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Jun 06, 2023

DEQ to restore disturbances near old Pegasus Gold

Azee Romero climbed barefoot on the wrinkled trunk of the massive Emory oak tree at the center of the Oak Flat Campground. The 5-year-old in his black dinosaur t-shirt with hair tied under a backwards

Azee Romero climbed barefoot on the wrinkled trunk of the massive Emory oak tree at the center of the Oak Flat Campground. The 5-year-old in his black dinosaur t-shirt with hair tied under a backwards baseball cap scaled higher and higher until he found the perfect seat. There, cradled by th…

A Phillips County judge has granted the Montana Department of Environmental Quality’s request for a preliminary injunction to restore areas disturbed on a private mining claim two years ago.

The claim, owned by Bozeman-area resident Luke Ployhar, is near the site of the old Pegasus Gold mine near Zortman in the Little Rocky Mountains. Pegasus declared bankruptcy in 1999. More than $80 million has been spent restoring the site.

Under District Court Judge Yvonne Laird’s order, Ployhar must allow DEQ onto his property to reclaim six sites he dug on the land. One stipulation the judge added is that Ployhar has until Sept. 17 to provide his own expert analysis refuting the agency’s arguments that the sites do not affect existing remediation efforts.

In its court filings, DEQ attorneys said the diggings were a threat because the holes – the deepest of which is 23 feet — allowed surface water to penetrate and contaminate groundwater with acid mine drainage, circumventing or adding strain to the existing drainage system that directs water to a treatment plant. Ployhar previously told the DEQ the diggings were to develop campground sites and a cabin, not for mining.

“The disturbances were not authorized by DEQ and six of the eight disturbances require immediate reclamation to avoid risking damage to the groundwater and the water treatment facilities that treat acid mine drainage from the site,” DEQ wrote in a press release.

On July 6, DEQ filed for a preliminary injunction to restrain Ployhar from interfering with DEQ’s “statutory right” to enter his private property and reclaim the disturbed areas.

“While DEQ needs to remediate the site, we had hoped it could be resolved through a reclamation plan with the property owner,” said DEQ Mining Bureau Chief Dan Walsh in a statement. “Unfortunately, we were not able to resolve it directly with the property owner and had to seek a preliminary injunction.”

According to the court order, Ployhar received notice from DEQ on June 2 saying if he was unwilling to reclaim the disturbances, the agency would. Ployhar responded on June 9 saying he would not permit DEQ to reclaim the areas.

When contacted by the Billings Gazette this week, Ployhar said he was “obviously disappointed” in the judge’s decision.

DEQ also filed a complaint for penalties and permanent injunctive relief in April of 2023 against Ployhar and his partner, Owen Voigt, for violations of the Metal Mine Reclamation Act.

In the complaint, DEQ seeks to hold the parties accountable for illegal mining and exploration through payment of financial penalties and assurances that no further unpermitted activity will take place, the department said in a press release. Earth Justice, representing conservation groups and the Fort Belknap Indian Community, moved to intervene on July 3. A hearing date has not been set for the case.

Since 2020, Ployhar and Voigt have applied three times for an exploration license in the area, according to previous reporting. DEQ approved their first application in February 2021, but Ployhar and Voigt failed to post the required reclamation bond.

Ployhar and Voigt applied again in March 2021 but withdrew the application in November. Their third application, submitted in July 2021, is pending. When the DEQ determined in 2022 that an Environmental Impact Statement was needed to analyze the potential impacts to areas of tribal cultural significance, Ployhar and Voigt appealed the decision to the Board of Environmental Review.

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Montana Untamed Editor

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