On March 14, 2016, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality submitted their first deficiency notice on Tintina’s Mine Operating Permit application.
Tom Livers, DEQ Director said, “The most significant pieces are the couple of pieces where they’re still working on it so we don’t have it in the application they submitted. All the geochemistry work and the ground water model. Both of those are critical pieces for us to have to be able to truly assess impacts.”
Once DEQ receives a response, the review period is only 30 days, as opposed to 90 days for the initial review. The shorter window for review causes concern for DEQ.
“It’s a little tighter, that’s why it’s a little concerning for us. We’ve got these big missing pieces. We won’t have much time once we get those pieces in, in any subsequent cycles to look at them,” Livers said.
Read the March 15 KTVH article on the deficiency findings or the technical deficiency notice released by the DEQ.