On January 8, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) announced the formation of a dedicated workgroup to discuss the agency’s implementation of the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), following last year’s statewide effort to foster meaningful public and stakeholder engagement through listening sessions and public comment opportunities. Based on comments received, the workgroup will initially focus on the following areas:
- Sustaining and improving robust public engagement under MEPA.
- Addressing implementation and applicability challenges of MEPA
- Determining the applicability and scope of a GHG inventory and disclosure and climate impact analyses, and
- Informing next steps for broad and sustained MEPA education and outreach.
The first workgroup meeting will be held on January 22 at 3 p.m. Mountain Time, accessible in-person and online. All meetings will be open to the public, and following the workgroup’s deliberations, DEQ anticipates presenting a report summarizing the conversation and offering actionable recommendations.
For more information see DEQ’s MEPA webpage. [Elkins]
