County sanitarian urges rule clarity after HB 923 passage and raises alarm over proposed Class V injection wells

Corinne Rose, Pondera County’s county sanitarian, told the board on June 11 that local geology and the near absence of usable groundwater in parts of the county are making state nondegradation tests difficult to apply for septic systems and onsite wastewater permits.

Rose said House Bill 923 passed the Legislature and contains language intended to ease nondegradation sampling where groundwater cannot be sampled because it is absent or very deep. She said the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) must now write rules to implement the law and that she and local stakeholders have met with Representative Jones and DEQ staff to press that the rules reflect the Legislature’s intent for arid areas where groundwater is not used for drinking or irrigation.

Rose described a local meeting with county commissioners, state legislative staff and DEQ officials about permitting problems affecting a homeowner and a large local employer, Frontline Egg. She said engineers and DEQ sometimes take different positions on whether nondegradation sampling is required, and that project timelines have been delayed as a result; she said one project incurred “several thousand dollars” of delay costs when approvals were put on hold.

The sanitarian also raised a separate, related concern about Class V underground injection control wells. She said Montana Renewables (the applicant for a large sustainable aviation fuel facility) has a Department of Energy guaranteed loan and that a wastewater treatment plant is currently planned late in the developer’s project schedule. Rose and others asked federal and state representatives to urge Montana Renewables to advance wastewater treatment earlier in the project timeline and to press EPA not to treat Class V injection wells as an open option for disposal. She said the county is requesting letters from the Board of Health and from members of Congress and state legislators to support that effort.

Rose said the county will continue to pursue rule clarifications and monitor DEQ and EPA activity; she also said Montana Salinity Control will sample local monitoring wells to support Frontline Egg’s permitting work.

Why it matters: New state law changes how nondegradation is applied but local officials say DEQ rulemaking will determine whether on‑site systems and local projects can proceed without excessive cost or delay. Separately, federal permitting of deep injection wells for industrial wastewater could enable disposal options that county officials say would be inconsistent with local groundwater protection and land‑use expectations.