Flooding and our future: a unique insurance policy

“The damage is catastrophic,” a Red Lodge business owner said. “We’re between a rock and a hard place. And if we don’t get some assistance, we’re not gonna make it.” He speaks for all of us who were hard hit by the flooding last week.

We know that there’s a risk of fires and smoke interrupting our summer revenue stream. However, an extreme weather event, like this flooding disaster at the beginning of tourist season, and following on from the coronavirus pandemic, has devastated businesses, infrastructure and households. Many of us won’t recover.

Like you, we cherish Montana, places like the world-renowned Yellowstone Park, our rivers, and the towns that thrive on the tourism they attract — Gardiner, Red Lodge, Livingston, Billings and Kalispell, to name just a few. Why did this happen?

Until the floods, this spring was wet and cold. Then, the warming temperatures meant rapid snowmelt and rain-on-snow events. Coupled with the high streamflow, the result was catastrophic flooding.

Extreme weather events — heat, drought, floods and wildfire — are predicted to occur more frequently as we keep warming the atmosphere by adding carbon pollution from burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas.

According to the Greater Yellowstone Climate Assessment, our average and extreme  temperatures are getting warmer. Since 1950, Montana’s annual average temperatures have increased between 2.0 and 3.0°F. The Montana Climate Assessment report states: “Winter and spring in Montana have experienced the most warming. Average temperatures during these seasons have risen by 3.9°F.” (Montana Climate Assessment — https://montanaclimate.org/chapter/climate-change).

Meaningful climate action means getting on track to meet the goal of reducing carbon pollution 50% by 2050, deploying the clean energy economy and investing in forest management to sequester carbon.

To decarbonize our energy sources, fortunately there are technological solutions ready to roll that won’t tank our economy. In Montana we’ve got options in spades, like wind, solar, hydro and geothermal. Coupled with battery storage technologies, we could have reliable nonpolluting energy that will reduce and eventually eliminate carbon pollution.

As small business owners and retired professionals ourselves we in the Citizens Climate Lobby support the fiscally conservative way to get there from here, called carbon pricing. See https://citizensclimatelobby.org/price-on-carbon .

A fellow volunteer in Nevada recently asked: “How much will this cost? This question has two sides: How much will it cost to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? And how much will it cost if we don’t?” 

She found that Deloitte, a premier accounting, tax and consulting company, recently issued a report that estimated “the gain to the U.S. economy from decarbonizing is $3 trillion. If we do nothing, the cost is $14.5 trillion.” That’s on the national scale. How much is this flooding going to cost the taxpayer, the businesses, the home owners and the towns here in Montana? We have a lot to gain if we do act, but much more to lose if we don’t.

We’re extremely grateful to Sens. Daines and Tester and Rep. Rosendale for quickly urging that President Biden approve a major disaster declaration to deal with the flooding impacts. When they work together, we all benefit. Now, they need to work together to enact legislation for transitioning to a clean energy economy. Carbon Fee and Dividend policies, sometimes called Cashback Carbon Pricing, help, not hurt, our economy. 

We ask you to call or write Sen. Daines, Sen. Tester, and Rep. Rosendale and add your voice to the chorus of citizens who want effective, reasonable nonpartisan policy to help stabilize the climate.  

Sen. Tester: email: [email protected]; phone: 202-224-2644.

Sen. Daines: email: http://www.daines.senate.gov/connect/email-steve; phone: 202-224-2651.

Rep. Rosendale: email: [email protected]; phone: 406-502-1435.

Or you can use our website: http://www.cclusa.org/write or http://www.cclusa.org/call .

As the U.S. Chamber of Commerce states, “Inaction is not an option.”

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Laurel Eastman, Citizens Climate Lobby National Outdoor Industry Action Team co-leader, Bigfork

Alexandra Amonette, Big TImber

Robin Paone, Whitefish

Aidan Stevens, Missoula

Laura Reynolds, Kalispell