Everybody is flirtingaround it and no one is diving in to take a big bite out of this story. Here is the bite I want to take.
The big steel turbines are strategically situated on 8,300 acres of private farm, pasture and Conservation Reserve Program and School Trust land. Twenty-six miles of gravel road connects them. Landowners continue to use the land for grazing and crops, leasing property to Invenergy for a royalty based on gross production of each individual turbine on their land. The payments range from $2,000 up to $4,000 to $5,000 a year...
So let me get this straight, $$ for rural land owners, $$ for preservation of natural areas, and $$ for education. Oh, and clean renewable energy that decreases our dependance on foriegn oil and provides local jobs...I see, so that is the kind of leadership we can expect from Jon Tester and Democrats. Ok, I think I can get used to this.
SB 415, the Montana Renewable Power Production and Rural Economic Development Act, ushered in a new reality for energy consumers in Montana. Specifically,
(4) (a) In the compliance year beginning January 1, 2015, and in each succeeding compliance year, each public utility shall procure a minimum of 15% of its retail sales of electrical energy in Montana from eligible renewable resources.
As is always the case, there is some hemming and hawing in the language of the bill that muddys the waters. I am not too terribly concerned with the fringes as long as the profits ring true and the spirit of the law is in effect nine years from now. Renewable energy is finally here to stay and we will be feeling the positive effects of it for some time to come.
Each of the turbines can produce enough energy in a year to power 300 homes, and the 90 towers combined can supply electricity to about 30,000 houses a year.
My rough math works out like this. By the year 2015, if we are looking at providing energy to 900,000 homes and 15% of it (enough for 135,000 homes) is provided by these wind turbines we will need a total of 450 turbines. Now I know this is not an accurate estimate, but for the sake of arguement, we are talking about a wind excise tax, a tax paid directly to landowners mind you, equal to approximately 1 - 2.5 million dollars a year. This is all over and above the benefits of clean enegy remember.
And here is the real clincher, a majority of Republicans in Helena not only voted against this thing, some of them like Brad Molnar tried to haul Jon out to the woodshed with it and say that it was a bad deal for Montana. Now, I have made no secret of how I feel about renewableenergy or poverty in Montana. Newsflash, one is awesome and the other sucks. Just like Jon Tester and Brad Molnar.
My question is this, how on earth do R's like Brad Molnar continue to find gainful employment by seeking approval from the public at large? Sorry, I digress...what I really want to know is how can we continue the trend of leveraging our government into decisions that spend our collective money and influence to generate a clean and healthy environment while promoting economic growth? [Here is a hint...look for the (D) behind their name.]
