Bad actor lawsuit against Hecla dismissed following CEO's retirement

Hecla Mining announced that the ‘bad actor' lawsuit impacting its Libby exploration projects in Montana was dismissed. The plaintiffs filed a motion to voluntarily dismiss the litigation following the retirement of Hecla's former chief executive, Phillips Baker Jr., in May this year.

Environmental groups and tribes filed the lawsuit against Montana's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to stop Hecla's exploration and mining permits under the state's Bad Actor law.

Bad Actor

The lawsuit was based on Baker's role at Pegasus Gold, which declared bankruptcy in 1998 and didn't fulfil its reclamation obligations after it abandoned its Zortman-Landusky, Basin Creek, and Beal Mountain mines in Montana.

The mines contaminated soil, sediment and surface with hazardous substances such as cyanide, arsenic and lead, threatening the environment and human health. The town of Zortman had to get a new water source after the old one was polluted with 50,000 gallons of cyanide. In the town of Basin, arsenic contamination was found in samples taken from an elementary school yard.

The bankruptcy left federal and state agencies with hundreds of millions in cleanup costs. In 2022, the Department of Environmental Quality estimated that more than $80 million had been spent on cleanup efforts at the Zortman-Landuksy mine alone.

Montana's Bad Actor law directly resulted from the Pegasus Gold bankruptcy, preventing mining executives and companies from receiving new mining permits in Montana if they fail to clean up past operations or reimburse the state for cleanup costs.

In 2018, the DEQ filed for a Bad Actor enforcement against Hecla Mining and Phillips Baker Jr., who started as chief executive of the miner in 2001. The state court ruled that the government agency had jurisdiction; however, the department dropped the case.

In 2021, the tribes and conservation groups filed a lawsuit to force the DEQ to enforce the Bad Actor law against Hecla and Baker.

Continue to fight

The conservation groups and tribes said that while they filed to dismiss the claim, they will continue to "fight against irresponsible mining". Earth Justice, which represents the groups in the case, called Baker's retirement a "victory for Montana's environment" and said it "will help ensure that Montana's environment is safeguarded from the worst mining practices".

"While [the Cabinet Mountains] is now safe from one bad actor, we stand firm in our resolve to protect our ancestral territory from mining that threatens our sacred places and landscapes," Vernon Finley, director of the Kootenai Culture Committee and member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, said. 

"After burdening Montana with endless cleanup costs and widespread pollution at his former operations, we're heartened that Baker was never able to receive a new permit to mine in Montana during his tenure at Hecla," Bonnie Gestring, northwest program director at Earthworks, added. "We will continue our efforts to protect Montana's clean water and public lands from corporate bad actors and irresponsible mining projects."

The environmental groups said they would continue to try to halt Hecla's mines in Montana. The Idaho-headquartered precious metals miner currently has two exploration projects in the state, the Rock Creek and Libby Exploration projects. Hecla said that with the lawsuit dismissed, it will focus on advancing the permitting of Libby.