Montana Title 75. Environmental Protection § 75-5-303. Nondegradation policy

(1) Existing uses of state waters and the level of water quality necessary to protect those uses must be maintained and protected.

(2) Unless authorized by the department under subsection (3) or exempted from review under 75-5-317, the quality of high-quality waters must be maintained.

(3) The department may not authorize degradation of high-quality waters unless it has been affirmatively demonstrated by a preponderance of evidence to the department that:

(4) The department shall issue a preliminary decision either denying or authorizing degradation and shall provide public notice and a 30-day comment period prior to issuing a final decision. The department's preliminary and final decisions must include:

(5) An interested person wishing to challenge a final department decision may request a hearing before the board within 30 days of the final department decision. The contested case procedures of Title 2, chapter 4, part 6, apply to a hearing under this section.

(6) Periodically, but not more often than every 5 years, the department may review authorizations to degrade state waters. Following the review, the department may, after timely notice and opportunity for hearing, modify the authorization if the department determines that an economically, environmentally, and technologically feasible modification to the development exists. The decision by the department to modify an authorization may be appealed to the board.

(7) The department may not issue an authorization to degrade state waters that are classified as outstanding resource waters.

(8) The department shall adopt rules to implement this section.