GOP: Energy Bills Slow to Come

By Dennison, Mike

HELENA – More than two months into the 2007 Legislature, the Schweitzer administration has yet to introduce its major energy development bills – although a key cabinet member said they’ll be ready soon.

“There will be adequate time to consider (the bills), there really will be,” Evan Barrett, chief economic officer for Gov. Brian Schweitzer, said this week. “We’re very close to wrapping them up.”

That assurance doesn’t sit well with leading Republicans, who said Tuesday they’ve been waiting for months to see Schweitzer’s energy proposals, and now face a time crunch if they’re going to have any input.

“I think we’re looking at trying to rush policy and every time we start rushing policy, we screw things up,” said Rep Alan Olson, R- Roundup, who said he had offered to carry one of the bills.

“If Montana has learned anything, it’s that you don’t fast- track energy policy,” said Senate Minority Leader Corey Stapleton, R- Billings.

Barrett said a bill enacting property-tax breaks for “clean and greed’ energy pipelines and other infrastructure is complex and needs to be drafted carefully.

The administration also will be pushing a bill to help local governments deal with impacts from large-scale energy development.

Both measures should be in the hands of legislative bill- drafters by this week, meaning introduction could come as early as next week, Barrett said.

“We want to make sure there is plenty of time to look at it, but we want to make sure it’s right going in the door,” he said Monday.

The bills must be introduced, heard and acted upon by at least one house of the Legislature no later than April 3, less than four weeks away.

Barrett said that should be more than enough time to work on the proposals.

Olson and Stapleton, however, said the Schweitzer administration has had more than a year to work on the plans, and that it’s unwise to squeeze their consideration into a few weeks in the latter part of a contentious Legislature.

Olson, a longtime booster of developing Montana’s coal reserves for energy production, said some Republicans wonder how serious the governor is about energy development, particularly coal.

“The time for talk is over,” he said Tuesday. “It’s time for action.”

Schweitzer has been talking for many months about promoting coal development and other energy-related development in Montana, particularly Eastern Montana. Lately, however, his comments have tilted more toward renewable energy, such as wind power and “clean coal” development.

Barrett said the Republicans’ concerns are misplaced, and that the Schweitzer administration is moving forward on energy policy.

He pointed to two other bills already approved by the House, with administration support: House Bill 728, which allows the state to hire outside contractors to speed review of permits for energy plants, and HB715, which requires some state research funds to be invested in coal-related projects. Olson is the sponsor of the latter bill.

On several other significant energy measures before the Legislature, the administration has not taken a position.

For example, the governor hasn’t weighed in on HB25, which would allow NorthWestern Energy, the state’s largest utility to buy or build its own electric power plant and obligate ratepayers for the cost.

HB25 has been OK’d by the House and is now before the Senate.

Barrett said on HB25, as with many bills, the governor is waiting to see what emerges from the legislative process.

“We’re keeping our powder dry, until we see what comes out,” he said. “We’re sure there will be some things that come down (to the governor) that we say are good things, and he’ll sign them or there may be some things that are terrible. We have to wait and see how those things come out.”

Copyright Billings Gazette Mar 07, 2007

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