MEIC
Montana Environmental Information Center
July 11, 2022 - Let the PSC know that you do not like their new Rule
July 6, 2022 email from MEIC:
This is a big one, folks.
The Montana Public Service Commission (PSC) is supposed to protect Montana energy consumers from price gouging from monopoly utilities such as NorthWestern Energy. Unfortunately, the PSC has proposed a new rule that could prevent MEIC and other organizations and businesses from participating in PSC proceedings in which it decides whether a utility can (over)charge customers for building or maintaining expensive fossil fuel power plants or investing in clean energy resources. This proposed rule would allow the PSC to kick out organizations and clean energy businesses who provide essential information and expert testimony regarding how a utility is unfairly increasing the cost of power to customers.
In other states, the public service commissions can actually cover the cost for some organizations to participate. Utility commissions such as the PSC are often understaffed and rely on other parties and their experts to help create a robust record so the commission can make an informed and well-balanced decision about utility bills.
This rule change would mean our PSC could prevent organizations and clean energy developers from intervening and even remove them from proceedings with little justification. Because public comment does not enter the official record in these types of cases, intervention is the only meaningful way the public can participate in these processes.
We need you to tell the PSC this rule change is bad for the PSC, bad for consumers, and bad for Montana.
In order to comment online, follow these steps:
Mark your calendar for a hearing on August 2. Please share this action item with your friends -- it's crucial to keep your representation in the PSC and protect you as a consumer.
Here's the draft proposal, if you'd like to read it.
Click here to read more about this proposed rule and the reasoning behind it in the Missoulian.
July 6, 2022 email from MEIC:
This is a big one, folks.
The Montana Public Service Commission (PSC) is supposed to protect Montana energy consumers from price gouging from monopoly utilities such as NorthWestern Energy. Unfortunately, the PSC has proposed a new rule that could prevent MEIC and other organizations and businesses from participating in PSC proceedings in which it decides whether a utility can (over)charge customers for building or maintaining expensive fossil fuel power plants or investing in clean energy resources. This proposed rule would allow the PSC to kick out organizations and clean energy businesses who provide essential information and expert testimony regarding how a utility is unfairly increasing the cost of power to customers.
In other states, the public service commissions can actually cover the cost for some organizations to participate. Utility commissions such as the PSC are often understaffed and rely on other parties and their experts to help create a robust record so the commission can make an informed and well-balanced decision about utility bills.
This rule change would mean our PSC could prevent organizations and clean energy developers from intervening and even remove them from proceedings with little justification. Because public comment does not enter the official record in these types of cases, intervention is the only meaningful way the public can participate in these processes.
We need you to tell the PSC this rule change is bad for the PSC, bad for consumers, and bad for Montana.
In order to comment online, follow these steps:
- Visit http://psc.mt.gov.
- Find the “Documents & Proceedings” tab and select “Comment on a Proceeding."
- Select “Continue as Guest."
- Select “Comment on a Proceeding."
- Complete the form.
- Item: Rule
- Tracking number: 2021.04.053
- Tracking Name: Notice of Draft Proposal
- Submit the form.
Mark your calendar for a hearing on August 2. Please share this action item with your friends -- it's crucial to keep your representation in the PSC and protect you as a consumer.
Here's the draft proposal, if you'd like to read it.
Click here to read more about this proposed rule and the reasoning behind it in the Missoulian.
If you wish to sign a petition to encourage Northwestern Energy CEO Bob Rowe to invest in clean renewable electricity, please sign the petition at this MEIC link.
This event series has been moved online - https://meic.org/dont-fall-for-gas-event-series/
September 16, 2021 6:30-8:00 pm via Zoom.
Please join us to learn more about the climate and health dangers of gas extraction, transportation, and burning, and hear from other Montana organizations about what they are doing to address the climate crisis and to decrease Montana’s use of gas. Register here. Or copy and paste the link below.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIlceqhqz0oHdCyhbdSJu7l2J9w0B7_bL_k
October 21, 2021 5:30-6:30 pm via Zoom.
Join us if you are interested in learning more about NorthWestern’s gas plant proposal and its many flaws. Register here. Or copy and paste the link below.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEpf-6vqD8vG9fJU5AR_pymEw6SbU1KJ5pC
Description:
The gas industry has known for decades that it contributes to climate change. For the past 100 years, the gas industry has been working to convince us that gas is safe, reliable, and essential. The gas industry lobbies across the country to prevent better building codes to protect its profits. Industry has even gone so far as to directly advertise these myths to children, distributing coloring books to elementary schools using pro-industry messaging.
The truth is, gas is not a bridge fuel between coal and renewable energy, gas is not the solution to stabilize our energy grid, gas will not save customers money, and gas is not the solution to the climate crisis.
