Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James Conner.
Democrat John Lewis waited until he won the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House before releasing his All of the Above and Below: Montana Energy Jobs Framework (PDF). That was smart. He’s for virtually every kind of energy development — coal, natural gas, oil, etc. — that creates jobs in Montana. The only exception is subsidizing producing ethanol from corn, a boondoggle that probably consumes more fossil fuel than it replaces — and he’s against that only because he’s for producing cellulosic biofuels. Environmentalists will be furious.
Here’s an excerpt:
With a wealth of coal, oil, natural gas, wind, hydropower and timber, Montana is in the driver’s seat to lead the nation toward energy independence. In addition, the hard-working Montanans who harvest, mine, burn, refine, transport, and research our natural resources will continue to lead the Treasure State toward a new energy revolution. More than 2,000 Montanans work in coal. The oil and gas industry supports 4,000 Montana jobs adding billions to our state’s economy. At the same time, timber jobs that supported Montana families for generations have been slashed in half in the last 20 years as harvest volumes have dropped 64% since 1993. With many of our forests overgrown and ravaged by beetle kill, there’s no reason Montana’s biomass shouldn’t be contributing to our state’s energy portfolio. [Hi-lighting added, footnotes omitted.]
“Energy independence” is a dog whistle for “we’ll never have to suck up to them dirty Arabs again.” It’s also a chimera, as Intel founder Andy Grove observed when George W. Bush went begging to OPEC and returned empty-handed. And it’s standard campaign language for Democrats and Republicans.
Lewis debates Republican nominee Ryan Zinke and Libertarian Mike Fellows in two days. The timing of the release of his energy jobs framework is not a coincidence.
Disclosure. Although I take the dimmest possible view of the Keystone XL pipeline and development of the Athabasca Tar Sands, I’ve urged, and continue to urge, environmentalists to cut Lewis and John Walsh some slack for their support of the pipeline. The political reality is that opposing the pipeline would drive a wedge between Walsh and Lewis and organized labor to the detriment of their campaigns. Neither Montana nor the planet will become greener if next year our two newest blessings in Congress are Sen. Daines and Rep. Zinke.