. But in April 2025, the Trump administration chose the Libby Exploration Project as one of the first 10 mining projects in the nation to be fast-tracked under the FAST Act, a 2015 law originally passed to streamline transportation projects. The Trump administration now uses it to push through mining project permits, and the FAST-41 program page boasts that records of decision are published 18 months faster with reduced environmental review.
Six months later, the Forest Service finalized the environmental assessment and issued its decision approving the Libby Exploration Project.
The environmental groups point out that in 2017, the courts ruled against a full-scale operation at the Montanore Mine, saying it would likely jeopardize bull trout and the Cabinet grizzly population. They say the exploration project isn’t much different, so they question the Forest Service’s analysis and approval.
Finally, the plaintiffs point to Hecla’s history of violating environmental laws, particularly at the Greens Creek Mine in Alaska and the Lucky Friday Mine in Idaho. As of February 2025, the EPA website showed the Greens Creek Mine has been out of compliance with the Clean Water Act for three years and the Lucky Friday Mine has been out of compliance for 10 out of 12 quarters.
“Despite this documented noncompliance, the Forest Service did not evaluate the company’s history of violations when declining to prepare an (environmental impact statement) — even though the Service’s (finding) purported to address whether there were effects that would violate environmental laws,” the complaint said.
“This special place and its imperiled species should not be jeopardized with a mine – especially given the compliance history of Montanore’s parent company,” said Patton Dycus, Earthjustice senior attorney. “The Forest Service had a legal obligation to complete a comprehensive environmental impact statement and protect threatened species in the region, and it failed to do so. We will not allow the Trump administration to put at risk the lands, waters, and wildlife that make Montana special to enrich the mining industry.”
Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.