Archive for Newspaper editorial

Editorial: Preserve renewable energy standards – Helena Independent Record, March 14, 2013

By Larry Winslow · Comments (0)
Thursday, March 14th, 2013

In 2005, the Montana Legislature had the forethought to pass renewable energy portfolio standards that defined renewable energy and required state utilities to have a portion of their energy portfolio derived from these sources.

The legislation started the portfolio requirements at 5 percent, increasing to 15 percent by 2015. Currently, the two largest public utility companies in Montana — NorthWestern Energy and Montana Dakota Utilities already are at or near that 15 percent level.

However, since the legislation passed, legislators have been trying to retroactively add hydroelectric power as eligible for the renewable energy portfolio. This kind of legislation has been proposed in every session since the standards were passed, and it has been introduced again this year.

Most people agree that hydroelectricity is a renewable source of energy, but where the disagreement comes is in how to allow hydro projects into the portfolio. Do you just add all hydroelectric projects, including all the power-generating dams around the state, no matter how old they are? Or do you limit it to only new hydroelectric projects and upgrades?

To us the answer is simple — the renewable energy standards should only apply to new hydroelectric facilities and upgrades. It’s a matter of simple economics.

The biggest benefit of the RES legislation is that it stimulated economic development around the state. It provided certainty for companies looking to invest in wind energy projects because it essentially built a market for the power they produce. Since 2005, Montana has seen more than $1.6 billion of capital investment in renewable energy projects around the state. These include both wind energy and hydroelectric projects. This investment has resulted in about 1,500 construction jobs and the creation of about 650 megawatts of electricity. About two-thirds of this electricity is exported to other states to help meet their renewable energy standards.

The problem with adding existing hydroelectric projects to the RES is that it would flood the market with about 1,000 megawatts of electricity and essentially gut the RES because there would be no need for new renewable energy projects to meet the RES requirements. This would be bad for communities, mostly rural, around the state that have benefitted from the new development of renewable energy projects.

Currently, two pieces of legislation have passed out of the Senate and are working their way through the House that would add hydroelectric projects to the RES. Sen. Debby Barrett, R-Dillon, has sponsored Senate Bill 41, which, as originally written, would add all hydro projects to the RES. However, this bill was amended to only add new projects to the RES.

Similarly, Sen. Jim Keane, D-Butte, has a bill that would accomplish the same as Barrett’s bill, but would retroactively include upgrades at Rainbow Dam on the Missouri River at Great Falls by PPL Montana.

Given that these bills remain in their current form, we can support them. It is important that future hydroelectric projects be included in the RES, not because Montana needs another major dam, or even has room for one, but because there are many opportunities around the state for smaller hydroelectric projects that are truly in the spirit of the original RES legislation.

For instance, in Teton County, NorthWestern Energy has a 20-year contract with Turnbull Hydro to purchase power from two small hydroelectric projects that are essentially turbines on an irrigation canal. These projects produce electricity from early May through September. This is the type of project that could be repeated around the state.

And Montana has vast untapped wind energy potential. In fact, Montana has the smallest wind energy production in the Northwest — less than Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming and both Dakotas.

The surest way to keep our renewable energy industry growing is by keeping in tact our strong renewable energy standards, and we implore our legislators to resist any attempt to weaken them.

 

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Categories : Clean Energy, Editorial, Legislature, Newspaper editorial

Billings Gazette opinion: Keep tax credit that spurs wind energy growth – Nov. 25, 2012

By Larry Winslow · Comments (0)
Monday, November 26th, 2012

http://billingsgazette.com/news/opinion/editorial/gazette-opinion/gazette-opinion-keep-tax-credit-that-spurs-wind-energy-growth/article_de6ec163-7080-5dbb-a323-42e839996050.html

When businesses harness Montana’s wind energy, private landowners, local and state governments and workers share the benefits.

More than a dozen wind farms scattered across Montana have a total electricity generating capacity of 647 megawatts. They represent $1.3 billion in capital investment, creation of 1,319 construction jobs and 86 permanent jobs. Together, they paid $5.4 million in taxes in 2010. By 2018, these same wind farms will be paying $8.9 million in property taxes as abatements expire.

