The prosperity of Montana’s families, businesses, ranchers and farmers depends upon low-cost, Montana-produced energy. While man’s use of fossil fuels is contributing to CO2 emissions, the issue of climate change is characterized by tremendous uncertainty with respect to degree, timing, economic impacts, and mitigation costs. For this reason, policy choices must be prudent in order to avoid irreparable harm to Montana’s economy and the environment.

Environmental groups are successfully lobbying Washington politicians to impose costly new regulations, taxes, and mandates on gasoline and electricity. New bureaucratic rules limiting how much and what type of energy we use are supposed to eliminate global warming. Respect for the environment comes naturally to Montanans and it is important to continue to ensure our environment remains pristine for generations to come. Well-considered energy policies, free from the influence of hyperbole and hysteria, can form the foundation for economic prosperity and responsible environmental stewardship.

Under proposed new, complicated regulations Montana could be forced to import high-cost electricity. Not only will Montana lose jobs, see decreased family incomes, and lose critical funding for schools, we will become dependent upon others for our energy needs. There is no guarantee that these new proposed energy regulations will improve the environment. Jobs and production will move oversees to countries like India and China who pollute more than the United States. Expert studies indicate these policies may be successful only at exporting jobs, wealth, and emissions with no meaningful benefit to the environment or economy.

Montanans can continue to use Montana-made, low-cost electricity and contribute to a healthier environment if we adopt thoughtful policies that unleash the intellectual and entrepreneurial abilities of our universities and businesses!

Guiding Reform Principles

• Develop all sources of Montana energy,
• Encourage entrepreneurial innovations that can make Montana a global leader in the development of all energy sources,
  
• Limit frivolous lawsuits and endless regulatory appeals that are preventing the use of Montana's low-cost energy,
  
• Ensure that regulations recognize the necessity of diverse land uses including extraction, agriculture, and tourism,
  
• Insist that improvements in energy efficiency are economically efficient, budget-friendly, and free from multi-year corporate subsidies,
  
• Insist that governments leave investing in energy efficiency to the private sector experts and not lobbyists and earmarks, and
  
• Allow dynamic markets, not lobbyists and environmentalists, to determine the winners and losers among complex and competing energy alternatives.
  

The Montana Growth Network will continue to monitor national and state energy policy and proposals with a particular focus on how they affect the environment, the well-being of Montana's families, and the competitiveness of Montana's businesses.