75-10-706. Purpose — intent. (1) The purposes of this part are to:

Terms Used In Montana Code 75-10-706

  • Natural resources: means land, fish, wildlife, biota, air, surface water, ground water, drinking water supplies, and any other resources within the state of Montana owned, managed, held in trust, or otherwise controlled by or appertaining to the state of Montana or a political subdivision of the state. See Montana Code 75-10-701
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201

(a)protect the public health and welfare of all Montana citizens against the dangers arising from releases of hazardous or deleterious substances;

(b)encourage private parties to clean up sites within the state at which releases of hazardous or deleterious substances have occurred, resulting in adverse impacts on the health and welfare of the citizens of the state and on the state’s natural, environmental, and biological systems; and

(c)provide for funding to study, plan, and undertake the rehabilitation, removal, and cleanup of sites within the state at which no voluntary action has been taken.

(2)The legislature, mindful of its constitutional obligations under Article II, section 3, and Article IX of the Montana constitution, has enacted the Comprehensive Environmental Cleanup and Responsibility Act. It is the legislature’s intent that the requirements of this part provide adequate remedies for the protection of the environmental life support system from degradation and provide adequate remedies to prevent unreasonable depletion and degradation of natural resources.