EPA clears Montana’s environmental regulator to loosen water quality standards

A multi-year battle over environmental regulations reached another milestone earlier this month as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allowed its Montana counterpart to loosen water quality regulations.

EPA’s regional administrator issued a letter to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality on Oct. 3 keeping “narrative” nutrient standards on the books over the objection of environmental groups wary of degraded rivers and lakes.

In his letter to DEQ, Region Eight Administrator Cyrus Western wrote that the standards “meet requirements to protect designated uses” under the Clean Water Act, the 53-year-old law U.S. Congress passed to clean up polluted rivers and lakes.

Western noted that DEQ used narrative standards, which are based on subjective criteria such as color, odor an