The Cabinet Mountains Wilderness is one of the nation’s original wilderness areas.

Alongside our allies and on behalf of our clients, Earthjustice has worked to hold the line in the Cabinet Mountains for decades, successfully defeating each illegal proposal to mine beneath the wilderness. (Learn about our legal work.)

On July 16, on behalf of the Ksanka Kupaqa Xaʾⱡȼin (a traditional society within the Ksanka Band of the Ktunaxa Nation), Fort Belknap Indian Community, and a coalition of conservation groups, Earthjustice requested to intervene in the enforcement lawsuit brought by the Dept. of Environmental Quality against Hecla Mining CEO Phillips Baker.

“The bad actor law offers a critical opportunity to hold the leadership of Pegasus Gold accountable for the unspeakable harm they inflicted on Montana’s communities and waters,” said Katherine O’Brien, senior attorney in Earthjustice’s Northern Rockies office, who is leading the legal fight to defend the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness.