News Archives
Renewable Energy Developing in Northwest, But Transmission is a Bottleneck
By Sharon Fisher, New West, 7/14/2009
The Northwest—Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana—is arguably the region of the United States that is richest in renewable energy resources such as geothermal, hydro, wind, and solar, said Paul Manson, president of Seabreeze Power Corp., speaking at the Pacific Northwest Economic Region conference today (with a windmill pin on his lapel).
There are currently 3000 megawatts of renewable energy generation in the Northwest, powering 700,000 homes and reducing carbon dioxide equivalent to 950,000 cars, said Suzanne Leta Liou, Senior Policy Advocate for the Renewable Northwest Project, a nonprofit based in Portland, Ore., devoted to supporting renewable energy.
Interior secretary: Reforming hardrock mining law a top priority
By Joan Lowy, Missoulian, 7/14/2009
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration will make overhauling the nation’s 137-year-old hardrock mining law a top priority despite a full plate of higher profile issues, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Tuesday.
Salazar told a Senate committee considering such legislation that “it is time to ensure a fair return to the public for mining activities that occur on public lands and to address the cleanup of abandoned mines.”
The General Mining Act of 1872, which gives mining preference over other uses on much of the nation’s public lands, has left a legacy of hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines that are polluting rivers and streams throughout the West. Mining companies also don’t pay royalties on gold, silver, copper and other hardrock minerals mined on public land.
White House: Health and green jobs growing quickly
By Helena IR, 7/14/2009
WASHINGTON (AP) — Health care and environment-focused jobs will drive a jobs recovery, the White House predicted Monday even as it cautioned that the work will require better training to give workers greater skills.
President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers said jobs ranging from technical record keeping to nursing and physical therapy will grow in the health fields and that greater spending on renewable energy and on a more efficient electrical power grid will spike employment in those sectors as well.
The Many Uses of Manure
By Harris Meyer, Guest Writer, New West, 7/12/2009
The rear ends of Dan DeRuyter’s 4,500 dairy cows are powering hundreds of homes in Central Washington. At George DeRuyter & Sons’ 2,000-acre farm in Outlook, in the Yakima Valley, 150,000 gallons a day of cow manure from the corrals flow downhill in chutes and are collected in a large underground concrete tank. There, the waste is heated to 100 degrees by two big generating engines manufactured in Spain and installed by Ferndale, Washington-based Andgar Corp., which sets up anaerobic manure digesters. Bacteria in the tank decompose the waste, producing methane, which fuels the two nearby engines that crank 1.2 megawatts of electricity directly into Pacific Power’s grid.
County to begin talks on wind towers project
By The Montana Standard Staff, 7/10/2009
ANACONDA — Negotiations begin Tuesday concerning a wind energy development lease agreement with Anaconda-Deer Lodge County.
The county commission has OK'd the planning department to begin talks with Pintler Power LLC, the only company to submit a complete proposal in response to the county's request for a wind development project, according to a news release.
Pintler Power, owned by Jack Standa, is proposing the Copper Ridge Wind Project. The early phase of this project is to assess the wind potential through data collection over a one-year period on county-owned property.
Feds award $10M for Montana energy programs
By the Associated Press, 7/6/2009
HELENA - U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Monday announced $10.3 million in federal stimulus funds to support energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in Montana.
Montana will use the money to improve the energy efficiency of state buildings and expand renewable energy use and recycling.
Chu announced a total of more than $153 million for state energy programs in seven states and territories. Along with Montana they include Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, New York and the Virgin Islands.
Montana earlier received $2 million in federal funds for planning.After demonstrating successful implementation of its plan, Montana will receive an additional $13 million, for a total of $25 million.
Missoula schools will get new, energy-efficient lighting from stimulus grant
By Steve Miller, Missoulian, 7/2/2009
It looks as though Missoula’s public schools are about to become a little “greener.”
On Thursday, Gov. Brian Schweitzer awarded Missoula County Public Schools a grant to fund energy-efficient fluorescent light bulbs, among other things, in each of the district’s 14 buildings.
The grant, part of the Quick Start phase of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act n the stimulus n is upward of $149,000, and with the newer, more energy-efficient lighting systems in place, will save the district an estimated $35,000 per year, according to Pat McHugh. McHugh, director of business services for MCPS, said the funds will also accelerate the relighting project by hiring 16 union electricians.
Rehberg: Climate Bill Will Cost Every Montanan
By Kellyn Brown, Flathead Beacon, 6/29/2009
Flathead Beacon: In response to the U.S. House passing a landmark climate bill Friday evening, Montana Republican Congressman Denny Rehberg, who voted “nay,” sent out the following statement:
"Less than a year ago, I joined colleagues on the House floor to demand an all-of-the-above energy policy. The lights were down and the microphones were off because Congress had gone on vacation – a vacation that most Americans couldn’t afford to take because gas prices were too high. It's almost unbelievable the House just passed an energy tax that is specifically designed to raise energy prices for all Americans, rich and poor. Cap and Tax will hurt Montana families, cost Montana jobs and kick entire Montana industries to the curb. While there's no good time for this destructive policy, I can think of few worse times for it than in our current economic condition."
Global warming can’t be ignored
By Sterling Miller, Missoulian, 6/25/2009
Old and convenient habits are hard to break, but there is no escaping the need to change the way we power our economy.
For almost a decade now, there has been clear and convincing evidence that burning fossil fuels like oil and gas add global warming pollution to the atmosphere, trapping more and more of the sun’s heat as more and more pollution accumulates. A recent report in Science magazine (June 19) concluded that the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere now (385 ppm) is 38 percent higher than occurred (average of 280 ppm) during the past 2.1 million years, about twice the period humans have existed on Earth. The more heat that is trapped in the atmosphere, the more Montana warms, the more formerly productive farmlands become arid, the more large forest fires occur, the more inhospitable to fish our streams and rivers become, the more exotic weeds spread, the more wildlife habitats shrink and shift and the more native plants and animals go extinct. These are just a few of the problems we’ll face unless this issue is addressed.
Our readers speak:'Quick Start' energy grants help schools, create jobs
By Connie Keogh, Montana Standard, 6/23/2009
I would like to recognize southwest Montana Reps. Jon Sesso, Cynthia Hiner, and Dan Villa for their work in securing $15 million for "Quick Start" energy grants during the legislative session. As members of the House Appropriations Committee, and in serving on the conference committees that tackled the appropriations bills, these legislators made sure that federal stimulus funds were being put to good use in Montana.
International attention sought for border parks
By Susan Gallagher, The Montana Standard, 6/22/2009
HELENA — The state of conservation at two Northern Rockies national parks near a place eyed for possible coal mining will be reviewed by a UNESCO committee meeting in Spain this week.
