It was recently brought to my attention that your newspaper, The Roundup Record-Tribune, recently published an incredibly biased series entitled "Rock of Reliance" regarding the Signal Peak mine near roundup. While the series was incredibly biased, and I am not aware that the reporter made any effort whatsoever to contact us for this story, I am specifically contacting you due to false and potentially inflammatory information that was conveyed as fact in this series by your reporter, Lura Pitman. The publication of this false information is clearly intended to cause reputational damage, and I would ask for an immediate retraction or correction in your publication.

Specifically, in Part I of this series, the reporter states that "Meaning, the mine has been targeted by environmental entity MEIC for years, and the claims they make have been continually found baseless by fact and law," and that "It would appear that the point for MEIC isn't to worry about actual facts, but just to keep the lawsuits and accusations public and ongoing."

It is both false and misleading to state that legal challenges that MEIC has filed against Signal Peak and/or DEQ have been "found baseless by fact and law." In fact, in regard to the legal challenges that have been filed against the DEQ and the mine by MEIC:

MEIC successfully challenged an appeal of the mining permit by DEQ to the Montana Board of Environmental Review, where in 2016 it was determined that the permit was issued illegally for its failure to lawfully assess the impacts of long-wall mining on water resources. Neither DEQ nor Signal Peak appealed this decision.

A subsequent, deficient permit was issued by the DEQ. MEIC challenged this permit at the BER, which ruled against our claims. This matter is currently under appeal in Montana District Court.

Signal Peak sued MEIC and local ranchers regarding subpoenas Signal Peak served on the ranchers in the area. The judge ruled against Signal Peak, finding that the subpoenas violated the ranchers constitutional rights and that Signal Peak served them for improper purposes. On appeal the Montana Supreme Court held that Signal Peak's suit was filed improperly and dismissed the case outright.

MEIC challenged the federal Environmental Impact Statement issued to Signal Peak in federal district court. In 2017 the judge ruled in our favor in that case, and remanded that case.

MEIC challenged the subsequent EIS. The district court judge ruled in favor of MEIC on one issue and against MEIC on other issues. MEIC appealed, and the 9th circuit court of appeals ruled in MEIC's favor.

To recap, as it stands, out of the four cases that have received a final ruling brought by MEIC (or by Signal Peak against MEIC) our organization has received a favorable ruling in all of them. The one adverse ruling (# 2) that has not received a final ruling at this point (item 2) is currently under appeal in Montana District Court.

We are concerned that this information was not included in this opinion piece which masquerades as a news story. However, we will be satisfied with a simple correction to the record. Without a correction, we will be forced to evaluate our legal options.

Please provide confirmation of receipt.

Derf Johnson

Deputy Director

Montana Environmental Information Center

P.O. Box 1184

Helena, MT 59624

office: (406) 443-2520, Ext. 103

cell: (406) 581-4634

[email protected]