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Initiative Would Make Montana a Public Power Stronghold
Montana State Senator Ken Toole (D-Helena ) last month launched a campaign to pass a statewide ballot initiative to purchase hydroelectric dams previously owned by the Montana Power Company (MPC ). The initiative, on the ballot next November, would establish a new Public Power Commission with authority to issue up to $500 million in revenue bonds to purchase hydroelectric facilities.
The five-member elected Commission could purchase the dams at fair market value or, if the owner chooses not to sell, exercise its power of eminent domain to force a sale. The initiative further directs the Commission to sell the output of dams to residential, small farm and small business customers in MPC's service territory. The company sold its electric generating resources to Pennsylvania Power and Light, Montana , in 1999.
Backers of the initiative cite affordability and security of the state's energy resources as the principle rationale for pushing public ownership and control of the dams. Initiative supporters have produced a web site (damcheappower.com ) to explain their case.
Many of Dam Cheap Power's supporters are individuals, but two of the state's most influential public-interest organizations have joined the campaign. The Montana Public Interest Research Group (MontPIRG ) and the Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC ) are working closely with Dam Cheap Power supporters to detail the economic and environmental impacts and benefits of public purchase of the dams.
MontPIRG, for example, found that the price per megawatt hour to buy the dams is well below current market rates. "Acquiring the dams would be a bargain and could save Montanans millions of dollars a year," said David Ponder , Executive Director of MontPIRG. The group's analysis found that electricity from those facilities would cost between $11.17 and $13.79 per megawatt hour or nearly 40 percent less than average market prices which can run as high as $35. Owning generation resources would also provide Montana consumers with a critical hedge in the face of future energy price spikes.
Conservation advocates see purchase of the dams as leverage to stop development of new power plants they say aren't needed. They argue that keeping the power generated by the dams in Montana will remove much of the incentive to build the wave of coal and natural gas-fired generators proposed in the state.
"Deregulation and the sale of Montana Power's power generating facilities severed the link between Montana's consumers and Montana's low-cost native electricity," said Patrick Judge , Energy Policy Director for MEIC. "Now a host of new power plants have been proposed to fill in the void left behind, power plants that rely on finite and polluting fossil fuels."
The first stop for the proposed initiative is the office of the Legislature's legal services director Gregory Petesch . Petesch has issued a review of the petition and has made a number of recommendations on style and findings on legal standing. The initiative sponsors can choose whether to adopt the suggestions or not. The petition then goes to the attorney general and the secretary of state for review before initiative backers can begin gathering signatures.
Nancy Hirsh