Groups that say Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, consisting of a U.S. park and a Canadian park, is at risk hope the meeting in Seville, Spain, will bring their concern some global attention. They've petitioned UNESCO to declare the peace park endangered. But a lawmaker in the Canadian province of Alberta rejects any suggestion that coal mining or other industry threatens environmental quality in a slice of North America known for stunning alpine scenery and extraordinary wildlife habitat.
Town Pump works to conserve and reduce energy usage
By The Montana Standard Staff, 6/21/2009
From more efficient lighting to high-tech room controllers, Town Pump Inc. is moving to reduce energy use and improve conservation at all of its facilities, including convenience stores, motels and car washes, according to a news release.
"Town Pump is actively looking for ways to conserve energy use to ease our burden on the earth's resources," said spokeswoman Maureen Kenneally. "District managers are currently performing energy conservation inspections at all locations." Those inspections include simple maintenance, such as ensuring windows aren't leaking; hot water tanks and pipes are insulated; hot water tank temperatures are set correctly; and all sinks, toilets and shower faucets are functioning efficiently.
Plastics recycling makes welcome return to Great Falls
Great Falls Tribune, 6/17/09
That's because the Wal-Mart's Superstore stepped up and restarted plastics recycling in the Electric City after a three-month hiatus.
Bins in the southeast corner of the store's expansive parking lot along Smelter Avenue will be available for containers made of types 1 and 2 plastic, five afternoons and evenings a week, including weekends (see inset box).
Gas prices rise for 48th day as oil sells off
By Mark Williams, Associated Press, 6/16/09
Bernie Mango (not shown here) returns the nozzle after pumping gas in North Andover, Mass. Monday. Gas prices rose Monday for the 48th straight day, matching a record going back to at least the 1970s, with prices now up nearly two-thirds since the beginning of the year even as demand from motorists remains weak.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Gas prices rose Monday for the 48th straight day, matching a record going back to at least the 1970s, with prices now up nearly two-thirds since the beginning of the year even as demand from motorists remains weak.
Glacier Park’s ice may disappear by 2030
By Mary Pickett, Billings Gazette, 6/15/2009
The rugged terrain and thick ice at Sperry Glacier in 1914.
BILLINGS — On the eve of Glacier National Park’s 100th birthday, some of its distinctive features — glaciers — are disappearing and may not be around for the park’s bicentennial party.
The parks’ remaining glaciers might not last longer than the next decade, said Dan Fagre, a U.S. Geological Survey mountain ecologist who has been studying the park’s glaciers for 18 years.
Legislature 2009: Panel kills bill narrowing appeals
By Mike Dennison, Missoulian State Bureau, 3/12/09
HELENA - A House panel has killed one of the session's major bills that would narrow environmental appeals of development projects, but another such measure is still alive - and likely headed for passage.
The bill that bit the dust in the House Federal Relations, Energy and Telecommunications Committee is Senate Bill 387, sponsored by Sen. Keith Bales, R-Otter.
Rep. Harry Klock, R-Harlowton, joined the panel's seven Democrats in voting 8-6 to table, or kill, SB387.
Klock said Wednesday that he likes the bill, but it was obvious that Democrats on the evenly split committee weren't going to support it, so he saw no need to keep discussing it.
Industry supports CO2 bill
By Mike Dennison, Gazette State Bureau, 3/6/09
HELENA - Industry and natural-resource lobbyists lined up Thursday behind a Republican senator's bill to set the stage for underground storage of carbon dioxide in Montana, calling it the best way to approach the contentious subject.
Sen. Keith Bales, R-Otter, the sponsor of Senate Bill 498, said he's still skeptical about global warming and whether carbon dioxide (CO2) is causing it.
But it's clear that a majority of Congress and President Barack Obama believe that CO2 emissions must be curbed, so Montana, as an energy-rich state, should prepare itself for storing CO2 underground, he said.
UM students off to Washington to lobby for climate change, clean energy action
MIssoulian, 2/24/09
MISSOULA - Fourteen students from the University of Montana be in Washingotn, D.C. Feb. 27 to March 2 to participate in Power Shift ’09.
The event will mass 10,000 young people in the nation’s capitol to deliver a message to elected officials to encourage bold, comprehensive and immediate federal action on climate change and clean energy.
Senate endorses bill restricting appeals on energy projects, Democrats opposed
By Mike Dennison of The Standard State Bureau, 2/23/2009
HELENA — The Republican-controlled Senate Friday endorsed a bill restricting citizen appeals of energy and other major projects in Montana, as bill supporters said the current process is killing development and jobs.
"This is about getting things done in this state," said Sen. Roy Brown, R-Billings. "We've sat around far too long in the courts, rather than getting things done." The Senate voted 27-22 in favor of Senate Bill 387, with all but one of the chamber's 27 Republicans supporting it. Sen. Ryan Zinke of Whitefish was the only Republican voting against it.
All but one Democrat — Sen. Jim Keane of Butte — voted against the SB387, saying it unfairly tilts the appeals process in favor of developers, by making it difficult or impossible to bring up environmental concerns that regulators may have overlooked.
Northwest warming, study reports
By Evelyn Boswell- MSU News Service, 2/17/2009
BOZEMAN — A new Montana State University study says that weather, especially in late winter and early spring, is getting warmer in northwestern North America.
The research, published in the January issue of Climatic Change, found that the coldest daily temperatures recorded in Bozeman and Coldstream, British Columbia, have occurred less often over the past several decades. Extreme cold nighttime temperatures have become less frequent, and extreme warm nighttime temperatures have become more frequent at a rate of about 1 percent per year or 10 percent per decade. The greatest warming occurred during late February to March and late July to August.
Dems pitch climate change legislation, GOP skeptical
By Daniel Person, Bozeman Daily Chronicle, 2/3/09
HELENA — Saying they were done debating over climate change, legislative Democrats laid out a package of bills to address global warming Monday, but lawmakers skeptical about what role humans are playing in environmental changes observed by scientists represent a formidable voting block in the Montana House and Senate and could again prove insurmountable this session.
Heard by the House energy committee on Monday were two bills that would move the state away from carbon-based energy. Most scientists agree carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels is causing Earth’s temperature to rise.
Rep. Mike Phillips, D-Bozeman, is sponsoring the bills. One would require Montana utilities to get 20 percent of their energy from renewable resources like wind in 2020 and 25 percent by 2025. The other would create a committee to study what Montana must do to fall in line with national and regional climate change initiatives.
2009 may be good year for Montana wind power
Helena Independent Record, 1/5/09
GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — The nation's credit crunch could slow the planning of brand new wind farms in Montana this year but shouldn't stop facilities that are further along in the planning process, developers and state regulators said.
