MEIC's 2025 Annual Report

Victory Roundup

MEIC saw successes during the 2025 Legislative Session:

• Thanks to bi-partisan resistance, several bills to make judicial elections partisan failed. Additionally, proposals to create a “general claims” or “court of chancery” failed.

• Legislators coalesced around support for new and improved transmission projects to improve the electric system.

• NorthWestern Energy supported bills to allow it to avoid Public Service Commission oversight, but those bills failed.

• A number of bills aimed to cripple the wind industry in the state by forcing developers to pay outrageous bonds or severely restrict the location of wind turbines, but those failed.

• SB 188, the Community Solar Act, and HB 477, a tiered phaseout of styrofoam food containers, made it to the Governor’s desk, a testament to the power of partnership between MEIC staff, business owners, partner organizations, and a dedicated membership.

• Several positive interim study bills passed, including: a study of the causes of rising property insurance rates, an electricity transmission study, a study of interstate energy markets, and a study of Montana water quality in relation to toxic PFAS and endocrine disrupting chemicals.

Wins for Montanans’ Right to Know:

• The Montana District Court ordered the Legislative Services Division to return to its long-held practice of providing legislative documents related to bill drafts to members of the public under the Montana Constitution’s right to know.

• The Supreme Court ruled that Montana judges should prioritize government transparency and the Constitutional right-to-know when they consider awarding court fees to winning plaintiffs.

Clean Water Victory:

• DEQ denied a petition filed by Lincoln County Commissioners that would have doubled the amount of allowable selenium pollution in Lake Koocanusa.

MEIC Fights For Clean Air, Clean Water & Climate Action in Court

Holding the government accountable continues to be one of MEIC’s highest priorities. While you’re undoubtedly familiar with our efforts to protect your rights at the Montana Legislature, on occasion, it is necessary to take bad actors to court.

Since the beginning of 2025, we (unsurprisingly) have added several new legal cases to our docket, including cases challenging the unrelenting push to reinvigorate the coal industry. Other cases include: asking the Public Service Commission to protect utility customers from subsidizing data centers; forcing Lincoln County Commissioners to share public information about their communications with a foreign mining company; and pushing the federal government to uphold air quality standards that protect public health and prevent air pollution in our national parks.

Board President: Jessie Wiles

Board Members:

Jessie Big Knife

Mike Durglo

Rob Farris-Olsen

Grace Gibson-Snyder

Diana Hammer

Mary McNally

Eva Molina

Jeremy Osborn

Jim Sayer

Roger Sullivan

Beth Taylor-Wilson

Jesse Therien

Meridian Wappett

MEIC Staff:

Ben Catton

Nick Fitzmaurice

Anne Hedges

Shannon James

Derf Johnson

Peyton Olson

Denise Roth Barber

Katy Spence

Maghan Strachan

Julie Wintersteen

“MEIC remains a steadfast guardian of the law and Montana’s Constitution,” said Jessie Wiles, MEIC Board Chair. “Leveraging five decades of litigation experience and a deep-rooted network of local Montana counsel, MEIC continues to hold the government accountable through rigorous advocacy both inside and outside the courtroom.”

In 2025, MEIC added two new staff members to the team and five new board members. Learn more about our dedicated staff and Board of Directors on our website: www.meic.org/about/our-people

Roth Barber

Financial Overview

MEIC is grateful for our generous donors, who provide the lion’s share of our funding! The full details of our financial standing are available online.

The Year Ahead

What a year. 2025 was one of the most challenging years of my 32 years at MEIC. From staffing changes to state dismantling of environmental protections to federal undermining of personal rights, the work has never been more challenging – or more important. And it appears that 2026 will bring its own slate of challenges.

But with great challenges come great opportunities.

MEIC has more than risen to meet this moment; we’ve been building a community of well-informed, resilient members and supporters. We have an incredible staff of advocates at the top of their games. And we have justice on our side. Protecting our right to a clean and healthful environment is MEIC’s guiding principle, but when so many of our basic Constitutional rights are being violated around the country, we’re prepared to show up in defense of those rights.

If 2025 was a year of battening down hatches and weathering the storm, 2026 is the year we take the fight to those who place profit over people. MEIC’s slate of litigation is longer than ever before, thanks to the work of our team, our work-horse staff attorney

and deputy director Derf Johnson, and our generous and indefatiguable friends at Earthjustice and Western Environmental Law Center.

We are hitting the road with our data center event series, because the public deserves to know the truth about these energy-hungry, water guzzling facilities. We’re grateful to have numerous partners around the state in this endeavor, especially our friends at Honor the Earth.

And, as always, we’re keeping a close eye on state government proceedings in between legislative

sessions. Keep your eye on your inbox for a legislative interim committee update, and how you can help shape legislation ahead of the 2027 session.

MEIC has never shied away from a fight, and we’re proud to continue advocating for our right to a clean and healthful environment for Montanans now and into the future.

- Anne Hedges, MEIC Executive Director

P.O. Box 1184 Helena, MT 59624