Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James Conner.
I don’t know whether drill and dig Democratic State Senator Jim Keane of Butte is a global warming denier, but I do know that if he’s ever opposed an energy development or natural resource exploitation project he’s kept that opposition well hidden from public view. So it’s no surprise that Mike Dennison reports that Keane’s leading the opposition to putting new climate change language in the platform of the Montana Democratic Party:
A party platform committee considered the change, which would have said the party believes in protecting the environment rather than burdening future generations with the “extraordinary costs of climate-change-caused” effects, but voted against adding this new climate-change language.
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The proposed language change failed Friday when 18 members of the platform committee voted against it and 16 others voted to include some form of concern about “climate change” or “environmentally caused disasters.”
Keane said if Democrats take stands that allow them to be defined as against natural-resource development, it makes it difficult for them to win in eastern Montana and other rural areas.
“If you’re going to do it, don’t expect to ever be in the majority (at the Legislature),” he said.
Keane said climate change isn’t relevant to Montana Democrats because it’s a “global issue.”
“To start saying that we’re going to make a huge difference (on this issue) is crazy,” he said. “Instead of trying to talk about climate change, we should be talking about how to have the clean coal technology.”
What’s crazy is Keane’s believing there’s such a thing as clean coal technology. Coal is inherently dirty. Mining it tears up the countryside, generates dust, and pollutes water. Burning it produces carbon dioxide (global warming), other gases including sulphur dioxide (acid rain), and particulates that do no one’s health good.
Refusing to acknowledge the short and long term costs of coal is bad science and bad politics. Expect this issue to go to the floor of the platform convention.
Here’s the current platform’s climate change language:
We support the constitutional right of Montanans to a clean and healthful environment. A healthy environment and a strong economy go hand in hand. Responsible and sustainable utilization of our natural resources should be the guiding principle. Montana’s energy policy must ensure affordable, reliable, environmentally sound energy resources with a priority for Montana residences and businesses. Constructive responses to climate change are imperative. [Page 26.]
We recognize the overwhelming consensus of the scientific community that global warming is occurring and accelerating, that it is to a significant degree caused by human activities, and because of the consequences for Montana’s economy, environment, culture, and public health, it should be effectively and promptly addressed.
Because the problem is global, it can be best addressed by the United States through national solutions. Thus, we support the call from industry and environmental groups alike for the adoption of federal standards for reducing atmospheric levels of CO2 by, among other things, establishing strategies and protocols concerning capture, transportation, sequestration and liability for disposal of CO2, with a priority to create and conserve sustainable jobs.
Being a state with immense land resources, Montana can contribute to the solution and also economically benefit state lands and private business through terrestrial (land and plant-based) and geological carbon sequestration. Thus, we support market-based approaches, such as that conducted by the Chicago Climate Exchange, as an effective means to decreasing carbon emissions and providing economic opportunities for Montana. This kind of proactive approach for reducing CO2 will create additional, sustainable, and desirable jobs in Montana and invigorate our state economy. [Page 29.]