Enough wind energy to power up to 37,800 homes hit the electrical grid in Montana in 2008, and planned expansions and new projects already under way could double that over the next year.
Helena city slashes its energy use
By Larry Kline, Of the Independent Record, 12/27/08
HELENA - A report compiled by Helena officials and the city's Climate Change Task Force shows that the Capital City's government reduced its energy usage between 2001 and 2007 by 22.1 percent and its carbon dioxide emissions by 18.1 percent.
City officials knew the energy-saving changes they'd made - everything from using more efficient light bulbs to installing smarter temperature controls - would make a dent in Helena's energy usage, but they were surprised to learn they'd outpaced the Kyoto Protocol's 20-year goals in less than a third of the time.
Proposal would help city use clean energy
By Keila Szpaller, Missoulian, 12/15/08
Greenies in Missoula could help the city launch a municipal conservation project.
Members of the Greenhouse Gas and Energy Conservation Team want the city to profit from the clean energy economy and sell “green tags,” or “renewable energy certificates.”
“It's really low risk. There's no investment involved. There's minimal expense. And there's a potential for some revenues to be generated,” said Brian Kerns, a member of the Conservation Team.
Companies that produce green energy sell green tags. Green tags help subsidize the cost of clean energy, which is more expensive to produce than “brown” energy in the short term. A plan from the Conservation Team proposes the city of Missoula partner with a longstanding environmental nonprofit to sell the renewable energy certificates. The city would keep 10 percent of the revenue to invest in its own green energy projects.
Driving continues to decline as gas prices drop
By Joan Lowy, Associated Press, 12/12/08
WASHINGTON (AP) — Drivers clocked 9 billion fewer miles on the nation's roads in October even while gas prices were dropping, suggesting a downturn in driving that began a year ago is attributable to more than just energy costs.
Federal Highway Administration data released Friday show the number of miles driven dropped 3.5 percent in October compared with the same month a year ago. Between November 2007, when the driving decline began, and October, Americans drove 100 billion fewer miles. That's the largest continuous decline in driving the nation has experienced.
Montana's 8.4 percent driving decline was the largest of any state, followed by Utah with 7.4 percent, and South Carolina with 6.7 percent.
Group: Give Western tree protection on endangered list
By Karl Puckett, Great Falls Tribune Staff Writer, 12/11/08
A common Western tree that is being killed by bugs, disease and possibly climate change could end up on the federal list of threatened and endangered species if the Natural Resources Defense Council has its way.
On Tuesday, the national environmental group, which has an office in Montana, petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the whitebark pine as endangered.
BLM OKs plan for new gas wells in NE Montana
By The Associated Press, 12/9/08
GREAT FALLS - The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has approved a plan that will allow 1,255 new natural gas wells in northeastern Montana - despite the concerns of conservation groups that the development would disrupt sage grouse populations.
The BLM concluded Friday that the new rigs would not have a significant effect on the environment.
"We felt, through appropriate mitigation measures, that a lot of those impacts could be avoided," said Barney Whiteman, a BLM petroleum engineer.
Consumer counsel asks PSC to reverse Colstrip 4 order
By Mike Dennison, Montana Standard, 12/03/2008
HELENA — A state consumer advocate is asking the Montana Public Service Commission to reverse last month's decision accepting NorthWestern's offer of 222 megawatts of Colstrip 4 power for its Montana customers, saying the electricity is way over-priced.
The Montana Consumer Counsel said accepting the price proposed by NorthWestern violated state law and saddles the company's 325,000 rate-payers with unreasonable long-term costs.
"The burdens that NorthWestern's proposal would impose on Montana consumers demonstrate that (Colstrip) cannot be said to represent the least-cost means of meeting Montana's retail (electricity) base-load demand in the future," said Consumer Counsel Robert Nelson.
The PSC ruled on a 4-1 vote Nov. 13 that NorthWestern could put the power into its "rate base" at a $407 million price. The power will be dedicated to NorthWestern customers, who will pay rates based on that price.
Guv carries climate message to White House
Energy policy » Western governors have a proposal
By Thomas Burr, Salt Lake Tribune, 11/21/08
Washington » Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer meet this morning with President-elect Barack Obama's top transition leader to deliver a bipartisan energy proposal from Western governors.
The plan, supported by 14 Western governors, includes what Huntsman labeled a "road map" for the new administration and includes a so-called cap-and-trade program, goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing renewable energies, and suggestions for weaning the country off foreign sources of oil.
MSU to lead carbon capture effort in Wyo.By The Associated Press, 11/19/08
The Big Sky Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership hopes to start work within a year to develop the project, which will study the injection of carbon dioxide underground on a commercial scale.
Montana urged to boost wind power
By The Associated Press - 11/17/2008
BILLINGS — A renewable-energy expert says Montana will play a crucial role as the U.S. grapples with energy over the next two decades.
Randy Udall, the son of former Arizona Congressman Mo Udall, was keynote luncheon speaker during the 37th annual meeting of the Northern Plains Resource Council in Billings.
Randy Udall said Montana is one of only two states in the country that is self-sufficient when it comes to the fossil fuels coal, oil and natural gas.
“Montana is to fossil fuel as a piñata is to candy,” he told an audience in Billings. “You guys are loaded up.”
Ruling: Coal Plants Must Limit C02
Sierra Club, 11/13/08
In a move that signals the start of the our clean energy future, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) ruled today EPA had no valid reason for refusing to limit from new coal-fired power plants the carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming. The decision means that all new and proposed coal plants nationwide must go back and address their carbon dioxide emissions.
“Today’s decision opens the way for meaningful action to fight global warming and is a major step in bringing about a clean energy economy,” said Joanne Spalding, Sierra Club Senior Attorney who argued the case. “This is one more sign that we must begin repowering, refueling and rebuilding America.”
Power co-ops unwaveringly back coal plant
By Linda Halstead-Acharya, Billings Gazette, 11/2/08
Robert Evans Jr. lives roughly 35 miles downwind of the proposed Highwood Generating Station outside Great Falls. But Evans, board president of Fergus Electric Cooperative, is less concerned about pollution - he's confident that has been addressed - than he is about securing a stable energy source for fellow co-op members.
"All I hear is 'Would you guys quit talking about it and get it built?' " he said. "Our members are very supportive. If they weren't, we wouldn't be going forward."
Group protests energy leases
By Nick Gevock, Montana Standard, 10/28/08
A hunting and angling group is protesting oil and gas leases on 5,200 acres of public land in Beaverhead County that it says is critical wildlife habitat.
The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership formally protested the leases on U.S. Bureau of Land Management parcels north and east of Monida, said Bill Geer, executive director. He said the parcels were chosen out of roughly 6,000 acres of BLM land slated for the Nov. 4 energy lease sale.
