City Desk
- Details
- Category: City Desk
In this photo from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s X account, agents look at drugs seized during “Operation Summer Heat” this year. (FBI photo via X)
Yellowstone City-County Health Officer said they never approved the meth burn
By: Jordan Hansen Daily Montanan
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality will investigate the circumstances that led to a drug burn sickening over a dozen employees at an animal shelter in Billings.
On Sept. 10, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was apparently burning methamphetamine in an incinerator primarily used by the City of Billings Animal Control Operation to burn dead animals.
The City of Billings owns and operates the incinerator, which is in the same building as the Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter, a private nonprofit that leases space. The shelter is not operated by the City of Billings, but it does have contracts with the city.
The Billings Police Department has long used the incinerator for burning drugs, according to a Sept. 11 statement by the department.
In an emailed comment Friday, FBI spokesperson Sandra Barker said the agency “routinely uses outside facilities to conduct controlled drug evidence burns” and referred further questions to Billings city officials.
The City of Billings posted a statement on the police department’s Facebook page Thursday afternoon, saying they “regret the incident.” They called the burn an “authorized destruction of illegal drugs” in the statement.
- Details
- Category: City Desk
By:Keila Szpaller-
Daily Montanan
September 2, 20256:09 pm
Montana Public Service Commission President Brad Molnar has run into roadblocks in a bid to see documents he said he’s entitled to review — including pushback from a fellow commissioner who does not want to “burden” NorthWestern Energy, the state’s largest energy provider.
Molnar, most recently elected in November 2024, is seeking records in two separate matters before the Public Service Commission.
He wants records related to an internal investigation into allegations he’s been “unprofessional” in his conduct.
Molnar also wants to see NorthWestern Energy contracts related to wildfire mitigation. He said he wants to ensure the utility does not inflate those costs or overcharge customers.
The requests for information by Molnar follow the 2025 approval of House Bill 490, a wildfire mitigation bill.
Separately, they also follow his own announcement in July that the PSC had hired an outside firm for as much as $10,000 to investigate complaints against him in a case that’s since made its way to the Governor’s Office.
Molnar told the Daily Montanan he had a spat with a utility official over his access to the wildfire mitigation contracts.
He said he requested the monopoly company file a motion for protection if it considers any of the information in the contracts to be a “trade secret.”
If granted, such protection would allow commissioners to view the documents but require them to guard the information from public disclosure.
However, in an email obtained by the Daily Montanan Commissioner Annie Bukacek said the Public Service Commission doesn’t have the capacity to review the information Molnar requested.
In the email to the associate general counsel for NorthWestern, Bukacek also said she doesn’t want to add too much work for the utility.
“His (Molnar’s) requests add to your time and therefore the cost of NorthWestern doing business if you have to file a motion for protection of proprietary information,” Bukacek wrote. “I want to make it clear that this commissioner does not support the added burden of Commissioner Molnar’s request. I am not asking for a response from you.”
Conduct the people’s business ‘in the light of day’
Regarding the internal investigation, Molnar has admitted he might lack finesse in his communication at times but has said the concerns raised were better addressed with a conversation than a costly bill to taxpayers.
The PSC also hired a law firm at a rate of $250 an hour.
However, in a complaint to Gov. Greg Gianforte, Commissioner Jennifer Fielder said Molnar is undermining the investigation, and she requested the governor suspend Molnar including for threats of retaliation — an allegation his lawyer has described as “inflammatory.”
Fielder sent the letter on behalf of the PSC “response team” investigating the allegations. In Montana, the governor has the authority to remove a member of the Public Service Commission.
But Molnar has said the accusation he’ll retaliate is confusing.
“I don’t know who brought the complaint yet. I don’t know what I’m accused of. I don’t know who the witnesses are,” he said. “How do I take retribution?”
Molnar also said Fielder wrote him a letter that said his press conference about the investigation could be considered retaliation.
“I said, ‘How is holding a press conference decrying the lack of due process retaliation?” Molnar said.
In a response to the governor, Molnar’s lawyer said Gianforte should have immediately rejected the complaint by Fielder.
Molnar also said he has been denied in his attempt to learn more about it. He learned of the complaint Fielder filed only after general counsel for the governor provided it.
A policy manual identifies the positions typically on the PSC “response team,” including the president.
Molnar told the Daily Montanan he wanted to know who is part of the “response team” handling his investigation and how the complaint to the governor came about.
In an email last Tuesday from the law firm the PSC hired to provide legal advice in the investigation, lawyer Amy Christensen requested Molnar’s lawyer, Matthew Monforton, ask his client to “discontinue” asking PSC staff for information regarding the complaint to the governor.
