MONTANA

Abortion restrictions declared unconstitutional

HELENA — Montana’s Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that struck down as unconstitutional several laws restricting abortion access, including a ban beyond 20 weeks of gestation.

The measures approved by Republican lawmakers in 2021 had been blocked since a judge issued a preliminary injunction against them that year. While the case was pending, voters passed an initiative that enshrined the right to abortions in the Montana Constitution.

Justices said in a June 10 ruling that the state constitution included a “right to be left alone” and have access to abortions. They said that right was not affected by a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended a half-century of nationwide abortion rights.

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The Montana laws also included a prohibition against telehealth prescriptions of abortion medication, a 24-hour waiting period after giving informed consent, and a requirement for providers to give patients the option of viewing an ultrasound or listening to the fetal heart tone. Planned Parenthood of Montana challenged the measures.

Justices cited a 1999 Montana Supreme Court ruling that said the state constitution’s right to privacy includes a woman’s right to obtain an abortion before the fetus is viable from the provider of her choice.

Last year’s initiative to make abortion a constitutional right in the state passed with backing from 58% of voters.

Feds OK coal mine expansion

Citing a “national energy emergency,” the federal government has given a green light to a long-delayed expansion of Signal Peak Energy’s Bull Mountains coal mine near Billings.

The expansion of the underground mine, which exports coal to Japan and South Korea, has been repeatedly delayed by court orders finding that the federal government’s environmental vetting of the project was inadequate.

“President Trump’s leadership in declaring a national energy emergency is allowing us to act decisively, cut bureaucratic delays and secure America’s future through energy independence and strategic exports,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said June 7 in a press release.

Earlier this year the department made a favorable decision about the expansion using new “alternative arrangements for compliance” with the National Environmental Policy Act. Previous permitting attempts were tripped up in court for not assessing impacts of greenhouse gas emissions released when burning the coal. The delays date back to 2009.

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Opponents of the mine balked at the Interior department citing a national energy crisis for approving an export coal mine expansion.

“We’ve been waiting on this analysis for 16 years. However, we are disturbed that this decision relies on a falsely concocted ‘national energy emergency’ executive order to silence the rural, working people whose land, water, and livelihoods will continue to be threatened by mining activity with minimal oversight,” said Roundup resident Pat Thiele, vice-chair of the Bull Mountain Land Alliance.

SOUTH DAKOTA

Prison spending could top $2 billion

SIOUX FALLS — Two years after approving a tough-on-crime sentencing law, South Dakota is scrambling to deal with the price tag for that legislation: Housing thousands of additional inmates could require up to $2 billion to build new prisons in the next decade.

That’s a lot of money for a state with one of the lowest populations in the U.S., but a consultant said it’s needed to keep pace with an anticipated 34% surge of new inmates in the next decade as a result of South Dakota’s tough criminal justice laws. And while officials are grumbling about the cost, they don’t seem concerned with the laws that are driving the need even as national crime rates are dropping.

For now, state lawmakers have set aside a $600 million fund to replace the overcrowded 144-year-old South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls, making it one of the most expensive taxpayer-funded projects in South Dakota history.

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But South Dakota will likely need more prisons. Phoenix-based Arrington Watkins Architects, a consultant hired by the state, has said South Dakota will need 3,300 additional beds in coming years, bringing the cost to $2 billion.

Driving up costs is the need for facilities with different security levels to accommodate the inmate population.

A task force of state lawmakers assembled by Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden is expected to decide where to locate the new penitentiary in a plan for prison facilities this July. Many lawmakers have questioned the proposed cost, but few have called for criminal justice changes that would make such a large prison unnecessary.

Though legislators in the state capital, Pierre, have been talking about prison overcrowding for years, they’re reluctant to dial back on tough-on-crime laws. For example, it took repeated efforts over six years before South Dakota reduced a controlled substance ingestion law to a misdemeanor from a felony for the first offense, aligning with all other states.

ARIZONA

Arguing continues over copper mine

A U.S. district judge in Arizona has opened the door for the next round of legal wrangling as environmentalists and some Native Americas seek to stop the federal government from transferring land in Arizona for a massive copper mining project.

Judge Dominic Lanza in a ruling issued on June 9 denied motions that sought to halt the transfer pending the outcome of the case. However, he did preclude the U.S. Forest Service from proceeding with the land exchange until 60 days after the agency issues a required environmental review.

Lanza said that would give the parties more time to analyze the environmental report and file amended complaints.

Attorneys for the federal government and the mining company agreed during a recent hearing to the 60-day delay. That time frame also is specified in the legislation that Congress passed and then-President Barack Obama signed in 2014 authorizing the exchange.

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The group Apache Stronghold, the San Carlos Apache Tribe and others welcomed more time to fight for Oak Flat, an area they consider as holy.

A statement from Resolution Cooper said the ruling is consistent with prior decisions and gives the parties time to review the final environmental impact statement that will be issued later this month.

She added that years of consultation with tribes and communities resulted in changes to the mining plan to reduce potential effects.

The fight over Oak Flat dates back about 20 years, when legislation proposing the land exchange was first introduced. It failed repeatedly in Congress before being included in a must-pass national defense spending bill in 2014.

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