Hecla Says 'Bad Actor' Lawsuit Dismissed, Coalition Pledges to Continue Fight Against Mine • Daily Montanan

With the dismissal of a bad-actor lawsuit following the retirement of former CEO Phillips Baker Jr., mining company Hecla said it is stepping up exploration in the Cabinet Mountains region south of Libby.

But a coalition of Indian tribes and environmental groups said it would continue to fight to enforce Montana laws that prevent “irresponsible mining” and leave Montanans footing the bill.

Hecla describes itself as the country's largest silver mining company and owns a number of exploration and pre-development projects in world-class silver and gold mining districts across North America.

It acquired the Montanore project near Libby in 2016.

In 2021, the coalition of Indian tribes and environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, alleging the state agency was failing to enforce the state’s bad actor provision with respect to Baker. That law prohibits companies with outstanding obligations from taking on new projects without paying old cleanup costs.

The groups argued that DEQ should not let Hecla move forward with bad actor Baker at the helm. Baker was a former executive at Pegasus Gold Incorporated, which filed for bankruptcy in 1998 and left behind more than $80 million in water remediation and treatment liabilities, the groups alleged.

In May 2024, however, Hecla announced that Baker had retired after nearly 23 years of service and was also stepping down from the board of directors. The board of directors appointed Catherine “Cassie” Boggs, its chair of the board, as interim president and CEO.

In a statement, Boggs thanked Baker for his valuable contributions to the silver industry as a whole and said a search for a permanent leader would be launched. She added that mining would continue.

Heclas’ daily mining operations will continue unabated with the talented and dedicated staff we have across our operations and at our corporate headquarters, Boggs said in a statement. Senior management and I will continue to support and guide our operations and staff through this leadership transition.

Baker could not be reached Monday afternoon for a message via LinkedIn regarding the circumstances of his retirement. His profile page said he left Hecla in May and was in a career transition.

The Earthjustice lawsuit, however, hinged on the Bakers’ leadership in Hecla. On July 11, the tribes and conservation groups filed a motion to voluntarily dismiss their lawsuit, but said they would continue to work to prevent irresponsible mining.

Earthjustice represents the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Fort Belknap Indian Community, Ksanka Elders Advisory Committee, Earthworks, Montana Environmental Information Center, Clark Fork Coalition, Rock Creek Alliance, Montana Conservation Voters, Montana Trout Unlimited, Save Our Cabinets and Cabinet Resources Group in the bad actor litigation.

The coalition said Baker no longer has any duties at Hecla, no relationships and no responsibilities. Tribes and conservation groups also said Baker's retirement would help ensure Montana's environment is protected from the worst mining practices.

The Cabinet Mountains hold an important place in the relationship between the Ksanka (Kootenai), Salish and Qlispe peoples and all of creation, with the Ksanka having a particularly special connection to the area, said Vernon Finley, director of the Kootenai Cultural Committee and a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, in a statement.

While this place is now safe from a malicious actor, we remain steadfast in our determination to protect our ancestral territory from mining that threatens our sacred places and landscapes. The lands, waters, and wildlife of the Cabinet Mountains are too precious to let our guard down.

The groups had asked a Lewis and Clark County district judge to rule that DEQ violated its enforcement obligations under the Metal Mining Reclamation Act and to force the agency to enforce the bad actor provision against Hecla and Baker.

In its recent press release, the coalition said it forced DEQ to file the first enforcement action, but then filed its own after DEQ abruptly abandoned its enforcement efforts.

Those of us who live or play in the Cabinet Mountains of northwest Montana know how important it is to protect this special place from irresponsible mining executives, Mary Costello of the Rock Creek Alliance and Save Our Cabinets said in a statement.

We are relieved that Phillips Baker is no longer at the helm of Hecla Mining Company, but regret that the Montana DEQ has changed leadership and chosen not to enforce the Bad Actor Act.

No matter what mining company or mining executive comes along next to push through a poorly designed mining project, we will be ready to protect the Cabinet Mountains wilderness and our clean water.

The coalition said the DEQ filed a lawsuit against Hecla and Baker in 2018, and a district court ruled that the DEQ had jurisdiction. However, it said the DEQ announced it was dropping the case, citing the election of a new governor, among other reasons; the Daily Montanan previously reported that the DEQ argued the case would take too much time and money to pursue.

In an email Monday, a DEQ spokesperson said the agency had no comment.

Last week, Hecla announced that the Lewis and Clark County District Court had dismissed the lawsuit, as requested by the coalition. It said the groups wanted the DEQ to deny exploration and mining permits to Heclas subsidiaries.

With Mr. Baker's recent retirement from the company, the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed the complaint, Hecla said.

However, Hecla said the groups made bad actor allegations not because of Baker's role at Hecla, but because of his past leadership positions and payment defaults at the Zortman-Landusky, Basin Creek and Beal Mountain mines.

With the dismissal of the bad actor lawsuit, the company is focused on advancing permitting for the Libby Exploration Project, a silver-copper project located 23 miles south of Libby, Lincoln County, Montana (approximately 50 miles north of the company's Lucky Friday mine in Idaho), Hecla said.

Hecla's press release also states that it owns additional patented mineral claims and numerous unpatented mineral claims within the project, and that it has submitted a plan for review to the U.S. Forest Service.

The plan of operations, if approved, would allow for the dewatering and rehabilitation of an existing 14,000-foot drift (mine entrance), the completion of 10,500 feet of new underground development and the commencement of exploration activities at the project, Hecla said.

But the groups that filed the lawsuit said they will continue their work to protect some of Montana's most iconic species in the Cabinet Mountains, including grizzly bears, wolverines and bull trout, which the Montanore mine project seriously threatens.

Now that Phillips Baker is no longer at the helm of Hecla, Montanans can breathe a little easier knowing that a bad actor is not trying to open another mine in Montana, Derf Johnson, deputy director of the Montana Environmental Information Center, said in a statement.

However, even without Baker, Hecla still intends to open a dangerous mine in the Cabinet Mountain wilderness, and we will not give up our efforts to ensure that the mine never goes ahead.