Bitterrooters for Planning has been joined by the Bitterroot River Protection Association in a lawsuit against the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, alleging that DEQ failed to adequately analyze impacts of an unknown and unidentified facility proposed in Hamilton, and denied the public the right to offer meaningful comment on the project.
The unidentified facility, proposed on U.S. Highway 93 and Blood Lane, south of Hamilton, is widely rumored to be a Wal-Mart. Neither the DEQ, nor the applicant for the required groundwater discharge permit, local real estate broker Lee Foss, would confirm that rumor, however, leaving the public in the dark and unable to offer any meaningful comment on the project.
Further, the groups claim that DEQ failed to consider the impacts, either alone or cumulatively, of toxic pollution from storm water run-off and potential contamination of the Bitterroot River.
“The public can’t meaningfully participate in government if we don’t know anything about the project,” said Bitterrooters for Planning president Jim Rokosch. “And the DEQ did not analyze the potential degradation to either groundwater or to the Bitterroot River.”
The application also failed to take the required hard look at other potential impacts of a large, but undisclosed new big box store, such as traffic, noise and stress on local government services.
Bitterrooters for Planning is a non-profit public interest group promoting good governance, sound land use planning and protection of the natural environment. The Bitterroot River Protection Association is a non-profit organization working to protect surface and ground waters of the Bitterroot River watershed.
Missoula attorney Jack Tuholske is lead counsel for the plaintiffs. The lawsuit was filed in Lewis and Clark County.