An aviation fuel company wants to inject wastewater into the ground along the Rocky Mountain Front. Federal officials say the plan wouldn’t put drinking water at risk. Residents are skeptical.
Pondera County Commissioner Jim Morren isn’t happy with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"The EPA sounds dismissive of this, and I quote, 'sparsely populated area,' end quote, and seems willing to sacrifice Pondera County and the water beneath it to industry," Morren said during a public meeting in Conrad.
Montana Renewables, a Great Falls company, makes what’s known as “sustainable aviation fuel.” The process produces tens of thousands of gallons of wastewater. The company wants to inject that water into old oil wells near Valier.
About 100 people gathered for a recent public meeting with EPA officials in Conrad. The EPA is considering a permit for the plan.
Morren and his fellow commissioners strongly oppose the idea. One of the big reasons: no one knows what’s in the water. Lisa Schmidt, a local rancher, questioned the EPA’s assertion that the water is non hazardous.
"We don't know what's in that fluid. Despite many requests from the county commissioners, a sample has not been provided," Schmidt said during the meeting.
MTPR confirmed the county had not received a sample after making multiple requests.
The community worries that injecting the water into the ground will contaminate water for people, cattle and crop irrigation.
Commissioner Zane Drishinski:
"I just don't see where, where water is a precious commodity, to our leading industry in Montana is agriculture – that we can approach this lightly and look to contaminate any source of potential drinking water."
This region is struggling with drought. That’s why Drishinski and others say protecting groundwater is so important.
EPA officials say the wastewater won’t leach into other parts of the aquifer. Fraser Evans works in the EPA's Underground Injection Control program. Evans modeled how fast the wastewater will move underground.
"The injected fluids will remain in the exempted portion of the Madison for at least 10,000 years," Evans said.
The EPA previously said the impact would reach about a quarter mile from the injection sites. The agency has since increased its estimate to a roughly two-mile radius.
At the recent public meeting, dozens of residents, like Karen Thornton, said that change was unsettling.
"There is not a city or town in Montana or the U.S. that would allow someone to build a house, realize after the fact that they did not plan for wastewater, then decide to dump it in their backyard and hope that it does not overflow into their neighbor's yard," Thornton said.
Montana Renewables says it's considering building a water-treatment plant that would negate the need to inject the water. In a written statement to MTPR, the company said the timeline for that is unclear. It is still working with another company to obtain the EPA pollution permit.
EPA is taking public comments on the expanded aquifer exemption through October 13.
