A couple of hardy protesters have been protesting outside of the Calumet Montana Refinery every first and third Monday at 7:30 AM. Why are they doing that?
Every year, Calumet pays all of their required taxes into an escrow account because they concurrently protest the tax valuation. The money is then held in that escrow account and not released for use until the tax protest is settled. Calumet’s goal is to make maximum profits by minimizing the amount of tax they are required to pay. Historically, Calumet “wins” in their tax protest and the actual amount of tax they have to pay is dramatically reduced. Meaning they claw back a portion of the amount sitting in that escrow account.
While it may be legal to protest taxes, it hurts our community. It makes it impossible for our schools and city and county governments to budget not knowing how much of the taxes they will ultimately receive. Every dollar Calumet gets out of paying, has to be made up by the rest of the tax payers.
Most taxpayers pay their taxes on time and without protest. Then those same taxpayers give even more back to their community, by contributing to good causes like school PTAs, food banks, and more. Meanwhile, we continue to supply Calumet with roads, bridges, rail access, water, and more. We’re not expecting Calumet to do more than we do ourselves. We’re asking them to be good neighbors and give back to a community that gives so much to them.
If not the tax stuff, what else are they protesting?
This might surprise you but…Calumet could be doing more to respect our environment.
In January 2025, Montana Renewables publicly committed to building an on-site water treatment facility. This would prevent their wastewater from being trucked out and dumped elsewhere. Instead, Montana Renewables is still carrying their pollution down the road with no plans in site for the water cleaning facility. That transportation costs money too, and Montana Renewables is looking at alternative ways to dispose of the waste. One potential pathway for this mystery waste water is a proposed permit to allow wastewater to be injected into inactive oil wells such as by Lake Frances in Montana. The actual chemical composition of the wastewater is unknown and the proposedwells may lead to contamination of the Madison Aquifer, a source of drinking water for hundreds of wells in Montana. Yikes!!
One of the protesters, Donna Williams, pointed out “We’re not protesting; we’re rallying behind our refinery to get it right. Most other SAF [Sustainable Aviation Fuel] facilities have wastewater treatment and we want ours to have it, too.”
More than one thousand people turned out on The Central Avenue Bridge here in Great Falls to protest the Trump administration. While The Donald sat in the drizzling rain watching his lackluster birthday parade, people across the country attended huge rallies to confront the policies of his administration. Over twenty protests were held in Montana in larger cities and in smaller towns from Glendive in the east to Eureka in the west.
NO Kings protest in Great Falls, MT June 14, 2025
Drive by of the NO Kings Protest in Great Falls, MT on June 14, 2025
Several rallies have sprung up in Great Falls in response to the extreme cuts to government services being implemented and proposed by the Trump administration. Thousands of federal workers have lost their jobs, federal funding for research, cuts to VA services, proposed cuts to Medicaid, and more have damaged the ability of the US government to effectively serve the people and prepare for the future.
A grassroots movement called “50501” has been helping to coordinate nationwide demonstrations since the second Trump inauguration. Well, the only real coordination the 50501 movement does is to select a date for nationwide protests. Then local organizers do all of the legwork for individual protests.
In Great Falls, several 50501-inspired rallies have been organized including a rally on March 4th, April 5th, April 19th, and one is slated for May 1st.
Images of Event Flyers for Local 50501 Rallies
I’ve attended dozens of rallies in Great Falls, and these recent rallies have been some of the largest if not the largest in our city that I’ve ever seen.For the Great Falls April 5th rally, over 800 people gathered outside the Federal Courthouse and along the Central Ave W bridge. It’s almost like the people are pissed about the reckless cuts and undermining of government services. Let’s make government more efficient and cost less by gutting it completely. Sure, that’ll work out great for….billionaires, not so much for everyday Montanans.
Right Wing Trolls
Of course, right wing trolls are annoyed that people aren’t worshipping their cult leader. Shit stirrers posted“just asking” questions and rounded that up to death threats. An exchange seen on Facebook was screenshot and sent to our blog a few days before the April 5th Rally. The post and alarming responses such as “I’m shooting if it gets too funny” were posted in the Ask Great Falls Montana Group. I checked and saw the post live in the group on March 30th, I saw several threatening comments be taken down or hidden by the group administrators. And now I see that the post was completely taken down.
Screenshots of Troll Comments about Great Falls April 5th Rally
It sucks when people post crap like that to be intimidating and to feel big. But activists can’t let it stop their work; we just have to be as prepared as we can be.
Likely these trolls didn’t like the outpouring of support the rally was generating. Luckily, the threats of violence never materialized and just a pathetic group of about 5 counter protesters showed up. 800 rally attendees to 5 counter protesters. Welp, it looks like a large majority of people aren’t brainwashed to wave a conman’s flag.
View of April 5th, 2025 Rally in Great Falls
Upcoming Rallies in Great Falls
If people want to continue to visibly resist the current bullshit happening in our country two rallies are scheduled this coming week.
Flyer of April 29th Medicaid Rally
A Hands Off Medicaid Rally will be held in Great Falls at Noon on Tuesday, April 29th, at the Great Falls Federal Courthouse, 125 Central Ave W.
Another May Day Protest will be held on Thursday, May 1st at 5:30 PM at the Great Falls Federal Courthouse, 125 Central Ave W. The Facebook event can be found here.
