The development of energy resources is typically dependent upon the availability of infrastructure such as hydrocarbon pipelines and transmission lines. Many of the issues concerning energy development and consequently infrastructure construction focus on the impact of climate change generated by a particular energy resource. The continuing controversy over the permitting of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline…
Category: eminent domain
Power Companies Losing Out To Rooftop Solar??
—by John Vincent, former Montana Public Service Commissioner America’s utility industry, “Big Power,” is, by their own admission, scared. Made up of large corporations with huge and profitable investments in centralized generation and long distance, high voltage transmission (profits mostly guaranteed by monopoly status and government regulation), they are facing what their own industry calls…
Energy Conservation And Efficiency….. Good For People, Business, And The Environment
– By John Vincent, Former Montana Public Service Commissioner It’s recently become all too clear that “big power” is “waging war” on energy efficiency and conservation because it reduces the amount of power they sell and cuts into their profits. But for others (residential consumers, private businesses – both large and small, and corporations), energy…
Eminent Domain in Montana – The Montana House Fails Landowners
Now that the Montana legislative session is over, here is my tally is on what landowners got out of the session regarding private property rights and specifically those rights related to merchant transmission lines: – HB 417: this bill requires that a condemnor provide landowners a final written offer prior to initiating a condemnation complaint….
Montana Senate Bill 180 Goes To The House
Montana rural landowners are gearing up to push Senate Bill (SB) 180 through the Montana House. SB 180 will repeal the power of eminent domain granted via the Montana Major Facility Siting Act (MFSA) as legislated in the 2011 session under House Bill 198. I’ve spent much time since the last Montana legislative session delving…