Victory Roundup

In 2022, you helped MEIC achieve many exciting victories for our health and the environment. Here are the highlights:

• After nearly a decade of advocacy, litigation, and working with partners, the Smith River is one step closer to protection from a damaging copper mine at its headwaters due to an April 2022 decision by a Montana state judge.

• With three new staff positions, MEIC has expanded its capacity for movement building, working on land use and sustainability issues, and helping raise public awareness and engagement in addressing the climate crisis.

• Two 2022 Bull Mountain coal mine legal victories have impacted coal mining which would cause the release of more than 190 million tons of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.

• With urging from MEIC’s members and supporters, the State of Montana adopted new, more energy efficient building codes in June 2022, which will reduce carbon emissions in new buildings and enable cities and counties to implement net-zero and solar-ready building zones.

• A district court decision in May 2022 requires NorthWestern Energy to pay $2.5 million in fines to Montana’s LowIncome Energy Assistance Program due to its failure to purchase energy from Community Renewable Energy Projects (CREPs).

• In December, MEIC won a lawsuit that found the Rosebud coal mine expansion was illegal due to damage to Colstrip area waters, wildlife, and the climate.