Viewpoint: Bill would leave Montanans at the mercy of industry

Beth Kaeding

In 1969, the U.S. endured two environmental disasters that made it painfully obvious
why the country needed legislation protecting Americans from the sort of industrial
development that could devastate our communities and upend our lives. In January of
that year, approximately 3 million gallons of crude oil washed onto the shores of Santa
Barbara County in California after an oil well off the coast experienced a blowout. Six
months later, the Cuyahoga River in Ohio caught fire after years of being used as a
repository for industrial waste.

Both disasters could have very well been avoided had there been a process in place
that provided federal decision makers with the information they needed to wisely
approve, modify, or reject a proposed industrial project when the health of our water, air,
and communities is at stake. Passed later that year by a unanimous vote in the Senate
and by a vote of 372-15 in the House, the National Environmental Policy Act is that
process. NEPA enables federal agencies to make fully informed decisions regarding
proposals that could have far-reaching implications. It also allows the public to
participate in those decisions.

I am a former federal NEPA compliance officer and a longtime member of Northern
Plains Resource Council, a Montana-based grassroots group that organizes people in
protection of their water, air, and land. I’ve seen firsthand how NEPA has spared many
ranchers, farmers, and others in Montana from decisions that could have resulted in
their ruin.

But some House members of Congress are trying to pass legislation, called the SPEED
Act, that would neuter NEPA and increase the likelihood that the government will make
uninformed decisions that result in the kind of disaster NEPA was created to prevent. It
will also severely undermine the public’s right not just to participate in the decision
making, but to hold the government accountable in court when the consequences of its
decisions do more harm than good for our communities.

NEPA requires that agencies prepare either an environmental assessment (EA) or an
environmental impact statement (EIS) to disclose all the pertinent information about a
proposed project and ensure that all available data are used to analyze and evaluate
the potential consequences of the proposal, including its cumulative and connected
effects.

Throughout Northern Plains’ 50-plus years, we have provided comments on numerous
EAs and EISs for proposed projects that would directly impact Montana’s family farms
and ranches and the water our rural communities depend on. Our ability to participate
has proved to be truly important for the public. Yes, we have filed a few lawsuits when
our EA or EIS comments were ignored or dismissed – and we have won many of those lawsuits for the reasons we presented in our cases. We do not want to file lawsuits, but we believe in exercising our right to hold government agencies accountable when they make terrible decisions.

The SPEED Act would diminish that right by reducing the statute of limitation from six
years to 150 days and allowing only those who have submitted “substantive and unique
comments” to file suit. That means if your comments weren’t up to snuff when the
proposal was first being considered and later your water was contaminated as a result
of the government's poor decision, you can forget about holding it accountable.

The SPEED Act would also make it much more likely that the government will make the
sort of uninformed, short-sighted decisions for which it needs to be held accountable.
The bill would do that by severely limiting what the government defines as a major
federal action and by scaling back the environmental impacts and other information that
agencies should consider in their decision making. Moreover, it would curtail the public
input agencies should consider.

If the SPEED Act were to pass, we would have little ability to participate in or challenge
agency decisions that truly affect our lives. And with the government unable to have the
information it needs to make good decisions, we would be at the mercy of industries
that all too often prioritize profit over the wellbeing of our communities.

Beth Kaeding is a retired federal employee who spent a number of years as a NEPA
compliance officer. She is a long-time member and former Board Chair of Northern
Plains Resource Council. She lives in Bozeman.