Schweitzer energy plan not hot air
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer has a huge amount of energy, and lately he's been applying a great deal of it to one pursuit: Putting Montana's untapped underground energy to use.
So far, Schweitzer's efforts haven't gotten a lot of attention. But behind the scenes, the governor is thinking big and taking action to hustle up interest in the economic potential of Montana's vast coal reserves. It is sure to be a major topic at an energy symposium that will be hosted by the governor in Bozeman next month.
Schweitzer has co-opted a national issue by envisioning Montana as a leader in a drive toward energy independence and security. And he sees it in the sprawling, economically moribund expanses of Eastern Montana.
"I'm talking about the big open, the place where nobody has been moving to for 30 years, the place where people have been leaving for years," Schweitzer said in a recent visit with the Inter Lake editorial board.
Under the sage and gumbo clay, there is an estimated 120 billion tons of coal, and of interest to Schweitzer is a type of coal that has little market interest, unless it is put to a particular use: coal-to-liquid fuel production. Montana coal, "in liquid terms," equates to a volume one-quarter the size of the entire Middle East oil reserves, according to Schweitzer.
"I look at this as Montana's niche," Schweitzer said. "We could be the Saudi Arabia of coal."
What is striking about Schweitzer's interest is that he has immersed himself in the technology for "synfuel" production, and he has doggedly pursued that technology along with the capital investment muscle to make it happen in Montana.
He has met with representatives of a South African firm that is the world leader in synfuel technology; and this week, he is meeting with representatives of General Electric, another company that has coal-to-liquid technology. The recently passed federal energy bill comes with 80 percent loan guarantees for coal liquefaction projects, Schweitzer said, and that has spurred considerable interest among investors.
Developing Montana coal faces a considerable hurdle, Schweitzer concedes, in the widespread perception of coal as a dirty, smog-producing fuel that requires "strip mining" for extraction.
"Coal is a four-letter word in the environmental community, and it ought to be," he said.
But the governor has a strong rebuttal, arguing that synfuels burn far cleaner than petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel, and extraction does not involve strip mining. He argues that it is cost-effective to produce, but it requires a sizable infrastructure and labor force - things that could provide immense benefits for Eastern Montana communities.
"This is big picture. This is a solution for us 15 years out," Schweitzer said.
Whether or not Montana can be a revolutionary energy producer for the United States is uncertain, because so many pieces have to fall into place. But someone who sees Eastern Montana as being valuable to the state and the nation, rather than dismissing it as an empty economic wasteland, deserves attention.
Schweitzer is doing what a governor is supposed to do - he's looking at Montana's long-term potential, finding strengths where weaknesses were perceived. And he's not just talking about it.