State Supreme Court voids order blocking Clearwater gravel pit

The Montana Supreme Court on Tuesday voided a lower court order that had halted work on a controversial gravel pit and asphalt plant proposed near Clearwater Junction, between Potomac and Seeley Lake northeast of Missoula. 

Work on the Elbow Lake gravel pit had been halted since July 17, 2023, when Missoula District Court Judge John Larson issued a temporary restraining order against the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, which had permitted the operation, and LHC Inc., the company behind the operation. The temporary restraining order was in place as Larson considered a longer-term injunction against the operation. 

Protect the Clearwater, a nonprofit group formed to oppose the facility, had applied for the injunction, citing concerns that the facility would hurt the environment and that the state did not adequately assess such impacts when permitting the operation. 

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Larson ultimately ruled in favor of Protect the Clearwater and issued a preliminary injunction against DEQ and LHC on Aug. 8, blocking any further work on the gravel pit until the nonprofit’s separate legal and administrative challenges to the operation’s approval concluded. DEQ and LHC appealed the injunction to the state Supreme Court. 

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