Legislator proposes power plan
Apr 12 - Billings Gazette, The
Montanans may have another chance to vote on a public power ballot measure this fall, two years after they rejected a buythe-dams proposal.
His filing starts the formal legal review required before its backers can
begin collecting signatures to qualify it for the ballot.
Toole said he's not certain he will proceed with the signature gathering for
the initiative, but wants the legal research done now by the legislative staff
He said he's watching to see what happens as North-Western Corp, parent company
of the main utility that serves Mont-anans, tries to revamp its finances and get
out of bankruptcy.
He said he might wait and ask the 2005 Legislature, if it's controlled by
Democrats, to put it on the 2006 ballot as a referendum.
"I don't want to give the impression that we have this big machine out
there ready to go because we don't," he said. "I don't want to get out
here like we're rattling sabers."
David Ponder, executive director of the Montana Public Interest Research
Group, said his group hasn't decided whether to work on the effort but predicted
backers could hire people for $40,000 to collect enough names by the late June
deadline. To qualify, 20,510 Montana voters would have to sign the petitions,
including at least 5 percent of the voters in 28 of the 56 counties.
"It's difficult, but not impossible," said Ponder. He called
Toole's proposal "a promising idea that the public should take a serious
look at."
Toole said his proposal in some ways is similar to Initiative 145, which
voters crushed by a 68 to 32 percent margin in 2002. Utilities spent $23 million
opposing I-145, while backers mustered only about $110,000 for it.
However, there are significant differences between the measures, he said.
This proposal creates a parttime fivemember public power board appointed by the
governor, unlike the elected board provided in I-145.
After determining it is in the public interest, the board under the new
proposal would have the authority to buy hydroelectric dams, coal-fired power
plants, electricity transmission and distribution lines and natural gas pipeline
distribution systems. I-145 was limited dams.
Any purchases of energy facilities would be optional under the new plan, he
said. Unlike I-145, the latest measure would not grant the board the right to
condemn dams and buy them at a fair-market price if negotiations failed.
"It's a very different circumstance than the dams initiative, where PPL
was the fat and happy owner of the dams," Toole said. "What we have
now is a very different circumstance with (North- Western Energy's) distribution
going up on the auction block."
He was referring to NorthWestern's parent company, NorthWestern Corp., which
filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September. The South Dakota-based company has
said it expects to come out of bankruptcy as an investment-grade utility in the
final three months of 2004 without any rate increases.
Six Montana cities have formed an alliance to bid on the Montana portion of
NorthWestern Energy, and some other private bidders also have expressed
interest.
"My personal opinion is people are so fed up with their power bills that
this ought to be part of the mix as we look to the future," Toole said.
The measure also allows the public power board to sell any energy facilities
it buys to local governments, rural electric cooperatives or to private
entities. In response, PPL Montana spokesman David Hoffman said, "Our
generation assets are not for sale."
NorthWestern spokesman Roger Schrum said, "We're not dear that there's a
public benefit to this proposal." NorthWestern, he said, has quickly moved
through bankruptcy, and consumers havent paid any of the costs, nor is the
company seeking a rate increase.
What's more, Schrum said, Toole's proposal doesn't address the fundamental
issue - there are no cheap supplies of energy that a public power board can
acquire and NorthWestern can't.
Copyright Billings Gazette Mar 23, 2004