Power plant critics ask EPA to stop Highwood construction
By The Associated Press, 10/24/08
GREAT FALLS (AP) — Critics of a proposed coal-fired power plant east of Great Falls are asking the Environmental Protection Agency to order work halted at the plant.
The Montana Environmental Information Center, Citizens for Clean Energy of Great Falls and the Sierra Club wrote a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson Wednesday, saying that work at the Highwood Generating Station should be halted because the state air permit for the plant hasn’t been finalized.
The groups said they would file a lawsuit within 60 days if the EPA does not intervene.
Montana Delegation Split on Clean Energy and Conservation
League of Conservation Voters Releases 2008 National Environmental Scorecard
10/17/08, WASHINGTON, D.C. – The League of Conservation Voters, which works to turn environmental values into national priorities, today released the 2008 National Environmental Scorecard. For 30 years, the non-partisan National Environmental Scorecard from LCV has been the nationally accepted yardstick used to rate Members of Congress on conservation and energy issues.
Montana’s delegation was split between those who favored continued dependence on oil and other dirty fossil fuels and those who favored renewable energy and energy efficiency. Senators Baucus and Tester lead the nation with perfect 100 percent scores while Representative Rehberg earned a pathetic 8 percent.
Small Energy Developers Form Group and Call For Collective Action to Promote Renewable Energy in Montana
By Dave Healow, 10/16/08
Calling Montana’s climate for small renewable energy project development “disappointing,” a group of small renewable electricity generators today announced the formation of the Montana Small Independent Renewable Generators (“MSIRG”) to promote renewable energy development in Montana. MSIRG will serve as an umbrella group for small renewable generation projects, enabling them to share information and act collectively to promote the interests of all small renewable energy developers in Montana. For general or membership information, please contact: Dave Healow, Two Dot Wind Wind, LLC, 652 Park Lane, Billings, MT 59102-1931 Telephone: (406) 855-1799 Email: dhealow@bresnan.net
Conservation Poll Shows Support for Renewable Energy, Planning
Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund, 10/15/08
Billings, MT - Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund (MCVEF) and five other conservation groups today released findings of an energy and conservation poll, conducted by AmericanViewpoint that surveyed 600 very likely Montana voters from September 18th – 21st, 2008. The poll shows that Montanans express a clear preference for renewable energy over coal, and that support for developing renewable energy, including wind, solar, biofuels and geothermal, is nearly universal as the preferred means of meeting Montana’s energy needs. When it comes to growth and land development, the survey found that an overwhelming majority of Montanans want to see their local governments take action to protect their quality of life.
Dingell, Boucher release draft cap-and-trade bill
By Darren Samuelsohn, Greenwire, 10/7/08
Two powerful House Democrats unveiled a long-awaited draft global warming bill today that will serve as a key guidepost for next year's Capitol Hill debate on climate, energy and economic policy.
In their 461-page bill, Energy and Commerce Chairman John Dingell of Michigan and Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher of Virginia propose a cap-and-trade system that would cover about 88 percent of U.S. heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions. It includes restrictions on electric utilities, petroleum producers and importers, large industrial plants, producers and importers of bulk gases, natural gas and local distribution companies and geologic sequestration sites.
U.S. States, Canadian Provinces Announce Regional Cap-and-Trade Program
to Reduce Greenhouse Gases - First comprehensive approach to achieving emissions reductions will bring environmental and economic benefits
Western Climate Initiative, 9/23/08
The Western Climate Initiative (WCI) today announced recommendations for the design of a regional market-based cap-and-trade program. The program will slash climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions, spur growth in new green technologies, help build a strong clean-energy economy and reduce dependence on foreign oil.
The cap-and-trade design is an important element of a comprehensive regional effort by the governors and premiers of seven U.S. states and four Canadian provinces to promote environmental sustainability and economic growth by reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.
New Report: Thousands of News Jobs for Montana from Clean Energy
Montana stands to gain 6,335 jobs by investing in global-warming solutions
As America confronts the current energy crisis, a new report by economists from the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts- Amherst shows that the U.S. can create two million jobs nationwide by investing in clean energy technologies that will strengthen the economy and fight global warming. The report finds that investing in clean energy would create four times as many jobs
as spending the same amount of money within the oil industry.
"Green Recovery - A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low- Carbon Economy" analyzes the potential for a two-year $100 billion green investment program - which would be comparable to the size of the April 2008 federal stimulus package dedicated to consumer rebates - to be an engine for job creation in Montana and nationwide. In Montana, 6,335 jobs would be created by investing in this clean energy program.
Read the national report: www.peri.umass.edu/green_recovery
Read the Montana report: www.peri.umass.edu/fileadmin/pdf/other_publication_types/green_economics/montan
a.pdf
In Montana, coal's future enters governor's race
By Matthew Brown, Associated Press, 9/19/08
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Republican Roy Brown has promised a more aggressive energy policy for Montana if elected governor — with expanded coal mining, a new power plant and fewer barriers to oil and gas exploration.
Brown, a state senator from Billings, said this week that placing a large tract of state-owned coal in southeastern Montana up for bid would be among his first actions as governor.
Coalition campaign will tell the region to step it up - Efficiency Works!
NW Energy Coalition, 9/15/08
The NW Energy Coalition has secured major new foundation funding to launch an ambitious, region-wide energy efficiency campaign. The Efficiency Works! campaign is aimed at both civic and business leaders to demonstrate that energy efficiency is the easiest, quickest and cheapest strategy for meeting regional energy needs and for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The campaign will also highlight other significant benefits increased energy efficiency delivers: consumer savings, more comfortable homes and businesses, reduced vulnerability to volatile energy markets and new good paying, local green jobs.
The Coalition hired Senior Policy Associate Kim Drury in July to spearhead the Coalition's efficiency initiative and will hire three new staff for the campaign, one each in Seattle, Idaho and Montana. The campaign's first priority is to produce a pair of research projects critical to the Efficiency Works! campaign: an overview of regional energy-efficiency potential (both electric and natural gas) and a report on barriers - and solutions - to realizing that potential. For more information, contact Kim Drury at kim@nwenergy.org.
Hot Springs man sees energy in all that water
By Michael Jamison, Missoulian, 9/7/08
HOT SPRINGS - Paul Stelter thinks in circles. Round and round, no beginning and no end, volcanic ideas fueled by the heat of the earth itself. His eyes get wide when he thinks, and his voice louder when the ideas finally start to erupt.
His latest circle of thought looks something like this: Dump a bunch of garden waste into a bio-gas digester, warm it up with geothermal water (which percolates everywhere in his tiny town of Hot Springs), create compost out one end and methane gas out the other. Use the compost to feed the greenhouse, and the greenhouse to feed the people as well as the digester, starting the cycle all over.
