OPINION: State senator's support for Clean Power Plan no surprise
Recently, State Sen. Greg Jergeson, perhaps best known for allegations that he illegally coordinated with “dark money” groups in order to “improperly influence the outcome” of his election, took to the opinion pages of several Montana newspapers attacking Americans for Prosperity for standing up for Montana’s right to make its own energy decisions by refusing to implement President Obama’s “Clean Power Plan” in our state.
The senator, quite radically, argues that Montana would be better served by turning the control of our energy decisions over to unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. — a decision that studies show will hike the average family’s energy bill by $500 a year and leave thousands Montanans out of work.
Just this week, Gov. Bullock put forward a plan to move forward with implementing these regulations, but we need to slam the brakes on his plan before it goes any further.
No matter what the governor’s office would have you believe, truth is, implementing the “Clean Power Plan” will give Montana much less control over its energy decisions. In submitting an implementation plan, Gov. Bullock would be crafting an energy proposal that achieves President Obama’s requirements while pretending it’s a Montana-based solution — hoping you’ll never be the wiser.
It isn’t.
It accepts sweeping federal mandates from unelected bureaucrats at the EPA that will hike Montana power bills, heating bills, and destroy thousands of jobs. Studies show that 2,000 jobs will be threatened by power plant closures from the new rule. Montana’s economy will be hit hard as the EPA forces other states to retire coal plants that import coal from Montana.
Twenty-seven states have now signed on to a lawsuit against these expensive new regulations and for good reason. The EPA has woefully overstepped its legal boundaries in mandating such sweeping changes to our states power grid and until the courts decide if this plan is even legal, Montanans shouldn’t spend a single dime trying to implement it.
New EPA rules on power plants, the so-called “Clean Power Plan,” will require Montana to reduce carbon emissions 47 percent by 2030. It is the costliest regulation ever put forward by the federal government and sets an entirely unrealistic standard for our state. Even Gov. Bullock has admitted that the rules are unfair to Montana, setting a standard for Montana that is far more stringent than the rule being proposed by richer states like Ohio, New York or even California.
No one argues with Montana’s need for clean air, but is it really worth $29 billion a year to implement new rules that will have no measurable impact on our climate? Even the EPA’s own numbers say will only reduce atmospheric carbon by a measly 0.2 percent and will only decrease global temperatures by an imperceptible .01 degree.
Perhaps that’s why everyone from the Chamber of Commerce to the labor unions, free market advocates and energy producers have come out against this plan. It should be Montana — not unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. — making decisions about our energy future.
Six governors — Democratic and Republican alike — have stood up to this unreasonable regulation by refusing to comply with it. They’ve recognized that states shouldn’t waste hard-earned tax dollars implementing a plan until we know if it’s legal to begin with. Montana should do the same.
Herbst is the state director for Americans for Prosperity Montana.