Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 76. LAND RESOURCES AND USE

CHAPTER 7. ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL EASEMENT ACT

Part 2. Environmental Control Easements

Permissible Easements

76-7-203. Permissible easements. (1) An environmental control easement under this chapter may prohibit or limit the following activities or uses:

(a) constructing or placing of buildings, camping trailers, housetrailers, mobile homes, roads, or other structures on or above the ground;

(b) dumping or placing of soil, debris, or other wastes or substances as landfill or dumping or placing of trash, waste, or unsightly or offensive materials;

(c) removing or destroying trees, shrubs, or other vegetation or planting or allowing growth of specific types of vegetation, such as crops for human or animal consumption or undesirable vegetation;

(d) excavating, dredging, or removing of gravel, soil, rock, or other materials or substances;

(e) using the surface of the land in a particular manner, such as for agricultural, residential, commercial, or industrial uses;

(f) subdividing the land, as described in 76-3-103 and 76-3-104;

(g) disturbing soil caps, soil surfaces, berms, drainage structures, or other structures or other activities that may cause erosion or migration of hazardous wastes or substances at or from the environmental control site;

(h) drilling or using water wells for potable or nonpotable purposes;

(i) other activities or uses detrimental to or interfering with the remediation or cleanup of the environmental control site or detrimental to the preservation of remedial structures, measures, or technologies employed at the environmental control site; and

(j) other activities or uses that may result in a risk or threat to the public health, safety, or welfare or the environment.

(2) An environmental control easement under this chapter may include or require the following:

(a) maintenance of environmental control site remedial structures or other remedial measures, such as soil surfaces, soil caps, berms, fences, or drainage improvements;

(b) rights in the holder of the easement or others for continuing access to the site as necessary to implement, operate, maintain, and monitor remedial work and technologies, including operation and maintenance, and to ensure implementation and enforcement of the requirements, restrictions, and limitations specified in the easement instrument;

(c) prompt notification to the holder of the easement or others of transfers of all or any portion of an environmental control site or interest in the site or of any proposed changes in land use at the site;

(d) compliance with all requirements of any applicable governmental order;

(e) arrangements for indemnification or for reimbursement of any costs and expenses of the easement holder or others or other methods of allocating costs and expenses for remedial actions, operations and maintenance, or other activities on the environmental control site or with respect to the site;

(f) other obligations that any federal public entity or other public body having jurisdiction over the property determines are necessary to implement, ensure noninterference with, or ensure the protection of remedial work performed under a governmental order; or

(g) other obligations that are necessary or advisable to reduce or eliminate risks or threats to the public health, safety, or welfare or the environment at environmental control sites.

History: En. Sec. 10, Ch. 503, L. 1999; amd. Sec. 13, Ch. 379, L. 2013.