Few states feel federal environmental policy as directly as Montana. The state is home to the Colstrip power plant, large coal reserves in the Powder River Basin, and oil production in the Bakken region of the northeast.
The rules that matter most
- Air-quality rules for power plants, such as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards and regional haze rules, affect operating costs at coal plants like Colstrip, where two older units closed in 2020 and two units still run.
- Greenhouse-gas standards for power plants and for methane from oil and gas operations have been written, challenged, rewritten and rolled back across administrations.
- Federal leasing rules from the Bureau of Land Management govern coal, oil and gas on federal land. Much of eastern Montana’s mineral estate is federal.
- Water rules, including the scope of “waters of the United States,” affect permitting for mines and pipelines.
Why it swings
Most of these rules are agency regulations, not laws passed by Congress. A new administration can propose to revise them, and courts often decide the outcome. That makes long-term planning hard for operators and for communities that rely on the tax base.
The local stakes
In counties such as Rosebud, Big Horn and Richland, energy facilities support jobs and pay a large share of local property taxes and state coal and oil taxes, which help fund schools and services. Tribal nations, ranchers and conservation groups have their own concerns about water, air and land.
How to follow changes
- The Federal Register (federalregister.gov) publishes every proposed and final rule, with comment deadlines.
- The Montana Department of Revenue reports coal and oil-and-gas tax collections.
- The Montana DEQ handles many delegated air and water permits.
For more background, see our explainers on Montana’s 1972 Constitution. Find more stories in our Energy & Environment section.
Records and reports used here: U.S. EPA regulations; BLM Montana-Dakotas; Federal Register; U.S. EIA Montana profile.