Selling Our Aquifer to the Oilfields
The Amount of Water Requested
229 A/f of water
or 75 million gallons a year
Big Horn Leasing & Water Permit 42M 30163320
Big Horn Leasing LLC has applied for a permit from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) to extract 75 million gallons of potable groundwater each year from the Fort Union Formation aquifer—right in the heart of Richland County. The stated purpose? Commercial use for oilfield fracking.
This proposed withdrawal threatens the water rights, wells, and future of local residents, farmers, and ranchers who depend on this aquifer as their sole source of clean, rainfed groundwater.
Worse yet, this permit is being advanced at the same time the DNRC and Richland County are funneling ARPA taxpayer money into the Dry-Redwater Regional Water Authority (DRWA)—a project that claims to address “drinking water shortages” in the same area.
​
-
The environmental risks of draining the aquifer
-
Public objections and legal concernss
-
DNRC’s failure to protect existing water rights
We believe every Montanan has the right to clean, affordable water—and a voice in how it’s managed.
Objectors Receive a Deficiency Notice!
Many local residents submitted formal objections to Big Horn Leasing’s water permit application. However, every single objection was denied. Below is an example of the reasoning provided in the official Objection Deficiency Notice:
While Big Horn Leasing had direct support from the DNRC in preparing their application, objectors were held to an unreasonably high standard. The DNRC requires individual citizens to provide technical data such as “quantitative modeling,” aquifer characteristics, discharge measurements, and hydrogeologic analysis—essentially asking everyday well owners to model the aquifer themselves.
Adding to the concern, the DNRC’s own permit review relied on data from wells located miles away and over 400 feet lower in elevation, using the Yellowstone River—six miles from the site—as the hypothetical depletion source. This is physically and geologically inaccurate, as the Yellowstone is not the source of the shallow aquifer these wells draw from.
Despite this flawed approach, the DNRC demanded “facts” from senior well owners more than 25 times in a single objection notice—shifting the burden of proof to the public.
Quotes from The Objection Deficiency Notice
"Probable believable facts adequate to support an objection typically include published studies, well data, discharge measurements, hydrogeologic information, aquifer lithology, groundwater models, diversion capacity and infrastructure, water chemistry information, or other credible evidence. In addition, the objector must demonstrate how the facts support the contention that the criteria cannot be met."
​
"The Objection must provide sufficient credible data to support a reasonable legal theory that the water quality of a prior appropriator will be adversely affected if this application is granted. Facts provided should include but are not limited to basic groundwater information such as water quality, flow rate, flow direction, and hydrogeologic characterization. Additionally, the Objection must provide forward looking quantitative groundwater modeling demonstrating that further depletion of said aquifer would increase levels of contamination"
​
"This will be the only opportunity for you to provide the required information to the Department.
If the information is not received by the Department or postmarked within 15 business days of the date of this letter, the objection is terminated"
Read The DNRC Objection Deficiency Notice
Click Link below to read the entire document