Wind farms are helping Montana utilities, including NorthWestern Energy, meet a state law requirement that 15 percent of energy supplied will be from renewable sources by 2015. And recent wind contracts are keeping costs down for ratepayers.

Montana wind farms are producing energy at competitive prices. Their pricing reflects the federal Production Tax Credit that has boosted U.S. wind energy capacity from 1.5 gigawatts in 1992 to 45 gigawatts in 2011.

Despite that growth, wind still has a small slice of the U.S. energy market. By the end of last year, wind generated about 3 percent of the nation’s electricity supply, according to the Energy Information Administration.

The U.S. government has long subsidized domestic energy production. The production tax credit for wind utilities is part of that effort to ensure that business will produce the energy America needs at home.

The tax credit spurred investment in recent years as wind technology has advanced and increased efficiency and productivity. However, the tax credit is scheduled to expire Dec. 31.

With no tax credit, Montana is unlikely to see more new projects like the Musselshell Wind Farm, two 10-megawatt projects which started construction last month near Shawmut. The credit will pay 2.2 cents per kilowatt generated by the wind farm for its first 10 years of operation.

Strong bipartisan support

Back in August, the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., approved a tax bill that would extend the wind production credit until the end of 2013. (The committee bill also would have let other tax breaks expire.) Baucus’ partner in moving that legislation was none other that Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. The bill won bipartisan committee approval on a vote of 19 to 5. More recently, both Republic senators from Kansas and the state’s Republican governor have called on Congress to extend the wind production tax credit. Kansas is a windy state, and its leaders see the value in tapping that natural resource.

Montana ranks third among the states in wind energy potential. Most of that potential has yet to be tapped.

“Wind means income for our farmers and revenue for our schools and roads,” Baucus noted on his visit to the Mussellshell Wind Farm site. “It was the production tax credit that has helped finance wind farms across central Montana from Shelby to Judith Gap and now Shamut. And together those wind farms have supported 1,500 jobs and brought more than $1.5 billion investment to Montana.”

Dec. 31 deadline

Every member of the state’s congressional delegation has supported the wind production tax credit, including Sen. Jon Tester and Rep. Denny Rehberg.

We call on Montana’s delegation to champion the business tax credit that is putting money into our state in areas that don’t have a lot of other energy development. The production tax credit extension ought to be part of the year-end legislative deal.

 

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Categories : Clean Energy, Congress, Editorial, Newspaper editorial

Opinion: Enough notice is the law, not an option – Great Falls Tribune, Oct. 12, 2012

By Larry Winslow · Comments (0)
Friday, October 12th, 2012

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20121012/OPINION/310120013/Enough-notice-law-not-an-option

For a little while Wednesday, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission planned at its Thursday meeting to consider an easement to allow the Tongue River Railroad to build across a state-owned Miles City fish hatchery at its Thursday meeting.

The Tribune’s John S. Adams inquired about the status of the agreement. After that, the item was pulled from the FWP Commission’s agenda.

There is nothing wrong with public entities changing items on their meeting agendas. Sometimes reports are delayed, more information is needed or significant parties are unable to attend a meeting. State entities are bound by state law to provide adequate public notice when a quorum is meeting and of the agenda. No action can be take on matters unless the public has been provided adequate notice.

The rule applies to all state and local government entities in Montana, from the State Land Board and airport authorities to school boards and county commissions.

The Tongue River Railroad FWP Commission easement is a perfect example of why this law, often bemoaned by elected and other public officials, is critical to all of us.

It’s been a long, drawn out negotiation process, with strong advocates and opposition, court rulings and the possibility of property acquisition through eminent domain.

The Tongue River Railroad has a new ownership group, further complicating matters.

Last year, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the railroad’s environmental impact statement was insufficient. Then in June, the Surface Transportation Board ordered the railroad’s new owners to submit a new application.

It’s not surprising that there appears to be a desire by FWP to make a decision on the matter one way or the other and move on to other business.

FWP Director Joe Maurier on Wednesday said the decision to add the easement agreement to the agenda for Thursday’s meeting stemmed from an Oct. 9 letter from the railroad’s owners notifying the agency that the company was prepared to execute the easement deal. After it was pulled, an agency spokesman said it was because commissioners wanted more time to review the proposal before taking action.

