By Tom Lutey

February 28, 2021 - Montana cities working to cut carbon pollution from their energy supply are objecting to a pro-coal bill that could jeopardize their efforts.

Bozeman and Missoula officials testified this week against a bill banning local carbon taxes and other measures discouraging energy generated by burning fossil fuels. Busby Republican Sen. Jason Small’s Senate Bill 257 was vague enough in what it banned that community leaders see it as a threat.

The Senate Local Government Committee approved the bill on a partisan 6 to 4 vote Friday.

“I liken it to a fisherman using 29 sticks of dynamite to catch a trout,” said Terry Cunningham, Bozeman deputy mayor. “The way SB 257 is currently written could stymie local cities and counties’ ability to achieve their resiliency goals and to modernize their infrastructure to meet evolving industry needs.”

The bill would stop local governments from imposing fees, taxes or penalties related to carbon use. Bozeman, Missoula and Helena have been attempting to reduce the amount of fossil-fuel energy used in their communities. They have expressed an interest in paying a “green tariff” to monopoly utility NorthWestern Energy in exchange for a substitution of renewable energy over power from coal and natural gas.

Cunningham asked the Senate Local Government Committee to amend the bill that specifically excludes the green tariff the cities were pursuing with NorthWestern Energy, which didn’t testify at the hearing.

Missoula County Commissioner Juanita Vero, said a county like Missoula is concerned about the bill’s potential overreach.

“On its face, the bill appears intended to prevent local government from enacting a carbon tax, but to our knowledge a carbon tax has never been enacted or even contemplated by any local government in Montana,” Vero said. The bill seemed vague enough to prevent a community from improving the energy efficiency of government buildings, if it meant a decline in demand for fossil fuel electricity.

In a Legislature with strong Republican majorities in the House and Senate, rhetoric about limited state government has been frequent, said Lori Byron a pediatrician from Hardin, but it hasn’t stopped lawmakers’ attempts to stop local governments from setting policies on public health like limiting air pollution from fossil fuels.

“By removing local options with these transitions, such as the green tariffs, Senate Bill 257 will place the health of Montanans in specific communities at risk, while providing few if any benefits to those communities. Rather, it allows people and corporations elsewhere to profit while endangering lives."

The fossil fuel lobby warned that counties where Montana’s six coal mines are located would suffer if demand from fossil fuels was harmed by local carbon taxes.

“It’s just going to hurt the counties that are mining the coal, the oil and gas and Montana needs that money and the funding,” said Molly Schwend of the Montana Coal Council.

Montana Dakota Utilities, which has more than 80,000 natural gas customers in the state, warned of unintended consequences if local policies prevented natural gas infrastructure from being added to buildings. The broad language of SB 257 would prevent those kinds of impacts, said Amy Grmoljez, MDU lobbyist.

Small said he wouldn’t object to amending the bill to exclude green tariffs, provided the Montana Public Service Commission approved of the tariff, meaning cities wouldn’t have the last word on the matter. Although no Montana community has suggested taxing carbon, Small said that day might come.

“If we’re going to implement a carbon tax at some point in time, we have to do it at the state level so it’s across the board. I don’t want it to become a weaponized tool or something punitive to block business where we may need to have it,” Small said.