Speech
Western Governors Association Transmission Session
Remarks of Governor Judy Martz
Big Sky
9/16/2003
Let me begin by thanking you all for joining me in the discussion of this very important topic. It is gratifying to see your concern and interest, especially at this early hour.
We have an agenda that involves several presentations and I would like to reserve time enough for those presentations and questions, but if you will all indulge me, I would like to offer a few introductory thoughts on this topic.
Most of you, I think, know that I have decided not to seek a second term, so in roughly 16 months time I will hand this job, which I have enjoyed immensely, off to a successor. I mention this point because in the time I have left, I intend to redouble my efforts to accomplish things for the people of Montana.
One of the areas I will concentrate on, and apply the skills and energies of my staff to, is the matter at hand.
My interest in this topic predates my time as Governor. I remember doing staff work for Senator Conrad Burns, where energy supply costs for industrial and residential users were of high import. My service on the Board of St. James Hospital in Butte illustrated the same point.
When I served as Lieutenant Governor, I remember the painstaking analysis done when the Racicot-Martz administration selected the Otter Creek tracts and I remember, too, our interactions with the delegation, then Congressman Hill and Senators Baucus and Burns, as we studied and then selected the Otter Creek properties based on several studies which convinced us all that these assets held great benefits for the State of Montana in terms of coal.
But, Montana coal is only a piece of the puzzle we have under discussion today. The real topic here is what can we all do to increase and enhance the capacity and reliability of our transmission grid in the Western States.
Over the past couple of years and especially over the past few weeks, I have become convinced that this matter is among America’s most pressing infrastructure problems and a matter of paramount importance to Montana.
Let me remind you that my state, after a long period of stable rates, is now exposed to the marketplace for electricity supply. In some instances, this has led to very substantial increases in electricity costs. Some of our businesses have seen rates double or worse. This could have been avoided if they had a adequate, affordable power supply.
The only solution I see to this problem is increased supply. That is to say, increased generation, and that generation is possible ONLY if our transmission system is enlarged and improved.
This is a regional problem, a national problem. California, Oregon, and Washington are all short of supply. Those load centers are too reliant on natural gas and too subject to fuel price risk.
They need access to new and more diverse supplies, some of which can come from my state -- from our wind resource, from coal, or hydro, or maybe even other technologies.
I mentioned Otter Creek and other coal sources in southeastern Montana. I worked very hard on behalf of Montanans to secure outright ownership of the Otter Creek coal reserves in southeastern Montana for the benefit of my fellow citizens.
As Otter Creek and other areas are developed, they will result in hundreds of jobs and access for Montanans to a low-cost stable fuel supply.
Again, folks, these assets CANNOT be developed without additional transmission.
I have listened as Governor to a number of prospective generators, wind power, hydro and biomass advocates in addition to coal and gas promoters, and they all arrive at the same point . . . in order to develop their Montana resources improved transmission capability is needed.
The status quo doesn’t even provide enough certainty for developers to attract financing needed to advance energy projects.
Recent events . . . I refer here to the big August blackout . . . have further convinced me that we have to act. The reliability of energy delivery is imperiled by an antiquated and insufficient transmission system and as the country recovers from recession, there are serious questions even about the adequacy of supply.
Our home ground . . . the northwest . . . is short of transmission capacity today. That situation will be most surely exacerbated as our economy recovers and as energy needs along the west coast and throughout the region grow.
Senator Conrad Burns of Montana, my old boss, has forwarded an amendment for consideration in the Senate’s energy debate. I support that amendment.
Ms. Chris Heggem [heg-im] is here to give us all the benefit of a discussion of that amendment and its status as Congress moves toward a new energy bill. I will introduce Chris for her remarks momentarily.
I recognize that the position I outline this morning is at odds with my earlier thinking on this matter and with the present position of the Western Governors’ Association.
My mind has changed and I intend to try to persuade my colleagues that their’s should too. It is time for us to develop a method for action, a means to rectify a serious structural problem; a means to bring new energy supply to our growing cities and towns throughout the northwest.
An important step in that direction is the provision Senator Burns is advancing and I would like now to ask, before we listen to several private entities working to improve transmission, Chris Heggem to briefly describe and discuss the Senator’s transmission initiative.
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