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Speaker at Missoula fundraiser urges action on water quality, cites 1995 legislative change and mining pollution
Summary
At a Missoula fundraising event, Autumn Forrest of Citizens for our Bright Millennium urged action on a clean-water initiative, saying mining interests spent nearly $3 million opposing it and referencing lowered state water standards from 1995 and local Superfund contamination.
Autumn Forrest, introducing herself as a representative of Citizens for our Bright Millennium, told attendees at a Missoula fundraising event that she came to speak about a clean-water initiative and concerns about mining pollution.
"Hello. Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Autumn Forrest from Citizens for our Bright Millennium," she said. Forrest told the audience she was speaking about "the clean water issue." She said that in 1995 the hard-rock mining industry successfully lobbied the state legislature to lower the state's water quality standards and that "these companies have already spent almost $3,000,000 trying to defeat this initiative, money that can better be spent treating discharge."
Forrest also raised concerns about so-called "mixing zones" and potential effects on aquatic life. She referenced Milltown Dam and described it as being at the tail end of a large Superfund site connected to historic mining activity. During her remarks there were several interjections and theatrical asides from performers at the event; the substantive policy claims in these remarks were made by Forrest as public comment rather than as a formal governmental presentation.
No formal action or vote related to the water-quality claims occurred at the event; Forrest's remarks were part of public comment at a community fundraiser. The transcript identifies an initiative label "01/22," but the transcript does not provide a full initiative title, text, or ballot language.
Forrest's statements included numeric claims and references to historical regulatory changes that were not documented in the event remarks; those claims should be verified with the state legislature record, campaign finance filings and environmental remediation records for the Milltown site for independent confirmation.
