Bill > SB340

This bill generally revises laws related to legal challenges brought under the Montana Environmental Protection Act (MEPA) by introducing several significant changes. The bill establishes an additional court filing fee of $240 for civil actions challenging agency environmental decisions, with these fees to be deposited into an environmental rehabilitation and response account. It imposes stricter requirements on legal challenges, including limiting plaintiffs to only raising issues that were previously submitted during the agency's comment period and requiring plaintiffs to prove new evidence is material and not previously available. The bill mandates that agencies must complete environmental reviews and issue a final decision within 90 days of a court remand, with limited extensions possible only under extraordinary circumstances. Additionally, the bill prohibits awarding attorney fees or costs in such challenges, except as potentially allowed under federal law, and restricts subsequent legal actions to only raising materially different issues that could not have been raised earlier with reasonable diligence. These changes aim to streamline environmental review processes, reduce repeated legal challenges, and provide more certainty for project sponsors while maintaining environmental protection standards.

Justice

https://bills.legmt.gov/#/laws/bill/2/LC3109