Biofuel Waste

I have questions, far more than I have answers.

I have hope, even as I wonder whether what is happening up the road from my ranch could easily become hopeless.

I’m optimistic that the people involved will follow the spirit of the law. Optimism goes along with hope, holding hands as both venture into the dark, slimy world of potentially toxic, contaminated wastewater.

Maybe everyone is following laws designed to protect groundwater that feeds all of us.

A few weeks ago when I stopped in to chat with my county commissioners, I happened to learn about a biodiesel company that wanted to dump wastewater down an abandoned oil well.

I support the American Dream of capitalism. In fact, I spend a lot of time and effort chasing that dream, but groundwater from that abandoned well could flow into my watershed and impact the 16 springs I rely on to water my family, livestock and grass.

I needed to know what is in that wastewater.

The county sanitarian and Disaster and Emergency Services coordinator were interested, too. Both had visited the site and made phone calls. Neither had received any guidance from state or federal agencies created to protect resources that communities share.

The commissioners told me that the waste disposal company had applied for a class 5 permit from the Environmental Protection Agency. They want to fill four injection wells for the next 20 years. While the company waited for permit approval, they had filled an above-ground Poseidon tank almost 100 miles from the biodiesel plant.

The expense of hauling 10 semi-loads of wastewater 100 miles every single day of the year seemed excessive if the wastewater was harmless.

I called the EPA. The recorded message said they didn’t plan to return my call because they were sort-staffed. I checked online. Same message

I called the Montana Department of Environmental Quality. Several employees told me that they did not have jurisdiction over biodiesel and nobody knew who did. One employee had called the Montana Oil and Gas Commission, but they denied responsibility, too.

The sanitarian managed to get the results of a wastewater test but couldn’t interpret those results. I sent them to several friends who work in the groundwater industry. Interpretations were mixed. One person was concerned about the arsenic, oil and grease in the water and the increased reactions of oxidized chemicals with natural soil. Another said drinking water wouldn’t be compromised, but the salinity level in the wastewater would eventually rise in the soil until only kochia would grow there.

An expert who had worked in the coalbed methane fields of southeastern Montana said he had never seen a Poseidon tank that didn’t leak.

Meanwhile, the Poseidon tank needed to be emptied so trucks hauled wastewater to railcars in Shelby, another 40 miles away. The railcars would take it to an EPA-permitted site in Wisconsin.

Sometimes those trucks roared past residences at 4:30 a.m., sometimes at 11 p.m. The gravel road turned to soup when it snowed. The narrow county bridge on that road worked harder than ever.

Nobody has accused the biodiesel manufacturer of breaking the law, but nobody is monitoring the waste contents or disposal. The county commissioners, sanitarian and emergency services coordinator have asked for guidance, yet received none.

I worry about the impacts to the soil and groundwater, but the real problem is that there is no process to track and supervise biofuel waste. Hauling it 100 miles away to a rural site on a dead-end road conjures the phrase “out of sight, out of mind.” As a relatively new technology, legal oversight of biodiesel wastewater is left in the dust.

A reliable process provides answers.

I need answers.