Regional and national environmental groups have joined Pondera County officials in challenging an underground wastewater-disposal permit that benefits the Montana Renewables biorefinery in Great Falls. The groups also renewed calls for a thorough accounting of what exactly is in Montana Renewabl es’ wastewater — information they said has been requested but not received. The petition concerns two unproductive oil wells near Lake Frances in northcentral Montana. On May 1, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved permits for the wells to be used as underground wastewater injection sites. The permits went to the owner of the wells, Cut Bank-based Montalban Oil and Gas; Montana Renewables is the sole intended source of the wastewater. EPA documents noted that the injection sites, at more than 3,400 feet below ground in the Madison Aquifer, have already been used to dispose of wastewater from oil and gas operations. Permit documents describe the underground water as of poor quality. The EPA determined that this region of the aquifer is “not a valuable potential source of drinking water” now or in the future. In approving the permits, the EPA granted an exemption from the federal Safe Drinking Water Act for 6.6 square miles of the Madison Aquifer at the bottom of the wells. The agency simulated the potential drift of injected wastewater over time and concluded that the material wouldn’t exceed that exemption area. The court action announced Monday challenged that EPA exemption. The petitioners argue that the EPA was incorrect in finding that the “industrial wastewater” wouldn’t contaminate more shallow aquifers. The groups also disagree with the EPA’s assessment that the disposal sites could never be a viable source of drinking water for Pondera County residents, farmers and ranchers, especially as prolonged drought continues to affect area agriculture. “The EPA relied on an outdated model and wildly inaccurate assumptions about the geology, water quality, and economic viability of the Madison Aquifer as a source of drinking water in reaching its short-sighted decision to permit Montana Renewables to pollute this aquifer,” Pondera County Commissioner Zane Drishinski said in a press release Monday. The petition was filed on behalf of Pondera County and environmental groups, including the Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance, the Golden Triangle Resource Council and the Madison Aquifer Coalition. Western Environmental Law Center and EarthJustice are acting as legal representatives, according to the press release.  The petition for review was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Andrew Hawley with Western Environmental Law told Montana Free Press in an email Monday that the petition is before the appellate court because the Safe Drinking Water Act has a “specific jurisdiction” provision that directs challenges to that court. And because EPA has a lengthy administrative record that led to the wastewater permit, there is already ample evidence for the court to consider. The wastewater comes from the Montana Renewables biorefinery in Great Falls, which is a subsidiary of Calumet. The company has been shipping its wastewater to a permitted disposal site in Idaho, and the potential for a new disposal site in Pondera County drastically cuts that trucking route. Montana Renewables has consistently labeled its wastewater as “non-hazardous,” and it comes from a pre-treatment unit that processes renewable feedstocks before turning them into fuels. Feedstocks at Montana Renewables include agricultural products such as seed oils and animal fats. An environmental assessment described the process as “turbulent mixing” of the feedstocks with a water and citric acid wash at temperatures up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.  Permit documents for the injection wells note that the wastewater contains “phosphorus, nitrogen, salts and other impurities.” Pondera County officials have been asking for a more specific, scientific inquiry into the contents of the wastewater.  “At the initial public meeting in January 2024, Montana Renewables CEO Bruce Fleming claimed the wastewater was so clean you could drink it,” Pondera County Sanitarian Corrine Rose said in the press release. “Yet they refuse to provide the county with a sample, and the lab results they provided the EPA indicate this wastewater is nasty stuff. Before any of this high-strength industrial wastewater is dumped in our aquifer, we want to see the EPA require more transparency, testing and monitoring.” Pondera County officials have also called on Montana Renewables to fast-track an on-site wastewater treatment facility in Great Falls that would obviate the need for the underground wells. On-site treatment was part of Montana Renewables’ plan from the start, as it received a $1.67 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy in late 2024 to expand its biofuels plant. But the timeline is unclear. A Montana Renewables spokesperson told MTFP in May that the wastewater facility is still in the engineering stage. Meanwhile, the company continues to scale up production. The company has also been unclear about how or when it might use the Pondera County wells. The Montana Renewables representative declined to answer that question in May. Asked again Monday, spokeswoman Lanni Klasner first said that, so far, none of its “wash water” has been injected into the Pondera County wells, but she declined to elaborate on how or when the company would use them. “Moving forward, the evaluation of water management options allows for continuous improvement based on the most current and effective solutions,” she said in an email. The post Groups challenge EPA decision on Montana Renewables wastewater site appeared first on Montana Free Press. ...read more read less