BEFORE THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY

OF THE STATE OF MONTANA

COMMENT 1: One commenter believes the proposed changes to ARM 17.36.123 should be expanded to include language that requires interlocal agreements to comply with the requirement that a public municipal or county sewer district wastewater system must accept a connection request from a proposed subdivision if any boundary of the subdivision is within 1,000 feet of any component of a public wastewater system. Without that, the commenter notes, cities could still deny connections to their systems, which is opposite of the intent of SB 215 from the 2023 legislative session.

RESPONSE 1:   The department appreciates the comment but cannot make the change suggested by the commenter. The department's authority to adopt rules is limited by the authority granted to it by the legislature. When interpreting a statute, the department cannot consider legislative history to contradict the plain language of the statute when the law is clear on its face. Haney v. Mahoney, 2001 MT 201, ¶ 7.

In this case, SB 215 directed the department to amend its rule to add a requirement that a municipal or county water and/or sewer district water and wastewater system must accept a connection request from a proposed subdivision and make public wastewater service available to the subdivision under certain specified circumstances. In general, the department's jurisdiction over municipal systems and county water and sewer districts extends only to the engineering and monitoring requirements applicable to all public systems, while the administration of those systems is subject to the local government statutes of Title 7, MCA. The department has made the change exactly as required by the bill but does not have authority to require systems to make changes to their governing documents or interlocal agreements.

COMMENT 2:  One commenter, the sponsor of SB 215, believes that a municipal or county water or sewer district should not have the ability to reject a proposed connection so long as the connection meets the criteria proposed in ARM 17.36.123(4) and other provisions of that rule. He believes that under no circumstances should the connection be contingent upon approval from another third party or entity including another local government entity if the proposed criteria in ARM 17.36.123 are met.

/s/ Angela Colamaria                                 /s/ Christopher Dorrington            

ANGELA COLAMARIA                              CHRISTOPHER DORRINGTON

Rule Reviewer                                            Director

                                                                    Department of Environmental Quality