Event:
Join Montana Environmental Information Center Policy Director Anne Hedges and Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate experts Drs. Lori and Rob Byron to learn about how gas extraction, transportation, and use in our buildings and homes for electricity, heating, cooking, and more, brings serious costs and health risks. There will be an opportunity to connect with various organizations working on gas and climate issues, and learn how to get involved in your community and across the state.
Featured Speakers:
Lori Byron, MD, FAAP
Chair, Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate
Dr. Lori G. Byron practiced pediatrics for 27 years on the Crow Indian Reservation. Currently retired from Indian Health Service, she now works as a Pediatric Hospitalist in a private hospital and works on environmental issues with several organizations, including co-chairing the Citizens’ Climate Lobby Health Team and being a member of both the Children’s Health Advisory Committee to the EPA and the Executive Committee of the Environmental Health Council at the American Academy of Pediatrics. She is currently a Masters’ Candidate from Johns Hopkins in Energy Policy and Climate.
Robert Byron, MD, MPH, FACP
Vice Chair, Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate
Dr. Robert Byron, an internist, has practiced for more than two decades on the Crow Indian Reservation. He is a founding member of the Bighorn Valley Health Center, a federally qualified health center in Eastern Montana, and a former governor for the Montana Chapter of the American College of Physicians. Rob co-chairs the Citizens’ Climate Lobby Health Team and is a member of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health. He advocates for addressing climate change with emphasis on public health and environmental justice.
Anne Hedges
Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs, Montana Environmental Information Center
Anne Hedges directs MEIC’s program work, including its legislative, policy, and legal activities. Anne received her B.S. in Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning from the University of California at Davis and a Masters of Environmental Law from Vermont Law School. A policy expert with MEIC since 1993, she oversees all program work with her primary focus on climate change, fossil fuels, clean air, and energy.
Please join us to learn more about the climate and health dangers of gas extraction, transportation, and burning, and hear from other Montana organizations about what they are doing to address the climate crisis and to decrease Montana’s use of gas. Register here. Or copy and paste the link below.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIlceqhqz0oHdCyhbdSJu7l2J9w0B7_bL_k
October 21, 2021 5:30-6:30 pm via Zoom.
Join us if you are interested in learning more about NorthWestern’s gas plant proposal and its many flaws. Register here. Or copy and paste the link below.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEpf-6vqD8vG9fJU5AR_pymEw6SbU1KJ5pC
Description:
The gas industry has known for decades that it contributes to climate change. For the past 100 years, the gas industry has been working to convince us that gas is safe, reliable, and essential. The gas industry lobbies across the country to prevent better building codes to protect its profits. Industry has even gone so far as to directly advertise these myths to children, distributing coloring books to elementary schools using pro-industry messaging.
The truth is, gas is not a bridge fuel between coal and renewable energy, gas is not the solution to stabilize our energy grid, gas will not save customers money, and gas is not the solution to the climate crisis.
Event:
Join Montana Environmental Information Center Policy Director Anne Hedges and Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate experts Drs. Lori and Rob Byron to learn about how gas extraction, transportation, and use in our buildings and homes for electricity, heating, cooking, and more, brings serious costs and health risks. There will be an opportunity to connect with various organizations working on gas and climate issues, and learn how to get involved in your community and across the state.
Featured Speakers:
Lori Byron, MD, FAAP
Chair, Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate
Dr. Lori G. Byron practiced pediatrics for 27 years on the Crow Indian Reservation. Currently retired from Indian Health Service, she now works as a Pediatric Hospitalist in a private hospital and works on environmental issues with several organizations, including co-chairing the Citizens’ Climate Lobby Health Team and being a member of both the Children’s Health Advisory Committee to the EPA and the Executive Committee of the Environmental Health Council at the American Academy of Pediatrics. She is currently a Masters’ Candidate from Johns Hopkins in Energy Policy and Climate.
Robert Byron, MD, MPH, FACP
Vice Chair, Montana Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate
Dr. Robert Byron, an internist, has practiced for more than two decades on the Crow Indian Reservation. He is a founding member of the Bighorn Valley Health Center, a federally qualified health center in Eastern Montana, and a former governor for the Montana Chapter of the American College of Physicians. Rob co-chairs the Citizens’ Climate Lobby Health Team and is a member of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health. He advocates for addressing climate change with emphasis on public health and environmental justice.
Anne Hedges
Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs, Montana Environmental Information Center
Anne Hedges directs MEIC’s program work, including its legislative, policy, and legal activities. Anne received her B.S. in Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning from the University of California at Davis and a Masters of Environmental Law from Vermont Law School. A policy expert with MEIC since 1993, she oversees all program work with her primary focus on climate change, fossil fuels, clean air, and energy.
