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Debate erupts over repeal of numeric nutrient criteria as DEQ warns permitting is stalled
Summary
Representative Bill Mercer and DEQ backed legislation to repeal statewide numeric nutrient criteria (Circular 12A), arguing the rule package lost critical variance authority and has left permitting stalled; conservation groups, municipalities and environmental organizations said repeal without an EPA‑approved replacement would weaken protections and prompt litigation.
Representative Bill Mercer opened a long, technical hearing on House Bill 6 64, which would repeal DEQ Circular 12A (numeric nutrient criteria) and direct the department to return to a narrative standard and a site‑specific variance framework. Mercer argued the numeric package adopted in 2015 was intended to be paired with a general variance mechanism that has since been limited by subsequent federal action, effectively decoupling the policy and leaving permitting unworkable.
DEQ Director Sonya Nowakowski and Lindsey Krivaruchka, Water Quality Division Administrator, testified in support. Nowakowski said numeric criteria were not intended to operate without a widely applicable variance and that, without a workable variance, DEQ's permitting tools are limited; Krivaruchka said the department has continued to administratively extend permits and that permitting output has been drastically reduced. Both emphasized the need to avoid the EPA withdrawing the delegated program and urged a path that allows narrative standards and site‑specific implementation to move forward.
Opponents included Northern Plains Resource Council, the Clark Fork Coalition, Upper Missouri Waterkeeper, Flathead Lakers, municipal associations and many local citizens and conservation groups. They said numeric standards are science‑based and protective, warned that repeal without an EPA‑approved replacement risks reducing water quality protections, and urged continued multi‑stakeholder work — including adaptive management or offsets — rather than a wholesale rollback. Committee members pressed DEQ on what would govern permits after repeal. DEQ pointed to existing narrative standards in rule (ARM 17.36.37) and said the agency would need to use the best available science and could apply site‑specific numeric targets when necessary, but opponents expressed concern about timing, legal defensibility, and the potential for a regulatory gap.