Wednesday, Monforton told Christensen her directive was “as misguided as it is improper.”
“Commissioner Molnar was duly elected by the people — not appointed by you, not beholden to your ‘Response Team,’ and certainly not subject to your attempts to muzzle him,” Monforton wrote.
Monforton said Molnar has the authority and constitutional obligation to access documents, he won’t be subject to “procedural gamesmanship,” and he will fulfill his elected mandate to ensure “the people’s business is conducted in the light of day, not in the shadows you prefer.”
“Let us be crystal clear about what you are defending: a clandestine complaint dispatched to the governor seeking the suspension of a duly elected official,” Monforton said.
In an email Tuesday, PSC Executive Director Alana Lake said the agency has not yet heard from the Governor’s Office about its complaint, a request Gianforte “take action to allow the investigation to move forward in a lawful manner.”
However, Lake said such requests take time to review “and undergo careful consideration.”
Lake said she could not share details of how the “response team” decided to submit a complaint to the governor given confidentiality requirements in policy, but she said it is “working diligently to ensure the investigation can proceed in a lawful and fair manner.”
The PSC has a work session scheduled Wednesday on the complaint.
‘Why is this even private?’
In the 2025 session, the Montana Legislature adopted HB 490, which requires certain entities such as electric cooperatives and utilities to file wildfire mitigation plans and receive some protection against civil liability for wildfire damages.
The bill requires mitigation plans to include information about inspections and maintenance programs, estimated costs of improvements and upgrades, and other information.
The PSC is charged with approving NorthWestern Energy’s plan. The bill said plans can be approved if they are found to be “in the public interest” and reasonably balance implementation costs with risks of potential wildfire.
Molnar told the Daily Montanan he wants to understand the actual wildfire mitigation costs, having heard estimates of anywhere from $7 million to $70 million.
He said one way to find out is to look at how much NorthWestern Energy is spending on vegetation management currently, including with its own crews.
Molnar said if he can see how much they have spent in the last couple of years, he will understand how much is fair for the PSC to approve in any upcoming case.
“Why is this even private? My god. You’re cutting grass. You’ve been doing it forever,” Molnar said. “From the day you became a utility, you’ve been trimming around your power lines.”
He said NorthWestern Energy told him he could view the documents on site, but he said he wanted to distribute copies to other commissioners. So he said he requested the utility send the documents to him — either email them as a public record or ask for an order of protection.
“They’re so used to having their own way,” Molnar said.
In an email obtained by the Daily Montanan, Bukacek said she disagreed with the “tone, tenor and abject idiocy” expressed by Molnar in his meeting with NorthWestern. She also said she did not believe HB 490 requires NorthWestern to provide the information Molnar requested.
Molnar told the Daily Montanan he wants to see the information to do his job as a regulator — unlike Bukacek, he said.
“If there was such a thing as treason in the Public Service Commission, she would be saying, ‘I regret I have but one life to live for the utilities that I regulate,’” Molnar said.
On Aug. 25, NorthWestern filed a motion requesting an order of protection for the contracts, arguing public disclosure would harm its ability to negotiate with vendors and get the best deals for its customers.
The PSC has yet to take action on the motion, but Molnar said he would not fight a protective order.
At the PSC meeting Tuesday, energy transition engineer Nick Fitzmaurice with the Montana Environmental Information Center also expressed interest in ensuring customers don’t pay too much for wildfires.
Fitzmaurice said the law gives the PSC the authority to appoint a “technical master” with expertise to review the wildfire mitigation plan, and it should do so for a “robust review.”
“This will be essential to protect Montanans from the risks of utility-sparked wildfire and to ensure we are not on the hook for damages should NorthWestern’s measures be insufficient to prevent the utility’s infrastructure from igniting a wildfire,” Fitzmaurice said.
- Details
- Category: City Desk
Click on the image above for the audio.
PNS - Friday, September 19, 2025 - Trump and conservatives condemn Jimmy Kimmel's Charlie Kirk comments. Lawmakers support a new bill ending mid-decade redistricting and Texas attempts to ban medication abortions.
- Details
- Category: City Desk
Click on the image above for the audio.
PNS - Friday, September 19, 2025 - House Speaker Johnson optimistic about vote to avert shutdown, but Democrats aren't; LIRR strike averted as negotiators seek federal mediation; Curriculum on media literacy fights disinformation in MD; Racine releases records for Microsoft data center after 6-month wait.
