Common Sense Opposition to Senate Bill 338
The 65th Montana Legislature is currently debating Senate Bill 338, legislation proposed by Senator Duane Ankney (R-Colstrip). The bill is also known as the “Colstrip Decommissioning Bill.” The Montana Chamber of Commerce, the Montana Taxpayers Association, the Northwest Energy Coalition and the owners of the Colstrip Power Generation facility oppose the bill. Read why below.
In addition, there are quite a few myths circulating about Senate Bill 338. Learn more in our fact-checker here.>>>
A Strong Precedent Deterring New Business to Montana
‘The Chamber drives this message that Montana is open for business, we try to encourage that in every way possible, to bring the most optimal business climate to Montana. We’re concerned about the message that the decommissioning requirements here will send to businesses who want to come here and those who are well established here. We think that some of the social costs and the cost shifts that are within Senate Bill 338 are difficult to quantify, and even with the negotiation processes that are placed in here the ambiguity of those fees could be a deterrent for out of state businesses to get involved here or to those who have made a huge commitment long-term to Montana. I urge the committee to consider the precedent that Senate Bill 338 would set. This does single out one industry and I question if that is truly equal treatment.”
- Bridger Mahlum, Montana Chamber of Commerce
Source: Testimony before the 65th Montana Legislature, Senate Energy & Telecommunications Committee Hearing March 16, 2017
Punishing Important Partners in Montana’s Energy Economy
“This bill is once again an opportunity lost. This bill isn’t looking for solutions on how to move forward. This bill is looking to stick it to utilities that have done business here for 50 years. Utilities that we could potentially do business with for 50 more years as Montana has valuable energy resources that they could use to replace the power from Colstrip as well as fill new load growth and capacity needs.”
-Diego Rivas, Northwest Energy Coalition
Source: Testimony before the 65th Montana Legislature, Senate Energy & Telecommunications Committee Hearing March 16, 2017
Montana Condones Punishing Businesses for Making Legitimate and Legal Business Decisions
“Senate Bill 338 is bad policy for the State of Montana. As currently written, the bill would require the owners of the Colstrip to pay an exit fee to the State of Montana regardless of whether market conditions, laws, and regulatory requirements make retiring the unit the most reasonable decision. In effect, the policy embodied in SB 338 is that the state condones punishing businesses for making a perfectly legitimate (and legal) business decision to stop operating. This is the wrong message for the state to send to companies already doing business in the state, as well as companies that are considering doing business in the state.
-Tom Ebzery, Billings attorney representing Puget Sound Energy, Avista, Portland General Electric
Source: Testimony before the 65th Montana Legislature, Senate Energy & Telecommunications Committee Hearing March 16, 2017
An Exit Fee Will Have a Chilling Impact on Recruiting New Businesses to Montana
“Montana and local governments spend a great amount of time and effort recruiting business to come to the State. In particular they like to attract business that employ a lot of people, and provide good paying jobs. In fact these same governments come to the legislature and request programs to reduce the costs to businesses of locating in Montana, expanding here, or hiring and training new employees. Nowhere in this recruiting process are these business told that if and when they have to depart that they will be assessed an exit fee.”
–Bob Story, Montana Taxpayers Association
Source: Testimony before the 65th Montana Legislature, Senate Energy & Telecommunications Committee Hearing March 16, 2017
An Exit Fee Imposed on Businesses After Years of Supporting Good Jobs & Paying Their Fair Share
“We do not believe that owners of industrial facilities – coal-fired electric generating facilities or other kinds of facilities – should be legislatively required to pay for such things as the loss of value of local real estate, outstanding bond liability, and workforce retraining. We believe that our significant contribution to the economy of Montana over the past 30-plus years, through payment of taxes (coal severance, property, generation and wholesale energy transaction) and through the creation of family-wage, union jobs at the plant and the Rosebud mine, needs to be considered before requiring plant owners to commit to what amounts to an exit fee more than a decade in advance.”
-Dave Robertson, Portland General Electric
Source: Testimony before the 65th Montana Legislature, Senate Energy & Telecommunications Committee Hearing March 16, 2017