Inflation drives rising demand and costs for food banks
Aaron Bolton
With rising food and fuel prices, families are thinking more about what they buy at the store and how often they drive. Montana’s food banks are making those same decisions as they grapple with inflation.
After President Donald Trump launched the war against Iran, gas prices spiked. That trickled down to what we pay at the grocery store because it costs significantly more to deliver that food.
Gayle Carlson with the Montana Food Bank Network says food pantries buying power has declined.
“It’s a combination of the families needing more food and their inability to provide that food because of costs,” she says.
Carlson says food banks are serving about the same number of people as before the Iran war. But those families are relying on them more often. That’s happening as pantries are buying less food because of inflation. That means families are going home with less.
Food banks are trying to find ways to buy more food at a time, cutting down on fuel costs, but Carlson says that’s not enough to keep up with rising prices.
The problem could get worse as kids get out of school for the summer and their families lose access to school-based food programs.
Groups file lawsuit over water pollution exemption near Valier
Austin Amestoy
Conservationists, landowners and commissioners along the Rocky Mountain Front have moved to sue federal regulators over a recent decision to exempt part of an aquifer from water quality rules.
Pondera County is leading a charge of plaintiffs in challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision in May. The agency cleared the way for an aviation biofuel company to potentially dump hundreds of thousands of gallons of wastewater into abandoned oil wells near the town of Valier in north-central Montana.
For months, area residents have questioned the EPA’s move to exempt part of the Madison Aquifer from the Safe Drinking Water Act. They say the agency hasn’t proven the wastewater won’t damage future drinking water sources.
The county has repeatedly asked the EPA to provide a sample of the wastewater, but the agency has so far refused to provide one. Administrators say it won’t contaminate the part of the aquifer currently used by farmers, ranchers and residents.
Plaintiffs challenging the EPA’s decision include county commissioners, residents, landowners and conservation groups Earthjustice and the Western Environmental Law Center, among others.
