A company in Great Falls wants to inject millions of gallons of wastewater into old oil and gas wells on the Rocky Mountain Front and they’re seeking approval from the federal government to do it.
Local governments and community members aren’t entirely on board.
Montana Renewables, a subsidiary of the Calumet refinery in Great Falls, is the country’s biggest manufacturer of biofuel used in planes. The company creates its biofuel using feedstocks often grown along the Hi Line, like camelina, canola and soybeans, combined with animal fats like beef tallow. Through that process, they generate tens of thousands of gallons of wastewater per day. All that wastewater has to be disposed of because the local water treatment infrastructure can’t handle it.
Currently, the company drives the wastewater to the railyard in Shelby where it is shipped out of state to be injected underground. Now, Montana Renewables wants to dispose of it more locally, by injecting the water over 3,000 feet below ground in two old oil and gas wells in Valier.
Pondera County officials, and locals in the community are concerned by this proposal and say they don’t know what is in the wastewater. The company says it’s created from washing crops and other biofuel ingredients.
At a recent community meeting in the Choteau Public Library, over two dozen people from across the Rocky Mountain Front gathered to discuss the project, and their concerns.
Corinne Rose is the sanitarian for Pondera County, she told the group she can’t find out what is in the water because the company won’t let her take a sample.
“The Pondera County commissioners have requested multiple times to allow us to come and get our own samples. We would have done it under their guidance, followed their safety precautions, whatever. But they've denied it,” Rose said.
Without knowing for certain what is in the water, Pondera County Disaster and Emergency Services Coordinator Morgan Johnson says she can’t do her job.
“Knowing what is in this water. Then I can make decisions. I can make plans. I can help our first responders with responding to something of an accident. Or if the wastewater gets into the waterways somehow. I cannot do that if I don't know what this water is,” Johnson said.
There are also concerns about the precedent this could set for injecting waste into other oil and gas wells in the region.
People are worried if EPA permits this, Montana could see an influx of wastewater from other states getting injected underground. The Blackfeet Nation’s Environmental Office is opposed to the proposal, out of concerns for what could happen to wells in Glacier County on, and near the reservation.
Another worry is the lack of understanding about the aquifer in the Rocky Mountain Front region.
Montana Department of Natural Resources Groundwater Supervisor Melissa Brickl is looking to study the hydrology of the aquifer to address gaps in knowledge.
“I started to realize that there really was a data void. There's not a ton of literature out there when it comes to injection in the state of Montana,” Brickl said at the meeting in Choteau.
She said fault lines and seismic activity in this region are unique and warrants further study.
Others worry how the traffic could affect wildlife traveling in the area, like federally protected grizzly bears. If this gets permitted, gravel roads along the route could see as many as 12 tanker trucks per day.
The Pondera County Board of Health, and the County Commissioners are opposed to Montana Renewables’ proposal and say they haven’t been given enough information. Zane Drishinski, one of the county’s three commissioners, was in attendance at the meeting in Choteau.
“As the commission we oppose this. Of course. The problem is the EPA does not play by your rules, the state’s rules, or anybody else's,” Drishinski said.
The company that operates the two Valier wells, Montalban Oil and Gas Operations, has applied for a permit with the US Environmental Protection Agency that would allow them to inject a total of 630 million gallons of Montana Renewable’s wastewater underground into the Madison Aquifer through two wells.
Part of that permitting, would exclude the Madison Aquifer from drinking water protections, allowing the wastewater to be injected deep underground. The EPA is overseeing this permit, rather than the state’s Department of Environmental Quality because it falls under the scope of federal policies to protect drinking water.
Montana Renewables did not agree to be interviewed. In an emailed statement Media Oakes and Krista Evans, spokespeople for the company, provided MTPR with an information sheet that described the project and said they have been transparent and forthcoming with their information.
The company’s CEO Bruce Fleming previously told Montana Free Press “you could literally drink it.”
The company says their best option for now, is to dispose of the waste via injection. The City of Great Falls cannot clean the water in its municipal wastewater treatment facility, and the company doesn’t have the facilities to treat it either, but they say they plan to eventually.
So Montana Renewables is currently shipping the wastewater out of state, to be injected into wells in other states, according to Montana Free Press’s interview with the CEO, which includes Wisconsin, Wyoming and Texas. The company says getting these Valier wells permitted to accept the wastewater will localize their injection process.
The company says their work benefits the local economy. In a letter to Pondera County Commissioners, Fleming said Montana Renewables’ work creates a bigger market for local agricultural products. The letter also says that sampling water now is “a waste of time” because the wastewater they will inject into the wells will meet different requirements laid out by EPA.
They say others are backing the project in public comment. But that public comment isn’t published yet so MTPR cannot confirm.
Montana Renewables said the aquifer is not a drinking water source for the area and won’t be one in the future. They also refer to it as contaminated from previous oil and gas activities.
The next step in this process is the EPA’s decision. The agency collected public comments on the permit application through mid-April and says they are considering all of these concerns and others laid out in those comments.
Once EPA issues the decision there will be a 30 day process where anyone who commented in the original period can submit an appeal if they disagree with the decision.
