Montana

Montana cannot ‘meet the demand’ to supply more water to new developments • Daily Montanan

Published

9 months ago

October 24, 2025

Montana cannot ‘meet the demand’ to supply more water to new developments • Daily Montanan

This week’s news brings us another story that’s starting to get very old — especially for Montana’s existing residents. Namely, the City of East Helena finds itself unable to “meet the demand” for water for the 6,250 new homes plus new businesses that theoretically will be built on former ASARCO lands the city annexed when the company went bankrupt.

But here’s the rub: The land the city annexed did not come with water rights. In Montana, no water means no new developments because we can barely provide water to existing residents. The rapidly changing climate’s longer, hotter, and drier summers combined with lower winter snowpacks and earlier, diminished runoff is simply a reality that municipalities and developers don’t want to acknowledge. But just because you don’t want to admit reality doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

As reported, Montana’s Lt. Governor Kristen Juras sent a letter to the city telling them the Natural Resources Damage settlement with ASARCO for the lead smelter’s Superfund site pollution requires “natural resource restoration and long-term stewardship.” Part of that restoration process, which was public, determined that certain water rights should go to restore instream flows on Prickly Pear Creek, which flows right past the giant slag piles remaining at the smelter site.

Ironically, the state and EPA offered the city 40% of the water rights, but the offer was refused. Now, the state and the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks are moving forward to change those consumptive water rights to instream flows and restore the battered creek.

That the city and developers are demanding the water for future development makes little sense since the mayor was quoted saying East Helena has an “already strained municipal water system.” Since the theoretical developments would require four times the water the city currently supplies to existing residents and businesses it may also require a new and very expensive water treatment facility for which existing residents will pay.

If this sounds familiar, one need only look to Bozeman, where residents will soon vote on the Water Adequacy for Residential Development initiative that will require new developments to either provide lower income units or bring new water rights to the city to “meet the demand” of the new developments.

Like Bozeman, East Helena is in a “closed basin” — meaning no new water rights can be issued without harming existing water rights holders and users. You can’t give away more water than you have — and Montana has less every year, as the record low flows and closures of our major rivers proves.

None of this is a mystery. In 1878 John Wesley Powell, who had explored the West’s great rivers and made the first descent of the Colorado River, published his “Report on the Lands of the Arid Regions of the United States” in which he estimated only 2% of the land in the arid West could support agriculture or development due to the lack of water. There’s simply no excuse for Montana’s development-crazed municipalities to ignore the facts of our increasingly limited water supply.

Finally, one might wonder why the burdens of “meeting the demand” of developers – including data centers – falls on existing residents. Or why the Superfund impacts from past extractive industries shouldn’t be remediated. Or why existing residents and their kids in East Helena shouldn’t have a clean stream they can walk to and enjoy a genuine “Montana” experience?

There are very real limits to growth. In the West, that’s a dwindling water supply – and it’s obviously time for Montanans to realize that fact and live with it.

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Montana

Montana Lottery Powerball, Lotto America results for July 8, 2026

Published

2 hours ago

July 9, 2026

Press Room

The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at July 8, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers from July 8 drawing

12-29-37-43-55, Powerball: 18, Power Play: 4

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Lotto America numbers from July 8 drawing

17-26-31-32-37, Star Ball: 01, ASB: 02

Check Lotto America payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from July 8 drawing

03-13-16-17, Bonus: 10

Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Powerball Double Play numbers from July 8 drawing

06-27-33-44-69, Powerball: 23

Check Powerball Double Play payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Montana Cash numbers from July 8 drawing

08-16-17-22-27

Check Montana Cash payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 8 drawing

16-18-43-48-50, Bonus: 01

Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.

Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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Montana

Montana signs onto data center energy cost protection pledge

Published

12 hours ago

July 8, 2026

Press Room

Montana signs onto data center energy cost protection pledge

HELENA, Mont — Gov. Greg Gianforte is backing a new effort to keep data centers from driving up Montanans’ power bills.

This week, Gianforte announced Montana is signing on to the Ratepayer Protection Pledge — an initiative endorsed by President Trump.

Several major technology companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Oracle, and XAI first signed the pledge back in March.

The pledge comes as data center development continues to grow — raising questions about how much new energy will be needed and who will pay for it.

NBC Montana spoke with Julia Haggerty, professor of geography and department head of earth sciences at Montana State University, about whether Montana’s power grid is ready for that growth.

“Not without resolution of significant transmission bottlenecks and massive amounts of new generation. So, while our grid is adequately, relatively adequately equipped to serve the needs of our current load base, it’s definitely not equipped to accommodate the new demands without a lot of expansion,” she said.

According to the pledge, data center developers will pay for new power generation, and infrastructure needed to support their operations.

“It does align with ongoing regulatory efforts to ensure that the cost of new generation associated with data centers is borne by the developers of those data centers and not customers,” Haggerty said.

The governor’s office says Gianforte’s support of the pledge is designed to encourage responsible data center investments while protecting Montana ratepayers from long-term costs.

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