Three Montanans, PSC Chairman Bob Rowe, D-Missoula, former Commissioner Bob Anderson, D-Helena and Thomas Michael Power, chairman of UM’s Economics Department collect energy awards

A regional energy coalition last week honored a current and former member of the Montana Public Service Commission and the chairman of the University of Montana Department of Economics.

The Seattle-based NW Energy Coalition presented its 2003 Headwaters award jointly to PSC Chairman Bob Rowe, D-Missoula, and to former Commissioner Bob Anderson, D-Helena. The award recognizes leadership in creating a clean and affordable energy future for the Pacific Northwest.

By the Missoulian State Bureau

http://missoulian.com/articles/2004/07/07/news/mtregional/news08.txt

It gave its 2002 Conservation Eagle award to Thomas Michael Power, chairman of UM’s Economics Department and a longtime advocate for environmental concerns and low-income consumers.
The three men were honored at an event June 30 at the Algeria Shrine Temple in Helena, cosponsored by the NW Energy Coalition and the Montana Environmental Information Center.

In presenting the award to Rowe and Anderson, NW Energy Coalition Sara Patton said that both commissioners distinguished themselves for their work not only in Montana and the Pacific Northwest, but also nationally. During their tenure on the PSC, both Rowe and Anderson served terms as president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. She praised both commissioners for their "vision, clarity of thought and persuasiveness."

Patton told how Anderson’s interest in energy issues was galvanized in the early 1970s when a Bureau of Reclamation study envisioned damming the Yellowstone River to provide cooling water for more than 40 new coal-fired power plants in Montana and the Northern Plains. A Livingston native, Anderson dedicated much of his career to promoting alternative, renewable energy sources – such as the clean and plentiful wind power that’s synonymous with his hometown, she said.

Rowe began his career in the 1970s as a Legal Services attorney advocating the interests of residential electricity customers. Patton praised Rowe as a constant source of inspiration and knowledge. Said Patton: "His deft analogies gave us fresh insight into the complexities of electric utility regulation, deregulation and reregulation." She thanked him for his "heartfelt commitment to low-income consumers and a healthy environment."

The Headwaters award included a vial of water taken from Columbia Lake, British Columbia, at the headwaters of the Columbia River watershed.

Patton praised Power not only for his academic credentials but also for his commitment to put these credentials to work in the real world.

"Dr. Power is not an ivory tower economist; he leaves the academy and comes out to work with people, trying to build a sustainable new economy in Montana and throughout the region," she said. Patton concluded that Power’s "lucid analysis of the new economic truths of the Old West has made him a national treasure."

As a regional coalition compromising more than 100 member organizations in Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, officials said it is a notable achievement for Montanans to monopolize the group’s highest honors for 2003.