The Montana State Board of Health was established in 1901. In 1967 the Legislative Assembly created the State Department of Health. The State Board of Health continued in an advisory capacity, but the day-to-day administration of the state laws regarded public health and related matters were relegated to the new department. The State Board of Health became The Department of Health and Environmental Sciences in 1971 with the passage of Governor Anderson’s Executive Reorganization Order 9-71. In 1991, though it remained a part of the Department of Health and Environmental Sciences, the role of the Environmental Sciences Division was considerably expanded to include: Natural Resource Damage Assessment, a Petroleum Tank Release Compensation Board, a Superfund Section, and an Underground Storage Tanks Section.

The Environmental Sciences Division eventually became its own separate department, renamed the Department of Environmental Quality, in 1995, comprised of the following divisions: Director’s Office, Air Quality, Centralized Services, Energy, Environmental Remediation, Reclamation, Waste Management, and Water Quality.

The Board of Environmental Review (BER) was created in 1995 when the DEQ became its own state agency. At the time of its creation it was administered by the DEQ’s Director’s office. Currently, it is administered out of the office of the Deputy Director. The BER fulfills two primary functions, one of which is to hear contested cases, which DEQ’s website defines as a “proceeding before an agency (not a court) in which a determination of legal rights, duties, or privileges of a party is required by law to be made after an opportunity for hearing”

The Board also has the authority to adopt rules and hold hearings dealing with: air quality, water quality; public water supplies and public sewage systems, mined land reclamation, Major Facility Siting (MFS), Megalandfill siting, hazardous waste, solid waste, junk vehicles, underground storage tanks, and radioactive materials.