MontanaSB 22169th Legislature, Regular Session (2025)Senate

Generally revise the Montana environmental policy act

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

6 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 2 costs, 2 mixed.

Stricter court rules and higher costs

You can challenge only a final agency decision, only on issues you raised in formal comments, and you must file within 60 days. Courts review only the certified record; new information is allowed only by sworn affidavit and must be sent back to the agency first. Challengers must prove claims by clear and convincing evidence. Courts may block a permit only if you are likely to win, you show irreparable harm, and the public interest supports it; the court must weigh economic effects and write findings. To get an injunction, you must post a written undertaking that covers costs and damages, including lost wages and lost project revenues for one year; you may object to the amount by filing an affidavit of your income, assets, and debts. Agencies charge challengers the actual cost to compile the certified record, payable before filing. The law takes effect on passage and approval.

Which projects and sponsors face review

A proposed action includes projects run by an agency, projects supported with agency money like contracts, grants, subsidies, or loans, and actions that need a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement. It excludes upstream or downstream indirect actions and actions that would happen anyway. State‑sponsored projects include agency‑initiated, agency‑funded, and land‑management authorizations. Private projects that only receive certain permits or authorizations are not treated as state‑sponsored. A project sponsor can be any applicant, owner, operator, agency, or other entity proposing the action; on state trust lands, it also includes each institutional beneficiary.

Clearer environmental statements and impact definitions

Major state project reports must include a detailed statement of nearby environmental impacts and any unavoidable harms. Cumulative impacts means the total effects with related past, present, and future actions in the same area or of the same type. Environmental review includes environmental assessments, environmental impact statements, and other required written studies. Economic or socioeconomic impacts means the financial effects on the local economy. In joint reviews with a federal agency, the state review may include expanded impacts to the extent the federal agency requires.

Feasible alternatives and property rights review

When agencies analyze alternatives, they must be reasonable, use current technology, and be economically feasible based on similar projects. Agencies must consult the project sponsor and give weight to the sponsor’s comments. The no‑action alternative must list environmental, social, and economic impacts of not completing the project. Reviews must also describe regulatory impacts on private property and say whether they studied ways to reduce that regulation, if the action regulates private property.

New EIS fees for project applicants

Agencies may adopt rules to charge applicants a fee when an environmental impact statement will be required and the agency has not yet made its significance finding. The agency must decide whether an EIS is needed and set any fee within the legal timeline, or within 90 days if no timeline exists. Fees can only pay for data and information to prepare the EIS. No fee is allowed if the agency plans only a negative declaration that there is no significant impact.

Greenhouse gas checks for fossil-fuel projects

State agencies must include a greenhouse gas assessment when reviewing fossil-fuel projects. Fossil-fuel projects include coal mining, oil or gas drilling, oil or gas production or compression, and burning coal, oil, or gas to make electricity. They do not include biomass power, transportation activities, or certain water permits. The assessment covers gases like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. Agencies follow Department of Environmental Quality guidance on when to assess and how to do it. Agencies may do an assessment in other cases, but not for actions that are exempt, categorically excluded, in a programmatic review, or excluded by law.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

Wylie Galt
Republican • Senate

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 289 • No: 102

House vote • 4/10/2025

Do Concur

Yes: 63 • No: 35

House vote • 4/9/2025

Do Concur

Yes: 62 • No: 37

House vote • 4/9/2025

Cloture-France

Yes: 90 • No: 4

Senate vote • 2/13/2025

Do Pass

Yes: 37 • No: 13

Senate vote • 2/12/2025