Issue Position: Renewable Energy

Issue Position

-As we confront global climate change, we must reduce reliance on fossil fuels through a combination of energy conservation, energy efficiency, and the development of clean, renewable energy sources. We can achieve this goal while providing transitions to good-paying jobs in a clean energy economy.
-It is important that the state of Montana sets ambitious and obtainable goals for greenhouse gas reductions, as neighboring states have done. The legislature needs to support the development of clean, renewable energy and remove obstacles to net-metering so that homeowners and businesses who want to install solar panels and wind turbines are not discouraged from doing so. In addition, we need to set standards for energy conservation on buildings.
-Montana has the second highest wind energy potential of all states, and we need to incentivize utility scale wind and solar energy in eastern Montana to utilize the transmission capacity already coming out of Montana, which usage is now diminishing as Colstrip Units 1 and 2 have been shut down. While we are making this transition to clean energy, we need to make sure that fossil fuel workers can make the transition to good-paying renewable energy jobs as we have seen in Texas and Iowa.

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