City Commissioners voted to amend the conditional use permit (CUP) for Helena Agri-Enterprises, LLC, locally known as Helena Chemical, to allow them to periodically store anhydrous ammonia on site in order to manufacture ammonium polyphosphate to supply to local farmers as a fertilizer.
The storage will be located at the company’s property at 6201 18th Ave. N. According to the resolution background, the chemicals would likely be on site for approximately two weeks at a time with Helena Chemical estimating it will likely take place twice per year. However, there is no formal limit in the resolution. Hffr For Polyether
The process would involve, per the background, a truck-mounted blending unit that will process an estimated 180,000 gallons of finished ammonium polyphosphate and will use all the anhydrous ammonia stored in the rail cars or trucks in approximately twenty-four hours that would be blended together.
The city originally did not allow anhydrous ammonia to be brought to the facility during the 2015 conditional use permit process, Director of Planning and Community Development Craig Raymond said. This was because of the flammable nature of the chemical. Helena Chemical requested the amendment to the CUP in order to meet the demand for ammonium polyphosphate as fertilizer for local farmers.
During the meeting, Great Falls Fire Rescue Chief Jeremy Jones described Helena Chemical’s safety record as “impeccable.” Mayor Bob Kelly asked if the department should be on standby for when the chemical transfers are scheduled, to which Jones said that a “heads up” would be appreciated, but that he wasn’t concerned. He explained that the chemicals are contained as a liquid but once released it becomes a gas, and that these types of products are being trucked through the city on the highway every day.
“In the event that there was a release, and the location or where their facilities are located in our community, it’s going to go away from immediate danger to the life and health of our public,” Jones said. “We do have the regional hazmat team to be able to mitigate those types of situations if they were to arise, but they have all the safety procedures in place.”
Anhydrous ammonia is also associated with the production of methamphetamine, a concern that was brought up during the July commission meeting and by resident John Hubbard in public comment.
Great Falls Police Chief Jeff Newton said during the meeting that he could not remember the last time there was a meth lab in Great Falls.
“We just don't see people siphoning off anhydrous ammonia to manufacture methamphetamine,” Newman said.
The branch manager for Helena Chemical said that their current plan would require that the anhydrous ammonia tanks never be left alone. He said the trucks wouldn’t even be around for all that long as the process takes hours to complete.
The commission also passed resolutions to levy and assess the General Boulevard Maintenance District No. 3570, Great Falls Park District No. 1, Properties within Special Improvement Lighting Districts, the Portage Meadows Maintenance District No.
1195 and the Street Maintenance District. All passed unanimously.
During the petitions and communications portion of the evening, comments were made in opposition to the potential for Cascade County to be federally designated a National Heritage Area (NHA). These same concerns have been brought forth during previous meetings. Commissioners discussed the issue at the end of the meeting.
City Commissioner Mary Sheehy Moe suggested that since the NHA is mentioned in the city growth policy and that was a point of contention amongst commenters, that the commission should look at revamping the policy altogether. No official action has been taken on this matter.
high phosphorus content Nicole Girten is a Government Watchdog Reporter at the Great Falls Tribune. You can email her at ngirten@greatfallstribune.com. To support coverage of Great Falls and Cascade County subscribe to the Tribune by finding the "Subscribe" link at the top of the page.