| During the legislative session, I'm going to make it a point to reprint the Montana Environmental Information Center's weekly Capitol Monitor, an excellent synopsis of the good, the bad and the 19th century concerning environmental issues at the 2011 Montana legislature.
For the complete run-down of bills and committee hearings this week, please make sure to visit MEIC's Capitol Monitor page.
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Under Attack
By MEIC's Capitol Monitor
The first week of February saw a brief halt in the introduction of new anti-environment bills. But attacks on renewable energy and energy efficiency continued, with several bills passing the Senate and being transmitted to the House.
"It seems as if they are attacking the industries in Montana that should be promoted," said MEIC's Energy Policy lobbyist Kyla Wiens. "They should be encouraging energy efficiency and renewable energy. But instead, they're discouraging them."
Here's how Mike Dennison, a reporter for the Lee Newspapers Capitol Bureau, summed it up in an article this past week: "As majority Republicans at the Legislature talk up oil, gas, and coal development in Montana, they're also pursuing another energy agenda - torpedoing the state's incentives for conservation and renewable power."
"The major focus of the session, according to both Republicans and Democrats, is job creation," says Wiens. "Instead they are picking winners and losers for the jobs they want to create and the businesses they want to thrive. Unfortunately, renewable energy jobs are not being favored."
In an interview this week, Governor Brian Schweitzer was straightforward in his opinion of the situation: "This action is irrational. [All energy development] creates jobs .... If the Flat Earth Society in the Montana Legislature continues to try to chase business away from Montana, it's going to have a devastating effect all across Montana." When asked if he would veto the bills he was referring to, the governor said he would "probably take a dim view" of the measures because they wouldn't create jobs.
MEIC members are urged to contact their legislators to oppose the anti-renewable energy and anti-conservation bills by e-mail, telephone calls [(406) 444-4800], or letters to the editor. A "thank you" for the Governor's support of renewable energy development and conservation would also be helpful. |