The methane, he imagines, will be bled off as fuel for making heat and electricity.
Economist on a mission
By Eve Byron, Helena Independent Record, 9/04/08
The chief economist for the American Petroleum Institute is trying to change people’s perception of the industry. John Felmy said a recent industry survey of 1,500 people showed that some public impressions aren’t correct — such as where our country’s oil comes from — so the institute is embarking on an educational program.
“We learned after (hurricanes) Katrina and Rita that people don’t know much about the oil industry,” Felmy told the Independent Record’s editorial board on Wednesday. “We as an industry have done a bad job in the last 150 years in educating people, and we are an important part of their lives."
Groups critical of draft climate-change recommendations
By John S. Adams, Great Falls Tribune, 8/22/08
HELENA — Thirteen of the state's top conservation and environmental groups believe the legislative Environmental Quality Council's 11 draft recommendations on climate change don't go far enough to address the problem.
In a letter sent to the council Thursday, the groups said the EQC's recommendations ignore the most urgent of the 54 recommendations made by the Governor's Climate Change Advisory Committee. "While we support almost any meaningful approach to reducing greenhouse gases in Montana ... we are profoundly disappointed by the limited number and scope of solutions proposed by the EQC," the letter states.
Brita Climate Ride Touts the Bicycle as Agent of Change
By Bill Schneider, New West News, 8/20/08
Caeli Quinn of Whitefish and Geraldine Carter of Missoula co-founded the Brita Climate Ride 2008, a five-day event starting September 20 in New York City and ending in Washington D.C. on the steps of the Capital Building. Each rider has to raise or contribute $2,250 to be one of the 120 cyclists riding a scenic route to the Capital with the proceeds going to Clean Air - Cool Planet and Focus the Nation, two nonprofits leading the way in climate change education, renewable energy policies, and global warming solutions.
This is the first year for the Brita Climate Ride 2008, which will become an annual event, and already it has become the equivalent of a global climate change conference on two wheels.
Glacier Park: The next century - Disappearing namesake may make pristine wilderness symbol of climate change
By Michael Jamison, Missoulian, 8/19/08
WEST GLACIER - The tourists huddled in a shivering pack amid what should have been the heat of July, crowding around Laura Kloeck while she explained a bit about climate change. “There is definitely a frightening side to global warming,” Kloeck told them, “but there is hope, too.”
Hope hip-deep, white and wintry and piled high in mid-July atop Glacier National Park's popular Logan Pass. Here, where trails remained buried beneath snowpack well into summer's season, Kloeck talked on about a warming world. Her hat was flat - as park rangers' are - but her delivery was sharp and pointed. The lingering snowfield you see here, she explained, is weather, not climate, and weather is unpredictable. Weather is what pushed temperatures just east of here 100 degrees - from 44 above to 56 below - in less than 24 hours back on Jan. 23, 1916. Weather is wild.
Climate, on the other hand, can be tracked over time, can be measured and modeled, even predicted. The trend lines, Kloeck told her chilly crowd, are clear. The world is warming.
Crow Tribe strikes deal for $7B coal project
By Matthew Brown, Associated Press, 8/8/08
CROW AGENCY, Mont. — The Crow Tribe struck a deal Thursday with an Australian company toward building a $7 billion plant to convert coal into liquid fuels, which would be among the first such projects in the nation.
Capping months of negotiations, the Crow Legislature ratified a 50-year development agreement with Australian-American Energy Co., a subsidiary of Australian Energy Co.
The Many Stars coal-to-liquids plant initially would produce 50,000 barrels a day of diesel and other fuels. Construction would begin in several years and coal for the project would come from a mine yet to be developed by the tribe on the reservation, Crow leaders said.
S.D. farmers earn $1.3M for capturing carbon dioxide
By Faith Bremner, Sioux Falls Argus Leader, 7/31/08
WASHINGTON - The National Farmers Union mailed checks last week totaling more than $1.3 million to 414 South Dakota farmers and ranchers who are capturing and storing carbon dioxide, then selling carbon credits to corporations, utilities and local governments.
Farmers can capture carbon dioxide, a gas experts say is contributing to global climate change, by converting croplands to grasslands, planting trees and practicing no-till farming.
Dairy farmers and livestock producers can earn credits by capturing methane, another greenhouse gas, by processing animal wastes in small-scale sewage treatment plants.
Report outlines warming in region
By John Cramer, Missoulian, 7/30/08
Citing extreme heat, fires, a human population boom and other changes on the landscape, Montana House Majority Leader Carol Williams called Tuesday for federal, state and local lawmakers to take a stronger stand on climate change.
“If this was really easy, we'd have done it by now,” she said at a public meeting in Missoula to discuss a new report by the Clark Fork Coalition on global warming's impact in western Montana. “But don't get discouraged because this is what our children and grandchildren want us to do.”
The coalition's report, titled “Low Flows, Hot Trout: Climate Change in the Clark Fork Watershed,” summarizes more than 50 years of research, observations and predictions on ecological changes linked to greenhouse gas emissions in western Montana. Research shows the Clark Fork basin's average temperatures have increased by 1 to 2 degrees since 1950 and may rise 5.5 degrees over the next century.
GlobalWarmingSolution.Org: Aiming for the big 3-5-0
By Keila szpaller, Missoulian, 7/26/08
350. Three. Five. Oh.
That's an important number for a Missoula nonprofit called GlobalWarmingSolution.Org.
In fact, it's a figure the group's members hope will be shouted at Washington, D.C., and here's why.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is somewhere around 385 parts per million - and climbing like the thermostat. According to the membership network, it needs to be pushed down to 350 ppm at the most.
That's low compared with the 450 ppm maximum touted by many conservation groups as a fine place to level off, but the nonprofit's number is apparently OK with the Garden City. “In Missoula, there seems to be this critical mass of people that are willing to support this very aggressive vision,” said executive director David Merrill.
Report details climate change's effects on Clark Fork Basin
By John Cramer, Missoulian, 7/20/08
Western Montanans need only to step outside to experience hotter temperatures, shrinking snowpacks, warmer streams and larger wildfires, but climate change can still be a complicated global issue.
In a new report, the nonprofit Clark Fork Coalition tries to make climate change understandable at the local level - and to prompt policymakers and residents to take action.
The comprehensive report, titled “Low Flows, Hot Trout: Climate Change in the Clark Fork Watershed,” compiles more than five decades of scientific research into a 36-page document about the impacts of climate change in the Clark Fork River Basin. The report contains no original research or new findings, but provides an easy-to-understand summary of climate change's current and potential impacts, as well as anecdotal accounts from a rancher, firefighter, fishing guide and others.
