Two environmental groups and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) this week challenged the federal government’s approval of less stringent water quality standards for nutrient pollution in Montana. The lawsuit claims that the policy shift affords polluters too much leeway by rolling back protective criteria that has been in place for over a decade.

The cause: MT Legislature’s repeal of our numeric nutrient standards.

Montana public health officials and advocacy groups said that local suicide prevention, addiction recovery and other mental health programs had lost millions of dollars in federal funding, citing a letter from the Trump administration announcing that grant money that had already been distributed would be clawed back.

Rep. Ryan Zinke, Rep. Troy Downing, Sen. Tim Sheehy and Sen. Steve Daines did not respond to inquiries about the grant cuts.

Flathead County commissioners heard pleas from more than a dozen public commenters, many of whom asked for the county to pull out of an agreement the sheriff’s office holds with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), along with calling on the county not to cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.

The outcry comes after federal agents killed a second protester in Minneapolis.