HELENA (AP) -- A lawsuit filed by two environmental groups asks a federal court to require the defunct Kendall gold mine stop polluting creeks nearby, but the mine owner says the site is safe.

The suit filed by the Montana Environmental Information Center and Earthworks also says Canyon Resources Corp. should be fined for water pollution and be required to pay for cleanup.

''The site is absolutely safe and within the law of both the state and the nation in terms of water quality, and there's no basis for federal judiciary involvement," Dick DeVoto, the president of Canyon Resources, said Thursday.

Jeff Barber of MEIC in Helena said the Kendall mine has been discharging pollutants for eight years.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court at Missoula, is the latest action in a long battle over the mine in the North Moccasin Mountains north of Lewistown. The mine has been closed since 1997, but cleanup at the site is incomplete.

Neighboring landowners have complained for years that the mine has blocked or polluted their water supplies. Mine owners have denied responsibility.

In striving for a final cleanup plan, state regulators have been unable to reach an agreement that satisfies landowners and Canyon Resources.

State officials are trying to complete an environmental review of the cleanup options, but the mining company refuses to pay for the review, saying it already has an adequate plan it wants to carry out.

Meanwhile, Canyon Resources continues to operate a system that captures millions of gallons of water containing pollutants such as selenium and thallium. That water is routed back onto the mine site.

DeVoto said the system captures runoff from the site and any polluted waters are not flowing onto neighbors' property.

Much of the runoff is captured, but the system does not get everything, said Wayne Jepson of the state Department of Environmental Quality.

The lawsuit filed last week says water passing through waste-rock piles and the ''leach pad," where a cyanide solution was used to extract gold from ore, picks up pollutants such as selenium, thallium, arsenic and sulfate. They are discharged into several creek drainages, in violation of the federal Clean Water Act, according to the suit.

It also noted Canyon does not have a required permit to discharge water containing these pollutants. Canyon applied for one in 1998, but the state has not issued the permit.

John Arrigo, administrator of DEQ's Enforcement Division, said the state still doesn't have the information needed to calculate what discharge the permit should allow.

The lawsuit asks a federal court to declare Kendall in violation of the Clean Water Act, stop the discharge of pollutants, require payment of civil penalties and order payment for cleanup and environmental restoration.