The abrupt addition and then removal of the easement from the commission’s agenda marks the third time this year that the commission was set to consider an easement agreement with the railroad. The February meeting was canceled because of a light agenda and the matter was moved to the March 16 meeting agenda instead. At the time Maurier told the Helena Independent Record he wanted to “settle the Tongue River Railraod matter.”

But then Maurier canceled the March 16 meeting without explanation.

Whether there’s any merit to it or not, some opponents of the railroad are raising claims that the commission is trying to push the agreement through without public notice or comment.

“How much notice is enough notice?” Maurier said. “There are no changes. We’ve heard all the testimony before. Nothing has changed.”

Montana law states that “Each agency shall develop procedures for permitting and encouraging the public to participate in agency decisions that are of significant interest to the public.”

The Montana FWP procedure is to publish an online agenda a week to a week and a half before a meeting. News releases are also issued. There are instances when items are added to the original agenda, but that is done rarely.

Clearly, inadequate public notice was provided in this case.

Private landowners are seeing red at the thought of a private, for-profit business could acquire the power of federal eminent domain to take private property. There’s call for a more thorough environmental impact statement for a project that will, among other, things pass through a hatchery were endangered pallid sturgeon are raised. Other interests are working to prevent coal from Otter Creek to be shipped, via the railroad, to the West Coast for export to Asian markets because of environmental concerns.

Even though a fair share of those interested parties may not have relevant comments to contribute when it comes to the easement agreement that FWP commissioners will vote on, they all are entitled to know when is vote scheduled and to listen to commission members’ discussion of the issue.

That, Mr. Maurier, is enough notice. Please make sure it is provided when the easement is included on any future FWP Commission agendas.

 

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Categories : Coal, Newspaper editorial

Editorial: Train impact study worthy of discussion by Bozeman officials – Bozeman Chronicle, Aug. 9, 2012

By Larry Winslow · Comments (0)
Monday, August 13th, 2012

http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/opinions/editorials/article_e9068780-e31e-11e1-ab2f-001a4bcf887a.html

Bozeman city commissioners may have been a bit too hasty when they opted out of getting involved in a study to determine the effects of increased coal train traffic on cities between eastern Montana coal fields and the West Coast.

The issue failed to earn a place on a City Commission meeting agenda when the issue didn’t muster the support of the mayor or at least three of the five commissioners. As a result, the commission will not even vote on whether to participate in an Army Corps of Engineers environmental study aimed at gauging the effects of increase train traffic on places through which they will travel.

Montana and Wyoming coal fields contain an immense amount of coal. A great deal of that coal is slated to be shipped out of West Coast terminals to Asia. And as the amount of coal shipped increases, cities along the route, including Bozeman, will see an increase in train traffic.

Right now, some 15 trains pass through Bozeman daily, only two or three of which are carrying coal. How much that traffic will increase is unclear. Conflicting numbers have been bandied about.

The increased train traffic will bring more noise, diesel exhaust and possibly some coal dust to the city. Those are issues that need to be addressed and doing so could get expansive. But the biggest issue that could arise is the disruption of automobile traffic at several street crossings along the route.

These traffic disruptions could necessitate the construction of under- or overpasses. That could get really expensive. And who’s going to pay for it? City taxpayers most likely.

The railroad has a historic right-of-way along the route and may be under no obligation to mitigate the effects of the increased traffic. And there’s little likelihood they will be persuaded to unless confronted with evidence of significant impacts.

The effects of the coal trains could be minimal, and little action will be required on the part of the city. But we don’t know that. And we don’t want to find out the hard way – when it’s too late.

We’re not suggesting at this point that the commission should wholeheartedly endorse an environmental study from the Army Corps of Engineers. What we are saying, however, is that the issue is at least worthy of the commission’s public consideration.

