BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A legal dispute in Montana could drastically curb the government’s use of aerial fire retardant to combat wildfires. Environmentalists have sued the U.S. Forest Service over waterways being polluted with the potentially toxic red slurry that’s dropped from aircraft. Forest Service officials have acknowledged more than 200 cases of retardant landing in water. But they say it’s an important fire fighting tool and that the environmental damage from fires can exceed the pollution from retardant. A coalition including California communities where 85 people were killed in a 2018 blaze says a ruling against the U.S. Forest Service in the case could put lives, homes and forests at risk.
