Letter to the Editor: Bullock is not helping the carbon emissions problem

Editor:

Gov. Bullock could have gone lots of other places, but he went to Colstrip. Beneath massive smoke stacks that have dumped more carbon into our atmosphere than any but a dozen other power plants in the nation, he announced the names of the people he’s asking to come up with a plan to reduce Montana’s carbon emissions. 

Montana is home to many successful renewable energy projects, like the Judith Gap wind farm and going to any of them might have better suggested an economically vibrant future. Instead, sadly, he chose to make his announcement at Colstrip, which uses obsolete and bankrupt technology.  And he complained about how unfair he thought it was that Montana would have to reduce emissions so much.

That says a lot. The balance of power selected for the committee says more.  Of the 27 people he named, at least 17 had ties to fossil fuels or utilities. 

It seems strange doesn’t it? Why would Bullock ask people who created the problem to fix it? The Clean Power Plan could be a chance to open up a new paradigm, actually solving the problem Colstrip created with renewable energy technology, but Bullock went out of the way to make sure the balance of power is held by advocates of the old paradigm, who will surely try to end on terms favorable to Colstrip.

Colstrip can’t fix the problem; it is the problem.

Wade Sikorski

Baker, Montana