Jump to main content.

National Information
Regional Information

Proposed MHA Nation Clean Fuels Refinery

Public Comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement
Draft NPDES Permit closed on September 14, 2006


Recent News and Information

  • EPA and the Bureau of Indian Affairs are currently preparing the Final Environmental Impact Statement for the MHA Refinery. The document is scheduled to be published by early 2008.

    • About the Proposed Refinery, location map

    Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS):
       Entire DEIS with figures and appendices
       Summary of DEIS
       Draft NPDES Permit (PDF, 36 pages; about PDF files)

    EPA and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have completed a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) and a draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara (MHA) Nation's proposed Clean Fuels Refinery on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation near Makoti in North Dakota. BIA and EPA welcome comments on both documents during the 60-day public comment period that runs from June 30,2006 to August 29, 2006.

    The DEIS evaluates, analyzes and discloses to the public potential environmental impacts of the MHA Nation's proposal to build a petroleum refinery and produce buffalo forage on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. The MHA Nation has requested that BIA accept 469 acres of fee land into trust for the project. The MHA Nation has also applied for a Clean Water Act NPDES permit to discharge wastewater from the proposed refinery.

    About the Proposed Refinery

    The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation (MHA Nation) propose to build a new 15,000 barrels-per-day clean fuels refinery and grow hay for buffalo on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation located near Makoti, North Dakota. The MHA Nation would own the refinery. The proposed facility would refine synthetic crude oil from Canada into gasoline and diesel fuels. Synthetic crude feedstock will be supplied via an already existing pipeline nearby. Construction on the refinery is proposed to begin in 2007.

    The MHA Nation previously purchased a 469 acre site. The refinery would be on 190 acres of the site. The remaining 279 acres would be used to grow hay for buffalo on the Reservation. Buffalo would not be located at the site. The proposed location is in the northeast corner of the Reservation in Ward County.

    Following the purchase of the property, the MHA Nation requested that the BIA accept the property into trust status. The MHA Nation has also applied to the EPA for a NPDES wastewater discharge permit for the refinery.

    BIA, EPA and potentially the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) will be considering the environmental impacts of the proposed project, project alternatives and public comment in making their decisions.

    At the conclusion of the EIS process, BIA will decide whether or not to accept the land into trust and EPA will decide whether to issue an NPDES permit for the refinery.

    The land proposed to be taken into trust is located in the northeast corner of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation along the south side of North Dakota Highway 23, about 2 miles west of the turnoff to Makoti, North Dakota, in Sections 19 and 20 of Township 152 North, Range 87 West.

    Draft Environmental Impact Statement Technical Reports


    For more information about the DEIS contact:

    Diane Mann-Klager
    Great Plains Regional Office
    Bureau of Indian Affairs
    115 4th Avenue, SE
    Aberdeen, South Dakota 57401
    (605) 226-7621     		Steve Wharton
    U.S. EPA Region 8 (8P-HW)
    1595 Wynkoop St
    Denver, Colorado 80202-1129
    wharton.steve@epa.gov
    (303) 312-6935 or 1-800–227-8917, ext. 6935

    For more information about the draft NPDES permit contact:


    Local Navigation

    Jump to main content.