Alliance looks to unlock energy potential
By Erin Madison, Great Falls Tribune, 7/10/08
Northcentral Montana is sparsely populated but has huge energy potential, an expert told members of the National 25x'25 Alliance Steering Committee on Wednesday. Northcentral Montana has the potential for wind, oil and gas, coal and thermal energy, said Greg Kegel, dean of the College of Technological Sciences at Montana State University-Northern. It already has a huge natural gas pipeline that runs through it.
"We are rich in energy," Kegel said. The 25x'25 alliance spent Wednesday touring the Hi-Line, visiting energy-related projects. The alliance is working toward the national policy of supplying 25 percent of the nation's energy needs through renewable energy by 2025.
Missoula urged to hire sustainability coordinator
By Keila Szpaller, Missoulian, 7/8/08
Hire a sustainability coordinator in Missoula to take on global warming, that's the message the city is hearing from a few different fronts. In Fayetteville, Ark., adding such a position a year and a half ago did wonders for the bottom line. There, sustainability coordinator John Coleman said the first year he was hired, he paid for his own salary, and then some, in energy cost savings. Folks there took small steps the first year, like turning off computers and using daylight, he said.
Following the sun: Solar power isn't free, but it has backers
By Tom Lutey, Billings Gazette, 7/4/08
CUSTER - Even now there are places on Montana's sagebrush-covered plains where modern electricity never caught on. George Larsen's ranch is one of them. Where the road to Larsen's 20,000-acre property turns to gravel, the power lines do not follow. Larsen's parents, turn-of-the-century-sodbusters, harnessed the wind and power from a secondhand, 32-volt generator bought from a country school to electrify their place. The power generated from those two sources charged a system so eccentric that headlights served as indoor lighting in some buildings. And that's the way it was right up until recently, when George decided to go solar.
Meeting puts state's renewable energy projects in spotlight
By Karl Puckett, Great Falls Tribune, 7/2/08
The National Steering Committee of the 25x'25 Alliance, which promotes renewable energy development across the country, will meet next week in Great Falls. The committee also will tour solar, wind and biomass projects in northcentral Montana.
Cascade County Commissioner Peggy Beltrone, a committee member, is eager to show off the state's renewable energy efforts, particularly those of Montana State University-Northern in Havre, which has a Bio Energy Innovation and Testing Center.
West's governors plan climate strategy for next leader
Washington Post, 7/1/08
TETON VILLAGE, Wyo. — Citing the lack of any comprehensive federal policy to address global climate change, Western governors said Tuesday that they will work over the next 12 months to craft such an initiative for the next president.
Residents of the West, said Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., are in a unique position to lead the way."We are the most energy-relevant region in the world when you take a slice of western Canada right through the Western United States, and who isn't going to listen to this part of the world speak out on energy issues?"
While several states in the region are participating as observers in a regional carbon cap and trade initiative, for example, the larger consensus was that a national system developed at the federal level is needed in order to avoid "balkanization."
"We have a group of governors who will be coming together with their staffs and putting together a plan of action that we will be sending to the next administration," Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, said in a closing news conference at the Western Governors' Association annual meeting. "It would be pre-emptive for any of us here today to presume that we're weighing in on one tool in the toolbox over another."
Weather, low water keeping boats off lake
By Jordan Dawson, Bigfork Eagle, 6/26/08
Now that summer has officially arrived boat enthusiasts around the valley are eager to get out on the lake, but multiple weather related factors are making that difficult. The late snow and cold weather has forced the PPL, which operates Kerr Dam, to keep the lake level down due to flood risks from late snow run off. The late runoff has also caused more debris to be in the lake much later than usual.
Price of natural gas to be 'signficantly higher' this winter
Missoulian, 6/23/08
HELENA - The price for natural gas is hitting historic highs, and members of the Montana Public Service Commission worry it will continue to climb, translating into huge home-heating bills this winter. "We think we're approaching a crisis," said Commissioner Bob Raney, D-Livingston. "We know that the cost of gas this coming winter is going to be significantly higher than it was last winter, all across the country. We have to pay for it, or figure out how to use less."
Natural gas is used to heat more than 250,000 Montana homes. During the summer, demand for natural gas usually is low and prices are too. However, residential customers of NorthWestern Energy, the state's largest natural gas utility, are paying $14.91 per dekatherm for natural gas this month. That's well above last summer's price of $9 to $10, and about as high as prices have been in the past decade. During winter months, a household with natural gas heat may use 15 to 20 dekatherms. At current prices, that means a $300 monthly bill.
"Montana Meadows as Indicators of Climate Change”
By Laura Bell, Big Sky Weekly, 6/18/08
On Friday, June 27th, the Big Sky Institute (BSI) will cut the ribbon and officially open their new office in Westfork Meadows, next to the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce Building. The Big Sky Institute is a science, education and outreach institute created by Montana State University and the community of Big Sky. BSI’s goal is to better understand large intact ecosystems—like the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem—in order to better understand our changing world.
BSI programming wouldn’t be complete without the traditional Mountains & Minds lecture series, which kicks off on July 8th at the new BSI office. Join Professor Diane Debinski for her presentation of "Montane Meadows as Indicators of Climate Change.” This free lecture begins at 7 p.m. Diane Debinski is a professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology at Iowa State University. She has done extensive research in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, looking at topics from prairie restoration to species distribution in the mountains. She will talk about her local research and there will be ample opportunity for questions and discussion.
Foresters may extend 'let it burn' policy beyond wilderness areas
By Michael Jamison, Missoulian, 6/10/08
KALISPELL - Foresters looking to fight fire with fire have started looking beyond the boundaries of designated wilderness areas, and this summer will apply a sort of “let it burn” policy to public lands throughout northwest Montana.
They call it “wildland fire use” and this summer it could be used in the North Fork Flathead drainage above Columbia Falls, the Swan Range near Bigfork and the Mission Mountains.
While many wildfires will be fought, others can provide “a valuable tool for land managers,” said Steve Brady, Swan Lake district ranger for the Flathead National Forest. “Decisions to use naturally ignited fire as a tool for resource management objectives are made incident by incident, and only under certain conditions,” he said.
Gas Prices Hit Rural Northern Rockies, New Mexico
By Courtney Lowery, New West News, 6/9/08
Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico and Idaho are the hardest hit in the West by $4.00 gasoline, according to a study in today’s New York Times. The study looks at percentage of income spent on gas, so rural areas in the Northern Rockies, Great Plains and southeast look the worst because of low median incomes and high use of vehicle travel. Most of Montanans spend 7-10 percent of their income on gas with one pocket in eastern Montana between 10-16 percent.
