Montana Climate Solutions Plan – August 2020

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

It is my distinct pleasure to share with you the final recommendations of the Montana Climate Solutions Council. I want to thank the members of the Council for their dedication and thoughtful deliberations as well as the many staff who lent their time and talents to supporting the Council’s work. I also want to acknowledge the contributions from Montanans across the state who participated in Council meetings and webinars and shared their perspectives through formal public comments – each of which helped to strengthen our partnerships and recommendations for moving forward.

Montanans across the state believe climate change is a significant problem posing risks to the future of Montana and to future generations. For too long our response to this issue has been curtailed out of a false pretense that dealing with climate will divide our state along east-west, rural-urban, and partisan divides. As the Council’s work demonstrates, there is an impressive array of opportunities and recommendations that represent a broad-based consensus and can serve as a foundation for bipartisan climate action moving forward that responds to the many values Montanans share.

There is an immediate and urgent need for the state to plan for the future and confront the needs to prepare our communities and economy. Already Montana is three degrees warmer on average than we were just a few decades ago. Earlier spring runoffs are causing flooding, impacting our water availability, and contributing to the increasing size and severity of our wildfire seasons. 2017 saw our largest fire season on record since the Big Burn of 1910, spurring periodic waves of evacuations, curtailing visitation, and prompting twice the incidence of respiratory-related ER visits in affected counties.

But the risks facing Montana due to climate change are not just physical risks to our health and safety. The state’s businesses and economy face a series of economic and financial risks as well. Shifting energy demands and policy changes are prompting a transition across our region and around the world, impacting the markets Montana traditionally serves. Institutional and private investors are increasingly signaling their concern over stranded assets of energy companies and financial performance tied to these changes. In small towns across the state, workers and communities are caught in the crosshairs, lacking the economic capacity to shift labor and capital to emerging opportunities. These transitions are also impacting our state’s fiscal health, where declines in traditional revenue streams from energy production and increasing costs tied to unforeseen events, like the 2017 fire season, can impact our state’s core services and programs. Planning for climate change helps us manage these risks and costs tied to transitions, but it also offers insights into how we can develop competitive advantages and local economic development strategies that put Montana at the forefront of new energy and technology solutions.

As I write, the state is in the midst of our ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic recovery. The disruptive economic impacts of the pandemic place real capacity strains on our state’s businesses, governments, nonprofits, and civic institutions. While the challenges of disruptions to our economy to protect lives and limit exposure are not immediately transferable to climate change, the ways in which our state, local, and tribal nation partners and businesses have come together to respond with a sense of urgency is indicative of the type of all-hands approach we need to prepare for and respond to the climate challenge before us.

As I plan to leave the Office of Governor, we must work together to implement this plan, regardless of who the next governor is in 2021. Montanans deserve a new energy policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and a new approach to build resilience in our communities and economy. No matter who takes office in 2021, it is imperative that a set of pragmatic and durable policies be advanced that address the needs of our state and offer leadership as we confront the issue of climate change.

The recommendations in this report span a mix of state programs and policy, utility regulatory policy, incentive programs, federal policies, and university and business partnerships. They build from the experiences of Montana’s local and state government, tribal nations, and businesses. Lessons learned from others across our country and around the world complement our Montana-grown perspective. For the first time they introduce opportunities and challenges in workforce, economic development, and community-based initiatives that accompany the diverse and ongoing policy discussions involving the future of energy generation and consumption for our state and region. The recommendations reflect strong alignment in many areas across a diverse group of Council members, while also highlighting key points of disagreement that can inform future deliberations. Together, they comprise a set of Montana-based solutions that demand our collective efforts to advance with the same dedication and urgency that led to their development. I thank all Montanans for their partnership and support as we seek opportunities to work together to advance this plan.

Sincerely,

Steve Bullock   Governor

Full Plan