HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-29-20 Public Comment - B. Kaeding - comments on draft Bozeman Climate PlanFrom:kaedingl@aol.com
To:Agenda; Natalie Meyer
Cc:kaedingl@aol.com
Subject:[SENDER UNVERIFIED]comments on draft Bozeman Climate Plan
Date:Thursday, October 29, 2020 11:44:11 AM
Attachments:BznClimatePlanComments-29Oct2020.docx
Dear Bozeman City Commission and Staff:
Attached are my comments on the draft Bozeman Climate Plan. Thank you.
Beth Kaeding
October 29, 2020
City of Bozeman Attn: Natalie Meyer or Jon Henderson P.O. Box 1230 Bozeman, MT 59771
Sent via email: agenda@bozeman.net
Dear Bozeman City Commission: Please accept my comments on the draft Bozeman Climate Plan. I much appreciate the City of
Bozeman’s strong commitment to addressing climate change and reducing carbon emissions.
Throughout the plan, the City of Bozeman remains steadfast in its dedication to adopting a plan that sources 100% of Bozeman’s energy from clean energy sources. It is one of the reasons I am proud to live in this city. Personally, my husband and I are committed to doing our part about climate change; we installed 36 solar panels on our home in September 2019 in order to generate
all of the electricity that we use annually. It is only by everyone’s efforts that this critical issue –
what is happening to our climate and, as a result, to our world’ ecosystems and human health and the Earth’s livability – can be addressed and, hopefully, solved.
I am a long-time member and past chair of Northern Plains Resource Council, which along with a number of other groups in Montana that are concerned about climate change and clean
renewable energy, submitted detailed and specific comments on the Bozeman Climate Plan. I reviewed that letter (in draft) and heartily support all the specific comments that it contains. What I present here is my personal opinion about the potential success of the Bozeman Climate Plan after years of experience with NorthWestern Energy (NWE).
Unfortunately, in my opinion, Bozeman’s Climate Plan will fail because so much of it depends
on NWE. That private monopoly supplier Montana electricity has a corporate policy of slick
advertisements and green washing of its values and commitment to clean, renewable energy sources that is transparently false to anyone who has dealt with them in the past. I have testified during many legislative sessions on numerous bills these past 20 years on issues related to coal, Colstrip, and clean renewable energy issues such as net metering and PACE [property assessed
clean energy] – and every single time, NWE’s lobbyist was there testifying on the other side of the issue. NWE only has a commitment to their corporate bottom line, and renewable energy doesn’t generate the cash flow that fossil fuel plants do for them (because the monopoly utility owns them or owns a stake in them). While NWE will tell you that renewable energy sources are “unreliable” and “economically infeasible,” that is patently false, and independent reviewers of
NWE’s data and report found that NWE manipulated the modeling data to present their fossil-fuel-focused point of view. By the way, NWE makes sure its corporate executives make millions every year. For example, between 2016 and 2018, the top five executives at NWE together earned $19.5 million [per “Investor Disclosure”].
Even in the face of the reality that coal is dead (or nearly so) NWE persists in all kinds of
shenanigans to try to buy more of the Colstrip Power Plant. Late last year, NWE presented its
20-year long-range plan to the Public Service Commission (PSC) describing how they would supply the future energy needs of their customers. NWE’s plan is to continue generating electricity from the coal-fired Colstrip Power Plant (and “buy” a bigger percentage of that plant
if they can bambozzle enough regulators to do so) as well as building new natural gas power
plants (natural gas is another greenhouse gas emitter with even more serious consequences to our
climate due to the methane released during gas drilling). There are NO new energy sources in their 20-year plan that are clean and renewable (e.g., wind, solar). Suffice to say, in my opinion, NWE’s cooperation and commitment to Bozeman’s Climate Plan (which relies so heavily on NWE’s participation) is not worth the paper it is written on.
On October 13, 2020, there was an article in the Bozeman Chronicle about the city’s plans for a
large solar array on the new Public Safety Center. I was thrilled to read that “the best option was the expanded array, which is expected to provide 271 megawatt hours in its first year of production . . .” However, I had to read that sentence multiple times as I had faced off against NWE in the legislature multiple times when Northern Plains and others were trying to pass
legislation to remove the 50 megawatt hour cap on net meters. I finally figured out that the new
safety center will not be net metered and that the city hopes to add battery storage to the system in the future. I applaud this move by the city to get around NWE and build a truly sustainable facility for Bozeman’s future.
As noted earlier, I was a reviewer of the joint comment letter on the draft Bozeman Climate Plan
sent by Northern Plains and other Montana groups, and within that letter are a number of suggestions and solutions for revisions to Bozeman’s Climate Plan. I support those recommendations. I again commend the City of Bozeman for their commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and moving our community toward a cleaner, renewable energy future. Thank you for all the thought and effort that has gone into this draft plan.
Sincerely,
Beth Kaeding 1024 Boylan Road Bozeman, Montana 59715 kaedingl@aol.com