"BILLINGS, Mont. — Conservation groups are suing [Montana] Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration to obtain records related to its decision to drop legal claims against a mining executive over decades of pollution from several mines.
The groups, Earthworks and Montana Environmental Information Center, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in state district court in Lewis and Clark County. They said they’ve been seeking the records since late November.
Gianforte spokesperson Brooke Stroyke said the governor’s office fulfills records requests in the order they are received and is fulfilling the groups’ request on that basis.
After Gianforte took office, his Republican administration quit a legal action that sought to block Idaho-based Hecla Mining Co. and its president, Phillips Baker Jr., from involvement in two proposed silver and copper mines in northwest Montana."
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