Fort Belknap Indian Community Voices Opposition to Zortman-Landusky Settlement

The Fort Belknap Indian Community today voiced strong opposition to a consent decree submitted to the court by the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to settle its enforcement action against two miners who illegally mined within the Zortman-Landusky Reclamation Area. The settlement agreement filed on Friday would fine Luke Ployhar, Owen Voigt, and their respective companies $200,000 to be paid over five years and does not require them to admit any liability or wrongdoing. Fort Belknap, who will soon file official opposition to the consent decree, argues that the agreement does not hold the miners accountable and that it is premature as the full extent of environmental harm caused by Ployhar and Voigt’s actions is still unknown.

“The Fort Belknap Indian Community opposes the proposed settlement because we do not believe it adequately addresses the seriousness and long-term impacts of the environmental issues associated with the Zortman-Landusky site,” said President Randall Werk Sr. of the Fort Belknap Indian Community. “This area lies within our ancestral homelands, and we have a responsibility to protect our lands, waters, cultural resources, and future generations. Significant environmental concerns remain unresolved, water treatment continues indefinitely, and important questions regarding the full scope of environmental damages have not yet been fully evaluated. We believe additional accountability, environmental review, and meaningful tribal involvement are necessary before this matter is resolved.”

Fort Belknap Indian Community intervened in the enforcement action in 2023, arguing that the illegal mining activity in the region exacerbated environmental harm to reservation water sources and in areas of profound cultural significance. The Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes have faced an extreme environmental justice burden from the mines for decades. DEQ originally requested $512,767 in fines and permanent injunctive relief, and to prohibit Ployhar, Voigt, and their companies from future mining until the disturbances are reclaimed and the penalties are paid. The Tribes argue that the settlement agreement amounts to a slap on the wrist for the miners who ignored the law and failed in their duty to remediate the damage they caused.

In 2022, DEQ required Ployhar to complete an environmental impact statement (EIS) on the impacts of mining the already-damaged Zortman site, but later discovered that Ployhar and Voigt had already charged forward without the requisite authorization.

“We oppose this consent decree as it fails to hold the miners accountable for a blatant environmental injustice,” said Emma Shahabi, associate attorney with Earthjustice’s Northern Rockies Office. “Mining pollution has devastated the Fort Belknap Indian Community’s natural resources and drinking water for decades and the miners’ actions have only exacerbated that harm. The DEQ must ensure appropriate penalties and remediation for the harm done or the cost of this irresponsible mining will once again fall on the Tribes and Montana taxpayers.”

The Zortman mine is part of the broader Zortman-Landusky mining complex in the Little Rocky Mountains. The site has left a legacy of persistent toxic pollution, disproportionately impacting tribal members’ land and water for decades. The Little Rocky Mountains were once entirely within the boundaries of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, but when gold was discovered in the 1880s, the federal government pressured the Tribes to cede the gold-bearing areas to the United States. The Zortman and Landusky mine sites are currently surrounded on three sides by the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.

Earthjustice represents the Fort Belknap Indian Community in the case.