If comments by The Montana Environmental Information Center’s Anne Hedges are any indication, the environmental community is bitter over the recent elections for the Public Service Commission.
Check out what Hedges had to say in this Flathead Beacon column:
Based on the campaigns of the two new commissioners and the likely new chairman, Commissioner Brad Molnar of Laurel, Hedges thinks the new PSC will be more hostile to renewable energy and less inclined to advocate for consumers.
“How they’re going to abdicate their responsibility, which is to protect our interests as ratepayers, is just unfathomable,” Hedges said. “It’s an ignorance of the job that they’ve been elected to serve.”
First, she bashes the newly elected commissioners for their criticism of the green power mandates defended by the outgoing PSC majority. But then she somehow ties that in to saying they will be weak on consumer protection. Seems an odd argument to make- as the green power mandates and other rate increase-driving measures are clearly anti-consumer. Seems to me environmental groups should stick to a much more plausible argument. If they think environmental protection is worth the cost, they should simply say so- rather than mislead people into believing that green energy is somehow cheaper.
In response, Commissioner Brad Molnar (R-Laurel) had this to say:
“We will revisit the decisions made that are anti-consumer,” Molnar said. “If we can get them cut, we’ll save people a lot of money.”
Meanwhile, I think I will nominate newly elected Commissioner Bill Gallagher for the quote of the week:
“I’m not going to pretend that this is about everybody all of a sudden falling in love with Bill Gallagher and the Republican Party,” Gallagher said. “People want balance, common sense and respect from their government officials.”
“It’s more of a reaction to too much progressivism too soon,” he added.