SDG&E will buy power from Montana wind farms
By Bruce V. Bigelow, San Diego Union Tribune, 6/6/08
San Diego Gas & Electric said yesterday it has signed power-purchase agreements with a renewable energy company for electricity generated from two soon-to-be-constructed wind farms in Montana. Under two 15-year contracts, Glacier Wind Energy will add 210 megawatts from wind energy facilities under development near Glacier National Park to SDG&E's total power-generating capacity.
With vast reserves, Montana eyes coal expansion
By Adam Tanner, 6/3/08
ABSALOKA MINE, Montana (Reuters) - Underneath Montana lies an estimated $1.5 trillion of coal, but with uncertainty about future environmental rules, investors are wary about opening new mines in the rugged Western U.S. state. Many say a big boost to Montana coal production can only follow November's national election, when a new president could lead the way in clarifying environmental laws and encouraging cleaner coal technology. Montana ends the long U.S. state-by-state presidential primary process on Tuesday.
"Nothing is going to happen until we have a carbon law, that's the bottom line," Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer told Reuters. "It needs a new president."
Crowning achievement
Daily Inter Lake, 5/28/08
June 6 conference explores ‘backbone of the world’ - The Crown of the Continent will take center stage on June 6 during a special program in Kalispell. The conference, sponsored by The University of Montana and Flathead Valley Community College, features a variety of speakers including Dan Fagre, a U.S. Geological Service scientist headquartered in Glacier National Park, who will talk about the many aspects of climate change in the Crown of the Continent, especially in Glacier Park where he has been studying the glaciers and the changing terrain and wildlife habitat.
The event will take place in the Arts and Technology Building at FVCC, beginning at 12:15 p.m. and continuing through until 8:30 p.m.
Bike trip to teach about about energy issues, climate change
By Mary Pickett, Billings Gazette, 5/27/08
Heavy rain pelting the KOA campground shelter didn't dampen the enthusiasm of Devin Trainor on the first day of a monthlong class to study energy issues and climate change across Montana. Trainor, 22, of Boston, Mass., is one of nine students who signed up for the class that will take them bicycling 650 miles from Billings to Whitefish.
Conservative group hits senators on climate bill
By Jim Kuhnhenn, The Associated Press, 5/26/08
A conservative, free-market advocacy group will begin airing ads this week pressing Senate Republicans and Democrats to vote against a bill that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Club for Growth wants to scuttle a bill by Sens. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, and John Warner, R-Va., that the Senate is scheduled to begin debating next month. Despite the ad campaign, the bill seems to lack the votes needed to overcome a filibuster.
With $250,000 in radio and television spots, the Club for Growth is targeting Republican Sens. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, and Democratic Sens. Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Max Baucus and Jon Tester of Montana. Dole, a co-sponsor of the bill, as well as Alexander, Baucus and Rockefeller face re-election this year.
Experts Encourage Mitigation, Adaptation to Climate Change
By Susan Duncan, New West News, 5/17/08
At the Burton K. Wheeler Conference, "Climate Change in Montana: Impacts and Opportunities for Agriculture and Energy," regional leaders share ideas on greenhouse gas reduction, carbon sequestration, resource development and local action plans for mitigating the effects of climate change.
City previews climate protection ideas
By Amanda Ricker, Bozeman Daily Chronicle, 5/15/08
Efforts by the city of Bozeman to reduce its carbon footprint can be cost neutral if not cost saving, the Citizens Climate Protection Task Force told the City Commission on Wednesday.
Following the past year of study by the task force, the City Commission got its first official look at the group’s draft recommendations to reduce municipal greenhouse-gas emissions during a policy meeting Wednesday. The commission suggested that its final decision on whether to approve the recommendations be made in June, delaying the vote from its originally scheduled May 27 meeting.
The task force’s plan calls for the city of Bozeman to reduce municipal greenhouse-gas emissions 15 percent below the year 2000 levels by the year 2020. Several dozen recommendations for planning, building, energy, transportation, land use, waste water, recycling and education spell out how to get there.
Legislators make progress on global warming recommendations
By Matt Gouras, Associated Press, 5/13/08
Lawmakers chipped away at global warming recommendations again Monday, giving a nod to some of the less controversial items coming out of a task force appointed by Gov. Brian Schweitzer. The legislative Environmental Quality Council agreed to tackle legislation that promotes, with minimal expenditure, the use of local food, recycling and energy efficiency programs.
‘Irreplaceable': Photo exhibit shows images of climate change close to home
By John Cramer, Missoulian, 5/8/08
Western Montanans have been living with climate change for years, including longer droughts, worsening wildfires and dwindling snowpacks. But they'll get a new perspective on global warming when a 40-print photo exhibit opens Thursday at the Roxy Theater in Missoula.
Rural co-ops prepare for Senate climate change battle
The Senate is expected to begin debate on global climate change legislation in early June. The bill would require utility companies, manufacturers and others to gradually lower their emissions by 2050 and establish a market for so-called "emissions allowances," which could be freely bought and sold. The goal is to reduce carbon-based greenhouse gases that are contributing to the warming of the earth's surface and to minimizing the cost of doing so.
Salmon decline is a wake-up call
By Doug Howell, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 4/28/08
It is hard to find the silver lining in a situation as dire as the collapse of wild salmon off the Oregon and California coasts (April 9 P-I). A full closure of the recreational and commercial fishing season will have far-reaching negative impacts. From the fishermen and suppliers to the restaurants and individuals who buy salmon at the market, it is another blow to our struggling economy.
As families, communities and local businesses try to deal with the consequences of this year's fishery collapse, scientists are working to understand the causes. Rising to the top of that list -- the 800-pound gorilla in the room -- is global warming.
DEQ Launches Montana Climate Change Website
By Paul Driscoll, 4/22/08
Helena - All over the world, people are coming together and recognizing the threats of global climate change. The same is true in Montana. People are asking questions, reviewing the data, wondering about the future and looking for ways to change the outcome. On April 22, Earth Day 2008, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality,(DEQ), launched the Montana Climate Change website at www.MontanaClimateChange.mt.gov.
"We created this site so that people both from Montana, and anywhere else in the world, will have a convenient place to find credible data and resources about how climate change is impacting the state.," said Richard Opper, Director of the DEQ. "I also wanted a place where people could start finding answers to the challenges we will face and ways that they can make a difference."
“Green” Jobs Can Revive Economy, Golden Says
By Kyle Lehman, New West News, 4/16/08
To address the problem of climate change Americans must strive to create a “green” economy bolstered by federal regulations that promote innovation and investment, said K.C. Golden in his lecture Tuesday night at the University of Montana.
