Maintain State's Checks and Balances

State legislator and public service commissioners Last week, Montana's Republican leaders announced plans to once again strip citizen participation and public health protections for permits given to large industries. Several bills have been introduced in Helena that would deal a lethal blow to our system of government checks and balances by limiting citizen involvement in decisions about how industry will impact Montanans' quality of life.

The public and the Legislature should reject all of these proposals, and give special attention to House Bill 483 from Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad. This bill aims to put in place costly, near-impossible hurdles for average Montanans to appeal permits given to big industries more concerned with protecting their bottom lines than protecting our streams and air quality.

If HB483 or other similar legislation passes, the state will no longer be accountable to all of us - the Montanans who live, work, and play where these coal plants, wastewater discharge facilities, or mining projects will appear. HB483 eliminates the ability of the public to challenge agency decisions on permits for new energy development and other projects. Instead, conveniently, only the company proposing the project could appeal a permit.

Sound familiar? That's because we've heard this argument before.

Every two years, out-of-state industry representatives come to the Montana Legislature with a wish list to force the state to permit projects faster, with less oversight, and less public involvement.

The real story is this: Our industrial permitting system is not broken. In fact, Montana already has the fastest and most efficient permitting system in the nation.

Last year, the Department of Environmental Quality issued 3,616 permits for different types of air, water, and waste pollution. Only three permits were appealed - less than one-tenth of 1 percent. And all three appeals in 2008 were actually filed by the facility seeking the permit.

Looking more in depth, DEQ issued 1,210 air pollution permits from 2006 to 2008. Only six of those permits were appealed, three by the public. Same story for water quality permits: of the 3,063 total permits issued, only six were appealed and none of the appeals came from citizens.

So, then, what's the big deal about short-changing the citizen appeal process? Sometimes, government makes mistakes.

Industrial facilities are occasionally permitted without the public health safeguards Montanans demand and need. For example, the DEQ issued air permits to the Hardin Generating Station for a coal plant without necessary mercury controls. Neighbors, justifiably concerned about the harmful health effects from the toxic release of mercury from the facility, appealed the permit, resulting in better, safer mercury controls throughout the state.

The Montana Constitution states that the public has the right to expect governmental agencies to allow "reasonable opportunity for citizen participation" before making decisions that impact our state's natural resources and our quality of life. The proposed legislation's severely shortened timelines for citizen participation are anything but reasonable - are we ready to forfeit our right to have a say in decisions that affect our air and water?

This tired, discredited argument that the only path to economic prosperity is one that ignores public health safeguards is inaccurate and unfair to Montanans. Bills like Rep. Jones' HB438 only serve to drive us deeper into a failing economy of old pollution-based energy, rather than sparking the new kind of energy and industrial development our state sorely needs - projects that create good-paying jobs and provide energy independence for our state and our nation.

We urge the Legislature to reject any attempts to cut the public out of important public decisions. Make sure your representatives at the Capitol know that Montanans pride ourselves on our clean air, clean water, and the right of citizens to participate in and challenge government decisions.

- Rep. Mike Phillips represents Bozeman's House District 66. Missoula's Gail Gutsche is the public service commissioner for District 4, and John Vincent of Bozeman is public service commissioner for District 3. All three are Democrats.