Senate Natural Resources hears hours of testimony on SB 358 to regulate exempt wells

Senate Natural Resources Committee members heard more than three hours of testimony on Senate Bill 358, a stakeholder-crafted proposal to change how Montana treats so-called exempt wells, during a committee hearing where the sponsor, Senator Wiley Galt, opened the bill and dozens of stakeholders offered testimony for and against it.

The bill would classify geography into green, yellow and red areas and set different rules for each, Codified proponents and DNRC staff testified that the approach is designed to allow exempt wells where they do not cause harm while providing tools to limit them in vulnerable basins. "Status quo is not working anymore," sponsor Senator Wiley Galt said, adding that without legislative action "the courts are gonna start deciding what this is gonna get across the finish line." Anna Pakenham Stevenson, water resources division administrator at the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, told the committee the DNRC "stands in strong support of this stakeholder working group compromise bill" and summarized the bill's main pathways and caps.

Why it matters: proponents said SB 358 creates a predictable framework for development and a scientific basis for when exempt wells should be curtailed; opponents said the…