{"id":11259,"date":"2016-03-30T08:25:27","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T14:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=11259"},"modified":"2016-03-30T08:27:43","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T14:27:43","slug":"rally-goers-protest-daines-promote-renewable-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2016\/03\/rally-goers-protest-daines-promote-renewable-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"Rally-goers protest Daines, promote renewable energy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rally\"<\/a>

David Crisp\/Last Best News<\/p>

People attending a renewable energy rally Tuesday on the lawn of the Yellowstone County Courthouse sought shelter under umbrellas and a handy tree.<\/p><\/div>\n

On an unappetizing day to make a case for solar power, about 30 environmentalists huddled in\u00a0rain and snow Tuesday to urge U.S. Sen. Steve Daines to pay more attention to renewable\u00a0energy sources.<\/p>\n

The rally on a bleak afternoon at the Yellowstone County Courthouse preceded Daines\u2019\u00a0Montana Energy Conference, which got underway with continuing education sessions on\u00a0Tuesday at the Radisson Convention Center. The conference continues through Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Northern Plains Resource Council, which organized the rally, planned to deliver a petition\u00a0to Daines\u2019 office Tuesday calling on him to protect Montana\u2019s air, water and land. NPRC has\u00a0raised concerns that the senator devotes too much of his time to propping up fossil fuels and\u00a0too little encouraging solar and wind power, as well as other alternative energy sources.<\/p>\n

A telephone call to Daines\u2019 Billings office was not returned Tuesday afternoon or evening.<\/p>\n

Carrying umbrellas and signs bearing such messages as \u201cClean Energy,\u201d \u201cWind Never Runs Out\u201d\u00a0and \u201cWind Power = Jobs,\u201d those at the rally sought shelter under tarps and trees as speakers\u00a0called for greater focus on renewables and climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do we want?\u201d they chanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cClimate solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen do we want it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Reed, owner of Winpower West in Billings, told the crowd, \u201cSen. Daines, let\u2019s sit down\u00a0and have a conversation.\u201d He argued that solar energy leads the nation in job growth, up 20\u00a0percent in the last two years. The declining cost of wind and solar energy makes it more than\u00a0competitive with coal and other fossil fuels, he said.<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>\u201cCoal powered us through the Industrial Revolution,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cThat was great. … But it\u2019s time for coal to disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reed and others argued against government policies that favor coal over other energy sources.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did not have a policy fight to stay with the horse and buggy,\u201d he told the crowd. Nor, he\u00a0added, were there policy fights over staying with the typewriter and the slide rule instead of\u00a0the computer and calculator.<\/p>\n

In an impassioned speech to end the rally, Mike Mulberry, senior minister at First\u00a0Congregational United Church of Christ, said of Daines, \u201cHe talks about an all-of-the-above\u00a0energy strategy, like it\u2019s inclusive, but heads up a conference hosted and sponsored by the likes\u00a0of Montana Petroleum Association, Montana Coal Council, Cloud Peak, Phillips 66, and Conoco\u00a0Phillips with an obligatory nod to EverPower.”<\/p>\n

EverPower Wind Holdings of Pittsburgh, Pa., did have a place on the conference agenda during\u00a0a panel discussion Wednesday on \u201cRenewables, Technology and the Grid.\u201d Absaroka Energy of\u00a0Bozeman, which has interests in wind and geothermal power, also was on the panel, along with\u00a0representatives of NorthWestern Energy and Avista Utilities, a gas and electric power provider.<\/p>\n

A keynote address on Thursday is to be delivered by a representative of the American Wind\u00a0Energy Association. Otherwise, the conference did appear to be dominated by traditional\u00a0energy interests.<\/p>\n

\"Sign\"<\/a>

David Crisp\/Last Best News<\/p>

A “solar power” sign is streaked with rain at the rally.<\/p><\/div>\n

Daines has come under steady attack from environmentalists for his criticism of the Obama\u00a0administration\u2019s \u201cwar on coal\u201d and his skepticism about climate change. The League of\u00a0Conservation Voters gave him an environmental score of zero in 2015, including six votes on\u00a0matters relating to climate change. He also received scores of zero from the Western\u00a0Organization of Resource Councils and from Environment America.<\/p>\n

In a 2014 election debate with Democrat Amanda Curtis, Daines was quoted by the Associated\u00a0Press as saying, \u201cShe claims to be one of us, although she has a 100 percent voting\u00a0record with the Northern Plains Resource Council. That group wants to shut down coal.\u00a0That group wants to shut down oil and gas in our state.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a 2012 radio interview, Daines said he wasn\u2019t convinced that humans were causing climate\u00a0change. \u201cI’m a skeptic,\u201d he said. \u201cI hear sometimes on both sides, because I think they’re\u00a0using their agenda here just for political points here rather than looking objectively at the\u00a0data.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speakers at the rally expressed their convictions that climate change is real and that humans\u00a0are responsible.<\/p>\n

Arlo Skari, a farmer near Chester, said that temperatures failed to fall below zero this winter for\u00a0the first time since he began farming there in 1947. The Clark\u2019s nutcracker has abandoned the\u00a0Sweet Grass Hills because temperatures are no longer cold enough to kill a fungus that lives on\u00a0whitebark pine, he said.<\/p>\n

He also noted that greenhouse gas emissions could cost Montana 36,000 jobs over the next 35\u00a0years, according to a study commissioned by the Montana Wildlife Federation.<\/p>\n

The Montana Farmers Union reported last year that climate change has reduced the size of the\u00a0winter snowpack by 60 percent and that increased temperatures could cut wheat production\u00a0and cut the value of crop yields 18 percent by 2050. Weeds and harmful insects also are\u00a0expected to become bigger problems.<\/p>\n

Gabriel Aponte of the Rocky Mountain College Environmental Club, urging prompt action, said\u00a0that the club installed solar panels at the college\u2019s student center in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t wait until it\u2019s obvious that it\u2019s too late,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ken Medicine Bull of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe said that people must change their behavior\u00a0because the earth is not the same anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cMother Earth is not a resource to be exploited,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In his closing speech, Mulberry fired up the chilly afternoon with the most direct attack of the\u00a0day on Daines. Calling Daines a \u201csnake-oil salesman\u201d who uses \u201cslick words and twisted terms,\u201d\u00a0he urged the senator, \u201cWhether it be through the wide consensus on climate change or biblical\u00a0imperative, listen to what the world is telling you. We have been given a gift. You are its\u00a0trustee. Listen to climate scientists. Listen to biblical imperative. Listen to the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On an unappetizing day to make a case for solar power, about 30 environmentalists huddled in\u00a0rain and snow Tuesday to urge U.S. Sen. Steve Daines to pay more attention to renewable\u00a0energy sources. The rally on a bleak afternoon at the Yellowstone County Courthouse preceded Daines\u2019\u00a0Montana Energy Conference, which got underway with continuing education sessions on\u00a0Tuesday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[4103,4105,4101,4102,528,4104],"class_list":["post-11259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ben-reed","tag-ken-medicine-bull","tag-montana-energy-conference","tag-northern-plains-resources-council","tag-steve-daines","tag-winpower-west","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}