Case Summary Citation
234 P.3d 51 (Mont.2010)
Abstract
Northern Cheyenne Tribe v. Montana Department of Environmental Quality addressed the supremacy of standards within the Clean Water Act over Montana‟s state imposed water quality standards. The Montana Supreme Court found the Montana Department of Environmental Quality‟s water quality standards violated the Clean Water Act‟s requirement to use pre- discharge treatment for coal bed methane wastewater released into the Tongue River. This decision is likely to be persuasive to other states imposing their own regulations on the discharge of pollutants into waterways.