It’s almost impossible to fathom the extent of the fall of democracy in our nation in one year — but 2025 indeed saw an assault on our freedoms across the board from the most authoritarian president and administration in recent history. Unfortunately, those same tendencies have trickled down through various state governments as well, and Montana is no exception.
But take heart, fellow citizens, while we were numbed by the shock and awe attack on our institutions, laws, policies, and liberties, there are significant signs that the people and the courts are realizing we must fight back and demand adherence to the law, the Constitution, and the tenets of humane treatment for our people and the environment.
In that regard, the new year opens with a tremendous court victory here in Montana that found the Department of Environmental Quality illegally approved a Big Sky area subdivision. The state’s approval of septic systems for eight lots in the Quarry 1 subdivision was challenged by Upper Missouri Waterkeeper, which contended the agency failed to fully analyze the likely impacts to the already impaired Gallatin River.
The ruling, which granted Waterkeeper summary judgment on their claims, found the state’s water quality regulatory agency “was arbitrary, capricious and unlawful and in violation of the Montana Constitution, MEPA [Montana Environmental Policy Act] and the WQA [Water Quality Act].”
The significance of the Court’s decision cannot be understated, since coming right behind Quarry 1 is another major subdivision, Quarry 2 — which will face many of the same problems. Namely, too close to the river, sitting on top of porous river gravels, and a very active downgradient layer of groundwater that ultimately carries pollutants and nutrients directly to the Gallatin River.
The “development at any cost” policies of Montana’s current administration are indeed coming with costs — and those costs affect us all in the loss of our clean and healthy environment, our incredible fisheries and wildlife legacy, and the destruction of our natural landscapes. As the impacts stack up, so do the court challenges — from gravel pits to subdivisions to mines as Montanans say “enough is enough.”
On the national scene, we are likewise seeing a rising and determined resistance to the destructive and divisive policies of the current administration. Once again, the challenges are arising across the nation as Americans realize the freedoms, liberties, and norms of governance we once took for granted must now be actively, fiercely, and continually defended.
The Supreme Court recently ruled the administration cannot send the National Guard into Chicago because the president lacks the legal authority to do so. Likewise, the administration’s policies are being challenged on a host of issues from the brutal and racist immigration raids to the lawless slaughter of those merely suspected of transporting drugs to undeclared wars and bombing sovereign nations without Congressional approval.
Despite the constant barrage of self-aggrandizing proclamations from the president, he is not everyone’s “favorite president.” Across the board, polls show more than six in 10 Americans do not approve of him, his administration, or his illegal policies and actions.
Make no mistake, 2026 is the year we must stand together and stand up to defy the intimidation of the press, attacks on free speech, and disregard for the law and Constitution.
Renowned actor George Clooney just rendered some sage advice to those who capitulated to Trump’s threats saying: “If CBS and ABC had challenged those lawsuits and said, ‘Go f— yourself,’ we wouldn’t be where we are in the country. That’s simply the truth.”
Indeed, it is — enough is enough.
- George Ochenski is Montana's longest-running columnist and a longtime environmental activist, concerned with keeping Montana's natural beauty clean and safe. He writes from Helena and appears in the Daily Montanan weekly.
