The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared Montana’s new water quality standard invalid under the Clean Water Act. The agency’s Region 8 office sent its letter of rejection to the state’s Department of Environmental Quality in the spring.A law passed in 2021 eliminated the state’s numeric standards for nutrient pollution and instead required DEQ to regulate discharges of phosphorus or nitrogen based on a narrative standard. Prohibited discharges would create conditions toxic to human, animal, plant and aquatic life; create conditions that produce undesirable aquatic life; or cause measurable changes in aquatic life.News reports noted that Montanans have always
