Lead service line replacement program launches

News from the Montana Department of Commerce

HELENA — The Montana Department of Commerce announced the launch of a new program to inventory for the presence of lead service lines in Montana communities. This statewide effort will support the work of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Lead Service Lines Inventory Program and help communities apply for more than $100 million in additional project funding to remove and replace lead service lines.

“People can be exposed to lead in drinking water through lead pipes,” said Scott Osterman, Director of the Montana Department of Commerce.

“That’s why we’re helping Montana’s water systems inventory all lead service lines across the state –– to make sure all of our residents have safe, clean water to drink.”

Commerce’s Community Technical Assistance Program (CTAP) will provide technical assistance to all public water systems in the form of online and in-person trainings and community education toolkits. In addition, partner service providers, such as engineers, may be assigned to eligible water systems serving fewer than 10,000 users to complete lead service line inventories at no cost and plan for removing and replacing lead services lines. To access the funding, all drinking water systems will have to complete their inventory and submit a plan for the replacement or mitigation of lead service lines by October 16, 2024. The Montana Department of Commerce is working with the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to ensure all eligible water systems receive support to complete these activities.

That’s resulted in more hunting for wealthy, guided clients and less for public hunters. Some Commissioners directly benefit from increased carnivore quotas through their outfitting companies, earning seven thousand dollars per lion.

Gianforte is listening to these groups, which is evident in the policies his FWP is implementing.

Our organization will strongly oppose the slaughter of carnivores. The Large Carnivore Fund has the strong scientific background and resources to work toward sustainable solutions for all stakeholders, non-consumptive and consumptive, and sound scientific management of these species. While we acknowledge there will be some hunting of carnivores, what’s going on in the Northern Rockies isn’t fair chase or ethical – it’s persecution intended to drive these species population sizes down to arbitrarily minimum numbers.

Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho are working on doing the same thing to grizzly bears, which for now federal protection has prevented. Decades of work to restore grizzlies would be undone in a couple years.

During the month of May, the Montana Department of Commerce CTAP team and DEQ participated in Lead Service Line Inventory trainings throughout the state. For details, visit the CTAP Lead Service Lines webpage.

We appreciate the intrinsic value of carnivores, and the critical role they play in a functioning ecosystem. Having the full suite of predator species on the landscape leads to stronger, more robust and resilient ungulate herds that thrive in Montana.

We hope all Montanans join us in standing up for our wildlife heritage and the values that make Montana, Montana.

Helena Edelson represents Large Carnivore Fund in Montana.