All times are Saturday

8:30-10:00 Montana’s Renewable Energy Future: Opportunities, Challenges, and Constraints

Moderator

Mary Fitzpatrick is a Past Chair of Northern Plains and has served in various positions on the Board. She served on the Governor’s Climate Change Advisory Committee and currently serves on the Montana Environmental Quality Council. Mary is a mental health and addictions counselor in private practice in Billings.

Panelists

Geoff Keith (see 3:30-4:15)

Bob Anderson served on Montana’s elected Public Service Commission from 1991 through 2002 and has been a consultant in natural resources and energy policy and water resources engineering. He was the chief of Montana’s state energy agency and the head of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, and is now a director for the Western Grid Group, working at the western regional level on transmission planning and regulatory issues.

Paul Hawks is a Melville rancher and past chair of Northern Plains. He was an original negotiator of the Good Neighbor Agreement with Stillwater Mining Company, serves on the East Boulder Oversight Committee, and is active in the Cottonwood Resource Council Gas Committee.

12:45-1:45 Keynote address: Ted Nace, Democracy vs. King Coal

Ted Nace of San Francisco grew up in Dickinson, North Dakota, and first encountered strip mining during high school while working for the U.S. Forest Service. He began working with the Dakota Resource Council (DRC) in North Dakota while earning a graduate degree at UC-Berkeley, then served as an organizer and as staff director for DRC.

Ted is the author of Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy and Climate Hope: On the Front Lines of the Fight Against Coal, a chronicle of American citizen groups working to free the United States from its dependence on coal. Ted is also the founder and director of CoalSwarm, an informational website (www.coalswarm.org) that provides nearly 5,000 inter-linked factsheets and articles on coal.

2:00-3:15 Exporting Our Communities: Coal Export and How It Affects Montana

Moderator

Janet McMillan has served in various capacities on the Northern Plains Board. She serves on the Organization & Finance Task Force and was very active in our recent legislative efforts. Janet is a retired attorney and was formerly a tribal judge for the Northern Cheyenne. She and her husband, Land Lindbergh, live in Greenough. Montana.

Panelists

Dr. Frank James is active in teaching, research and medical practice. His interests focus on health promotion and disease prevention. He is currently the Health Officer for San Juan County, Health Officer for the Nooksack Indian Tribe and a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Washington School of Public Health.

Shiloh Hernandez was raised in Heron, Montana. He lives in Helena with his wife Mary and 2-month-old son Mateo. Shiloh works as an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center and is a member of Sleeping Giant Citizens Council.

3:30-4:15 Geoff Keith of Synapse Energy Economics, Replacing Coal Energy with Renewable Energy

Geoff Keith is an associate at Synapse Energy Economics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His work focuses on the challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts in the U.S. electricity sector. This includes detailed analysis of the nation’s coal-fired power plants and of the renewable energy technologies that could replace many of them in the coming decades. Geoff holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University and a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies from Brown University.

4:20-5:30 Places Worth Fighting For: The Bull Mountains

Moderator

Tom Tully grew up in the Bull Mountains where he moved at the age of 9 from the Tongue River near Birney. His parents Joan and Bob were founding members of Bull Mountain Land Alliance and Northern Plains. Tom lives in Billings with his wife Barbara Archer. He is the geographic information system (GIS) coordinator for the City of Billings.

Panelists

Ressa Charter is the third-generation to work his family’s ranch in the Bulls where he raises cattle with his father Steve. After living in Washington, D.C., he returned home to the ranch, passionate to defend the area’s natural resources and his local community.

Ellen Pfister is a rancher and BMLA officer. Ellen’s mother is a founding member of Northern Plains (Ellen moved home and got involved shortly thereafter). Ellen is widely considered to be a regional expert on coal issues, having served for many years as the chair of the nationwide Citizens Coal Council. Ellen is the subject of a dossier in the files of Meridian Minerals.

Steve Charter is Chair of BMLA and son of Northern Plains co-founders Anne and Boyd Charter. He ranches in the Bull Mountains and has a long history of standing up for conservation and family agriculture.