101 Montana Business Leaders Urge Senators to Support Strong Climate and Energy Legislation

Contact: Beth Berlin, Climate Solutions, 406-239-8358; bethberlin@climatesolutions.org

For Immediate Release: September 25, 2009 (embargoed until 11 a.m. MDT)

A wide diversity of 101 Montana business leaders  - encouraged by the thousands of new jobs that could be created with national climate and energy legislation - sent a letter today to their U.S. Senators urging them to support a strong bill when the issue comes before them later this fall.

The letter comes just days before a comprehensive climate and energy bill is expected to be introduced in the Senate. The House of Representatives narrowly passed a climate bill in late June.

"We need your help to enact a comprehensive and forward-looking clean energy policy that will fuel business innovation and investment," said the letter, signed by a broad spectrum of businesses from tourism, clean energy, health care, energy efficiency and agriculture. "These times present an enormous opportunity to place our economy on a more solid foundation."

The letter cites several studies showing that carbon-reducing policies, energy efficiency incentives and clean-energy investments could create more than five million new jobs nationally while cutting carbon emissions, protecting the environment and helping to stabilize energy costs. One study estimates that accelerated investments in a clean energy economy could create over 6,000 jobs in Montana.

"Renewable energy technologies like wind and even solar have a great potential to provide rural communities a needed tax base and employment opportunities," said John Bacon, business manager of the 135-megawatt Judith Gap wind project in Harlowton, one of the business leaders that signed the letter. The state's first utility-scale wind power project, Judith Gap provides $1.2 million of tax revenue annually to Wheatland County.

"We're already seeing a lot of impacts from climate change, including loss of snowpack, declining water levels, rising water temperatures and habitat loss," added Denny Gignoux, owner and guide at the Montana Rafting Co. and Glacier Wilderness Guides. "These changes are rippling across key outdoor recreation industries such as whitewater rafting and fly fishing."

"We need swift action on climate change to preserve and protect our national parks so our children and grandchildren can enjoy them as our parents and grandparents did," he concluded.

"Clean energy makes sense for the environment, but it also makes sense for human health," said Beth Schenk, sustainability coordinator of St. Patrick's Hospital in Missoula. "Renewable energy, non-toxic energy, and energy that does not contribute to climate disruption are all important for long term human health."

Also signing the letter was Sustainable Oils, which is using camelina grown by Montana farmers to make aviation fuel. The biofuel, which is currently being tested by the U.S. military, has an 80 percent lower carbon footprint compared petroleum.  "Good climate and energy policies will continue to provide opportunity for companies like ours to continue to grow and prosper," said Sustainable Oils president Scott Johnson.
Tim Tolman, business manager of the McKinstry Co. in Missoula, extolled the energy efficiency benefits that comprehensive climate and energy legislation could create. "Energy efficiency is the cheapest, cleanest and smartest way to reduce global warming pollution and save businesses and consumers money at the same time," said Tolman, whose company is doing extensive energy efficiency work in Montana's schools.
 
According to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, the energy efficiency provisions in the House-approved climate and energy bill, by 2030, will save Montana consumers an average of $702 per household while creating 1,800 net new jobs.

The letter calls for comprehensive climate and energy legislation that:

* sets ambitious and specific goals and timetables for boosting energy efficiency, smart electric-grid development and renewable energy development. The letter suggests a goal of using  at least 25 percent renewable power by 2025.
* establishes tax incentives for investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
* includes market-based carbon policies and emission trading systems that reward farmers, land managers and entrepreneurs for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
* dedicates resources to protect the state's plants, wildlife and vital public lands from the effectsof global warming.

The letter and full list of signers is available at:  http://climatesolutions.org/solutions/States/montana/september-25-montana-teleconference
The business letter was coordinated by Climate Solutions, a Northwest U.S. organization that works to accelerate practical and profitable solutions to global warming, and Ceres, a leading coalition of investors and environmental groups working with companies to address sustainability challenges such as climate change. For more information, visit http://www.climatesolutions.org and http://www.ceres.org