The permits and regulations related to producing your own biofuel in Montana

Many people have asked if it is legal to make your own biodiesel. don't you need a permit? What about road taxes? Will the government come after you?

Well, I spent a few hours researching this recently, and this is what I found: Yes, you have to deal with a little bureaucracy. No, it is not onerous.

If you make your own biodiesel or filter vegetable oil into fuel, you should pay state road taxes on it. Don't worry- it's less than 28 cents per gallon, and the form is really easy to fill out. You fill it out once per quarter and send  Here is a link to that form.

If you make biodiesel on a small scale (I don't see anywhere the limits of "small"), you should fill out this form. It is a little more complicated, but still not bad. It asks for information like how will glycerin be disposed of (I suspect that they don't want it dumped in the nearest stream); what will you do if there is a spill; and how much of the neighborhood will go up in smoke if your drum of mehtanol blows up. Don't let it scare you off, as long as you follow good lab procedures and are safe, just write down what you are doing. This form is found in the MT DEQ's "Solid Waste and Underground Storage Tank Management" part of their website.

Special fuel users permit. Biodiesel counts as a "special fuel", and according to this page on the Montana Code Annotated 15-17-321, special fuel users require a permit. Here is the link to that form- also really easy to fill out. But, its a little hard to tell whether small scale folks need to do this- it also makes it look like that this form is used for some kind of heavy contractors equipment fuel.

If you are distributing biodiesel, more may be required. For example, you will need to complete the Application for Gasoline and/or Special Fuel Distributor License ; and then every month you'll need to fill out the tax form, to pay taxes on everything you sell. the language on the form makes it difficult to tell whether you use that one if you produce it, or is it just for distributors; for example, the form talks about "fuel aquired" and fuel sold; and also "fuel imported into the state" and exported, but what about none of the above: making it yourself?