Permitting Procedures

A. Time Requirements

1) The DEQ must notify the applicant within 30 days that the application is either complete or incomplete.  If the application is incomplete and the applicant corrects it for resubmission, the department then has 15 days to advise the applicant that the application is complete and accepted.

2) The DEQ must issue a report describing alternatives and impacts within 9 months of the date of acceptance of a completed application.

3) Within 30 days following issuance of the report, DEQ must approve a facility if certain findings are made.  See 75-20-301, MCA for details.

4) The certificate must include the requirement that construction of a linear facility be completed within 10 years following certification (five years for transmission lines 30 miles or less in length).  Construction of a geothermal facility must be intitiated within 6 years of certification.

Appeal of Department Decisions

Decisions of the DEQ can be appealed to the Board of Environmental Review. Decisions of the Board of Environmental Review may can be appealed to state district court.  Statute: 75-20-223, and 406, MCA.

Fees

The applicant for a certificate under the Montana Major Facility Siting Act is required to deposit a filing fee based on the estimated cost of the project in an earmarked revenue fund for use by the DEQ to administer the act.  The DEQ may contract with the applicant for payment of the fee or the applicant must pay the fee in installments.  See 75-20-215, MCA for details.

Findings for Certification

The DEQ shall approve a transmission line or pipeline facility as proposed or as modified or an alternative to the proposed facility if it finds and determines the need for the facility; the nature of probable environmental impacts; that the facility minimizes adverse environmental impact considering the state of available technology and the nature and economics of the various alternatives; what part, if any, would be located underground; that the location of the proposed facility conforms to applicable state and local laws; that the facility will serve the public interest, convenience and necessity; that the DEQ has issued all necessary decisions, opinions, orders, certifications and permits; and that the use of public lands for location of the facility is evaluated and public lands are selected whenever their use is as economically practicable as the use of private lands. See 75-20-301(1), for details.

The DEQ shall approve a geothermal facility as proposed or as modified or an alternative to a proposed facility if the department finds and determines that the facility or alternative incorporates all reasonable, cost-effective mitigation of significant environmental impacts; and unmitigated impacts, including those that cannot be reasonable quantified or valued in monetary terms, will not result in a violation of law or standard that protects the environment and that protects the public health or safety.  See 75-20-301(3), MCA for details.

Additional Information

The board may not issue a certificate to construct a nuclear facility in Montana unless it meets the stringent criteria specified in 75-20-1203, MCA.  All nuclear facilities are subject to a public referendum in order to be approved.