During the last week, several significant energy-related events that peaked my interest occurred. Here’s a brief summary of those that I think are worth noting:
– Northwestern Energy (NWE) formally requested a withdrawal of the Mountain States Transmission Intertie (MSTI) Right-of-Way application from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. NWE submitted the request for right-of-way over federal lands in 2007; NWE also submitted a MSTI-related application to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) for a Certificate of Compliance under the Montana Major Facility Siting Act (MFSA) in 2008. As proposed by NWE, the MSTI project consisted of a 500 kV transmission line and a 50+ acre substation that would traverse 400 miles of land in Montana and Idaho. The project met intense public opposition (under full disclosure, I was part of the vocal opposition to MSTI) because of several factors including project need, project impact on rate payers, project impact on land owners, and an unnecessary additional conduit for fossil fuel energy. Although the MSTI MFSA application still stands at Montana DEQ (we are told that there is no mechanism to withdraw a MFSA application), we consider the MSTI project dead. As John Vincent, a former Montana Public Service Commissioner said in reference to NWE’s recent request for the right-of-way application withdrawal:
Finally, we can now say “We told you so” on MSTI. We can go back fully 4 years to find in our records any number of findings and statements proclaiming the lack of need for and the non-viability of the MSTI project. We knew it years before NWE did, or at least before they were willing to admit they had made a major miscalculation and mistake.
Read the NWE request letter for the right-of- way application withdrawal here: MSTI BLM NWE ROW Application Withdrawal January 6 2014
Read more on MSTI and citizen concerns here: CCM website
– The Northern Plains Resource Council and Carbon County Resource Council (CCRC) are challenging in court a decision by the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation to prevent the public from testifying on a proposed oil well permit for the Belfry, Montana, (the Beartooth Front) area last month. A lawsuit was filed on January 8, 2014 with the Montana 13th District Court in Yellowstone County (Cause No. DV-14-0027 Dept. 3). Read more on this in: NPRC lawsuit
– The controversy over sage grouse listing on the endangered species list is heating up and potentially impacts various energy and energy-related activities. As Andrew Gulliford notes in his High Country News op-ed on “ Who Speaks for the Sage Grouse”:
Across the West, politicians and oil and gas industry spokesmen are wringing their hands, shaking their heads and saying “no” to Bureau of Land Management proposals to set aside large swaths of land for the greater sage grouse, and for federal plans to list the separate Gunnison sage grouse as an endangered species.
The opposition to sage grouse ESA listing is not limited to politicians and fossil fuel industries, but also includes such diverse groups as utilities and ranchers. Other links on this topic include:
Montana Governor’s Advisory Council on Sage Grouse
BLM’s Greater Sage-Grouse on public lands web page
Montana Rural Electric’s position page: REA sage grouse position
Sage Grouse Initiative: Op-ed and NRCS Sage Grouse Initiative Information: NRCS
Keeping Sage Grouse Off the ESA Listing
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Sage Grouse
State of Montana – Establishing a Greater Sage-grouse Habitat Conservation Advisory Council: Montana Sage Grouse Advisory Council