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9/29/2025
Permit revision opens up another public hearing
Northcentral Montana residents, public officials and conservation groups took turns on the mic last week in opposition to a wastewater injection proposal that supports the Montana Renewables biorefinery.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency held a public hearing Sept. 23 in the Conrad High School auditorium. Since 2022, the agency has been reviewing a proposal to inject a maximum of 667 million gallons of industrial wastewater into two inactive oil wells near Lake Frances. The water would come from Montana Renewables’ pretreatment unit, which washes the ag-based materials that the plant makes into renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel.
Montana Renewables’ environmental assessment estimates that its pretreatment unit will produce as much as 232,000 gallons of wastewater each day once the facility is fully expanded.
Officially, last week’s hearing was about a revision to the underground injection permit. The EPA originally studied an area about a quarter mile in size from the injection zone, which is roughly 3,400 feet underground in the Madison Aquifer. In response to public concerns about how much the injected wastewater could drift over time, the EPA expanded its study area to 2.1 miles and projected that the potential drift of the wastewater would stay within that radius over 10,000 years.
“This is a substantial length of time to allow for dilution and geochemical changes to those injected fluids,” said Fraser Evans, the EPA’s underground injection control permit writer.
Put another way, the EPA’s models suggest that it takes 385 days for groundwater in that region of the aquifer to move one foot, according to Evans.
The majority of public commenters spoke in opposition to the injection of Montana Renewables wastewater beneath Pondera County farmland. They included the three Pondera County commissioners, who have been vocal opponents over the years, as well as the county sanitarian and Conrad Mayor David Cates.
A concern that speakers repeated was that it’s unknown what the area’s water needs will be in decades or even centuries. At some point, that part of the Madison Aquifer might need to be tapped. County Commissioner Zane Drishinski said that at recent meetings of Montana county officials, water is a hot topic.
“And all across Montana, water is the biggest issue, whether it’s too much water or not enough water,” Drishinski said. “And I just don’t see where water is a precious commodity to our leading industry in Montana, which is agriculture, that we can approach this lightly.”
The meeting also featured Roundup Mayor Sandra Jones, whose town just completed a 20-year project to tap the Madison Aquifer for public water. Cascade Mayor Wes Seabolt also spoke at the meeting about the city’s recent project to draw water from the aquifer at a depth of around 2,000 feet.
“Yes we are next to the Missouri River,” Seabolt said. “But for clean water, the Madison [aquifer] is where we get it.”
Patrick Montalban, whose company owns the wells and is requesting the permit from EPA, said last week that geological studies found that the area is stable enough to contain injected wastewater and that past oilfield activity has already contaminated that part of the aquifer. He cautioned against comparisons to other towns who have tapped the Madison and said that while it’s the same aquifer, there are vast differences in quality based on the surrounding geology.
“I’m confident that we will not contaminate any of your drinking water in Pondera County,” Montalban said.
EPA permit documents for the project noted that the injection site, at 3,400 feet below ground, is several thousand feet deeper than current drinking water wells in the area. The documents also noted that the wells have already been used to dispose of oil and gas industry waste, which has been permitted for more than a decade.
Perhaps the most common request from speakers at the hearing was aimed at Montana Renewables. The company, a subsidiary of Calumet, secured a $1.6 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy and is going through a massive biofuel plant expansion. The company has committed to building a wastewater treatment plant on site in Great Falls, which would eliminate the need for underground injection.
Until recently, Montana Renewables hadn’t announced a timeline to construct the treatment plant, meaning the underground injection sites could be used in the meantime. But the company won’t say whether it has firm plans to use the Montalban oil wells for disposal, though it stands to provide a cost savings compared to the current practice of sending wastewater out of state by truck or rail.
“Montana Renewables, make good on your claim,” said Angela Otero, a Valier woman who has filed several public comments about Montana Renewables’ expansion.
On Friday, Montana Renewables spokesperson Lanni Klasner told Montana Free Press that engineering work has begun on the on-site wastewater treatment plant, marking the first step toward building the facility in Great Falls. She said more details would be released soon.
A public comment period remains open through Oct. 13. Permit documents and information about submitting public comments can be found here.
Photo Op
Benefis Health System shared this photo of the hospital’s Mercy Flight team members showing off its Peds Plane, a child-sized airplane meant to introduce the specialized emergency services division to younger audiences.
“One of the things about our program is we are always thinking of ways to make the hospital less intimidating for kids and families,” said Crystal Todd, manager of Respiratory Therapy and Mercy Flight safety officer, in a press release.
The Ped Plane experience comes complete with Benefis badges that say “future flight crew,” wings, stickers and coloring pages. The Mercy Flight team also provided mini flight suits, according to information provided by Benefis.
From left to right are Mercy Flight team member Todd, Peds Plane test pilot Daniel (6), Mercy Flight RN Anna Pradere, and Peds Plane test pilot June (7).
Calling all photographers: Submit a photo for Great Falls This Week to [email protected].
5 Things to Know in Great Falls
Great Falls Park and Recreation cut the ribbon on a new accessible playground at Morony Park last week. The park has features designed for people who use wheelchairs or who have different mobility needs. Interim Park and Recreation Director Jessica Compton said that the equipment is phase one of the park’s development. Future phases will add a pavilion and irrigation for the green spaces. One of the park’s benches, made from recycled plastic, was donated after a city staff campaign to collect plastic waste, Compton said.
On Sept. 18, the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office announced that it put Vaughn School in a shelter-in-place due to a nearby U.S. Customs and Border Patrol operation. A CBP spokesperson told MTFP that agents arrested a person near the Vaughn Conoco gas station at about 10 a.m. that day. The person is suspected of being in the country without documentation. While there are several recent immigration cases in U.S. District Court in Great Falls, none of them yet reference an arrest in Vaughn.
The city of Great Falls is seeking applicants for two Planning Advisory Board seats that will become open at the end of the year. The seven-member board holds initial hearings for matters like annexation, zoning, subdivision, planning roadway improvements and more. Members are appointed by the city commission. More information about applications and other board openings can be found here.
A federal judge convicted a Great Falls man last week of wire fraud and money laundering for making false claims to receive $99,900 in COVID relief funds. Raymond Marcellous Blair applied for money in 2020 for his business under the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, a federal COVID relief fund. According to court documents, Blair checked “no” on an application question about criminal history despite having past convictions.
On Sept. 16, the Great Falls City Commission voted to remove most neighborhood council races from the fall municipal election ballot. State law allows races to be removed from the ballot if the number of candidates filed is equal to or less than the number of open positions, and those candidates will be automatically elected. Out of the nine neighborhood councils, only Neighborhood Council 3 will be on the ballot with six candidates. The fall ballot will still contain races for city commission, mayor and municipal judge. More information on the fall municipal elections can be found here.