Public works specialists meet this week in Missoula
Missoulian, 4/7/08
MISSOULA - Climate change and urban issues expert Chuck Tooley will give the keynote speech at the regional convention of the American Public Works Association in Missoula this week. Tooley, who retired in 2005 as the longest-serving mayor of Billings, trained with former Vice President Al Gore as one of the first 50 people Gore chose to give his presentation for The Climate Project designed to educate citizens and governments about global warming. In his Missoula address, “Global Warming,” at the conference luncheon on Wednesday, Tooley will talk about the implications of global warming for public works.
As Fight for Water Heats Up, Prized Fish Suffer
By Jim Robbins, New York Times, 4/1/08
WISDOM, Mont. — It’s a simple fact of life across the rural West, as it is here in Montana’s mountain-ringed Big Hole River Valley. Flooding river bottoms to grow hay sustains the economy but means less water in the river for the prized wild trout population. The competition for water is not new, but it is intensifying as the climate here gets warmer and drier.
“The biggest worry for trout is that smaller streams will simply run dry in late summer and temperatures in the remaining pools will exceed lethal levels,” said Steven W. Running, a climate scientist at the University of Montana in Missoula who is a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “Even if the stream has good flow 11 months of the year, fish have to survive the highest stress conditions in late summer. We could lose the populations in these smaller streams, and they won’t come back.”
Study: American West Warming Faster than Rest of Planet
By Grant Rhodes, New West News, 3/31/08
Is it hotter in here, or is it just the American West? According to a new climate study by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and the Natural Resources Defense Council, the U.S. West is getting warmer at nearly twice the rate of the rest of the world.
“Global warming is hitting the West hard,” Theo Spencer of the NRDC said in a release. “It is already taking an economic toll on the region’s tourism, recreation, skiing, hunting and fishing activities.”
Click here to see the study.
Carbon plan debate: Boon or disaster?
By Mike Stark, Billings Gazette, 3/20/08
Depending on whom you talked to Wednesday, a proposal aimed at cutting U.S. carbon emissions will either have dire consequences for Montana's economy or will create ample business opportunities that also better the environment. For much of the day, Billings was the latest stage for an ongoing national debate about the potential costs of curbing carbon dioxide emissions linked to the earth's warming climate.
Green and lean: Carbon-neutral home results in $28 February power bill
By Micahel Moore, Missoulian, 03/16/08
The first power bill is in, for the month of February. And this is what it says $28.05. For a winter month. In Montana. Zia and Niels Maumenee's grand plan is working, better than they ever imagined. "It's gratifying and exciting," Zia Maumenee said recently. "You do all the planning, but you never know exactly how it's going to work until it's up and running." The idea was simple enough. The Maumenees, who both work at the University of Montana, wanted to live more lightly on the earth, use less energy, pollute less, feel less implicated in climate change.
Resurrecting the southern line: Conference focuses on linking Billings and Missoula
By Richard Hanners, Whitefish Pilot, 3/13/08
With gasoline prices expected to top $4 this summer and concerns growing about climate change and "carbon footprints," there has been a renewed interest in passenger travel across the U.S. -- and here in Montana. Last October, the Senate approved the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act, which calls for studies of two former long-distance train routes to see if they should be brought back.
Recycling popular measure in global warming survey
By The Associated Press, 3/6/08
HELENA - A public survey on recommendations in a climate change report found recycling to be among the most popular ideas, and boosting ethanol production among the least popular. The recommendations come from the governor's Climate Change Advisory Committee. More than 50 ideas for reducing greenhouse gas emissions are now in front of a legislative interim committee. That committee is looking at the recommendations to see which they would like to support in legislation next year. Nearly 2,000 of the online surveys were filled out.
The most popular recommendation was increasing Montana's solid waste recycling rates to 17 percent by 2008 and more down the road. It received positive comments from 63 percent of respondents, the Legislative Services Division said. Other proposals with high marks include buying efficient state fleet vehicles, reforestation programs, programs to encourage the use of local food sources, consumer education programs, new energy efficient building codes and reduction of greenhouse gases in some oil and gas operations.
Results of the climate change survey are posted here.
Council to Review Results of Climate Change Survey
Montana Legislative Branch, 2/29/08
At a meeting March 10, the Environmental Quality Council (EQC) of the Montana Legislature will look at results of a public survey on climate change that has garnered more than a thousand responses. The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. in Room 102 of the State Capitol. The bipartisan council is reviewing recommendations outlined in the "Montana Climate Change Action Plan: Final Report of the Governor's Climate Change Advisory Committee." The council conducted the survey in February to learn what the public thinks of the recommendations. It asked people to rank the relative importance of the recommendations and invited them to share their comments.
Western Governors Agree to Develop Alternative Transport Fuels
Environment News Service, 2/27/08
WASHINGTON, DC - Western governors have pledged to take action within their states and also as a region to speed the development and use of alternative fuels, improve vehicle fuel efficiency and reduce dependence on foreign oil. A resolution adopted by the Western Governors' Association Saturday incorporates many recommendations contained in the association's new report, "Transportation Fuels for the Future."
Survey on Montana Climate Change Action Plan
The Montana Environmental Quality Council (EQC), a committee of the state legislature, is interested in your thoughts on policies that might be further discussed in addressing the issue of climate change in Montana. The council is currently reviewing the 54 recommendations included in the "Montana Climate Change Action Plan: Final Report of the Governor's Climate Change Advisory Committee." In order to better understand how the public feels about the recommendations, the EQC is conducting a survey. Members are asking Montanans to take the survey online at http://leg.mt.gov/css/climate_survey.asp.
B.C. introduces carbon tax
By Jonathan Fowlie and Fiona Anderson, Vancouver Sun, 2/19/08
VICTORIA -- Driving and other fuel-dependent activities are about to get more expensive as British Columbia becomes the first jurisdiction in North America to introduce a consumer-based carbon tax.
Track Climate Change at Home With Project BudBurst
Environment News Service, 2/15/08
BOULDER, Colorado - By noticing when plants bud, flower and leaf out, volunteers can track climate change as part of a nationwide initiative starting Friday. Project BudBurst allows students, gardeners, and other citizen scientists in every state to enter their observations into an online database that will give researchers a detailed picture of the warming climate.
Gov. Schweitzer, Panelists Urge Aggressive Action on Climate Change
By Peter Metcalf, New West Network, 2/1/08
Naming global climate change as the most pressing issue facing the nation, Gov. Brian Schweitzer called for swift and decisive action by individuals, industry and government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a speech at the University of Montana Thursday night.
Lecture Series to Explore Climate Change Solutions
Missoulian, 1/25/08
The nine-part 2008 Wilderness Issues Lecture Series - "Climate Change: Moving from Science to Solutions" - will take place during February, March and April at the University of Montana. The lectures, free and open to the public, will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on the first three Tuesdays of each month and feature speakers from varied disciplines and fields, each with practical experience working in innovative ways to understand and effectively respond to climate change.