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Categories : Coal, Editorial, Newspaper editorial

Tongue River Railroad veers off track – Missoula Independent, June 28, 2012

By Larry Winslow · Comments (0)
Thursday, June 28th, 2012

http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/tongue-river-railroad-veers-off-track/Content?oid=1662178

By Matthew Frank

South of Miles City, the Tongue River bends through Mark Fix’s 9,700-acre ranch. He’s trying to stop a coal-hauling railroad from running through it, too. Last week, Fix and other ranchers along the river notched a victory when the federal Surface Transportation Board ruled that the Tongue River Railroad Company must reapply for a permit to carry coal from the isolated Otter Creek tracts in southeastern Montana, a decision that will at least further delay the railroad that was first proposed in 1980.

“My ranch would be cut in half by the proposed Tongue River Railroad,” says Fix, a member of the Northern Plains Resource Council. “We can only hope that, for the first time in more than 30 years, the Surface Transportation Board will ask some tough questions about whether this railroad will benefit anyone besides Arch Coal and the Chinese industrialists who will burn that coal.”

A year ago, Arch, the country’s second-largest coal company, which has leased about 1.4 billion tons of coal in the Otter Creek area, together with BNSF Railway and billionaire Forrest Mars, Jr., acquired the Tongue River Railroad Company and its permit. They’re betting they can build the new railroad and send Otter Creek coal to West Coast export terminals. From there it would be shipped to Asia, where coal demand remains strong—unlike in the U.S., where the share of U.S. electricity that comes from coal is expected to fall below 40 percent for the year, the lowest level in about 70 years.

The Tongue River Railroad lost momentum last December when the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the railroad’s environmental impact statement was insufficient. That court decision, combined with changes in the railroad’s proposals, led to the STB’s ruling last week requiring a new application.

Northern Plains attorney and University of Montana law professor Jack Tuholske says the STB ruling “has called into question the whole premise” of the railroad, which he says has an “ever-changing” purpose.

“Twenty-five years ago, it was to haul coal to the upper Midwest. Now it is to export Montana’s resources to China. … Missoula and dozens of other communities will have a chance to weigh in and tell our federal government why this project is not in the public interest—why subsidizing China’s energy and boosting corporate profits should not come at our expense.”

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Categories : Agriculture, Coal, Landowner Rights, Member news, Newspaper editorial, Northern Plains Resource Council

Bozeman Chronicle editorial: Train traffic could have ill effects for Bozeman – April 5, 2012

By Larry Winslow · Comments (0)
Monday, April 9th, 2012

http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/opinions/article_5b044846-8031-11e1-8e9d-0019bb2963f4.html

Coal mined from one of the largest coal deposits in the world could more than triple the amount of train traffic that goes through Bozeman in the coming years.

Communities in eastern Montana and Wyoming would benefit from a coming coal boom that some see shaping up. Cities on the West Coast and Asian nations would benefit from the bounty of energy that coal would produce.

But what would Bozeman get?

Instead of the average of 15 trains that go through town now, some 40 additional 120- to 125-car trains could cross the city, affecting hundreds of homes, condos and businesses that sit on or near the tracks.

And that volume of trains could affect everyone in the city, with increases in diesel exhaust, coal dust and major disruptions of automobile traffic at street crossings. The traffic disruptions could force the construction of overpasses or underpasses at considerable expense to local taxpayers.

And it could be happening soon. Coal companies in the Powder River Basin, beneath which lies an immense deposit of coal, are planning to ship 110 million tons of coal to Asia by the year 2015.

State and local leaders need to get out in front of this issue now.

Opportunities for regulating the train traffic must be gauged. Possibilities for making the railroads and coal companies contribute to the cost of building new infrastructure to deal with the increased train traffic must be explored.

Any efforts on the part of the state to regulate this activity will likely run into federal interstate commerce laws that will favor the railroads. But where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Negotiations with the coal firms and railroads could produce agreements that will mitigate the effects. More strict laws governing noise and air pollution could also change the ways the railroads get the coal to potential markets.

But if we wait until the problem descends on us, it will be too late. The time to get informed is now.

The Northern Plains Resource Council is conducting an informational meeting on the potential effects of coal shipping at 7 p.m. April 26 in the Bozeman Public Library.

This is a meeting worth attending for everyone in Bozeman.

 

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Categories : Coal, Events, News, Newspaper editorial, Northern Plains Resource Council
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