In the aftermath of the Pegasus Gold cyanide heap leach disaster, the Montana Legislature passed a far reaching and forward thinking addition to the State law that governs all metal mining activities in Montana. It is called the “Bad Actor” law, and bans any company, manager, or other executive who left the state with a mess to clean up from getting another mining permit until the taxpayers have been repaid for the work, and at 6% interest, no less.
In July 2017, the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) declared Tintina Resources’ application for its proposed Black Butte mine on a tributary of the Smith River to be complete. But don’t despair or lose hope.
This recent action is only one step in a long process, and it does not mean that Tintina’s application has been approved. What it does mean is that DEQ believes that it has received all of the information required in order for it to make a decision about the mine’s permit. This step is loosely comparable to turning in your homework but not yet knowing what your grade will be.
The Colstrip plant will only be “useful” until 2027. That’s according to an agreement filed last week in the Puget Sound Energy (Puget) rate case in Washington. In the agreement, the parties agreed that the Colstrip plant only had 10 years remaining of useful life for Puget. In the utility world, that’s a big deal. The Washington utilities commission will ultimately decide whether to accept the agreement, but the agreement spells the beginning of the end for the plant.
The following is a re-post of NRDC’s John Moore and Miles Farmer response to the widely anticipated U.S. Department of Energy’s electric grid study that was released on August 23, 2017.
Once again, the smoke-filled skies across Montana are a dangerous wake-up call that climate change is real and is already harming public health and the economy. It’s long past time to do something about it, and preventing the mining and burning of coal remains the lowest hanging fruit. Coal is the biggest contributor to climate change and coal companies and the government agencies that permit their activities sign death sentences for Montanans and millions of people around the world when they continue to ignore its impacts when issuing permits. That’s why it restores our faith in government when a federal judge forces an agency to do its job and address the problem.
[Update: The Billings Gazette has reported that PSC Commissioner Bob Lake was caught on an open microphone stating that the attacks on solar projects described below (extremely short contract lengths and undervaluing solar energy output) were set in a way that would end all solar project development. Lake’s comments came about an hour after these attacks had been finalized, demonstrating the Commission knew it’s ruling would kill solar.]
by Brian Fadie
On June 22nd the Montana Public Service Commission (Commission) went on a crusade to harm affordable solar energy development. Here’s what happened.
Below is a full rundown of the good, the bad, and the ugly of the 2017 Montana Legislative Session. Follow the links for individual topics such as different automobile accident cases that were handled by this Chicago car accident lawyer. Also, make sure to check out our 2017 Legislative Voting Record, and know how your representative and senator scored!
Trump did it again. He felt more compelled to keep an uninformed campaign promise and lie to U.S. coal miners than to maintain U.S. leadership and commitments to this country and the world. Now that is truly SAD.
Recently, a Montana state senator shared a link on social media pointing to a anti-renewable energy blog that claims tens of thousands of broken down wind turbines are littering the country. The blog is almost four years old, absent of corroborating sources, and long on nakedly disparaging statements about wind – credibility warning signs that one might expect would dissuade an elected official from endorsing it.
