Note to those moderate Republicans who seem to be so enamored with Gov. Steve Bullock (D-MT): I’d imagine many of you voted against the Gov’s government controlled pre-k funding program. Well, how do you feel about the Governor saying you either hate him, or you hate the kids? That story is below.
Plus, check out what the Chairman of the Crow Tribe had to say about coal when he spoke to Democrats in Billings, Montana…that had to be uncomfortable. Meanwhile, another look at how the energy industry could be the loser in Alberta, while shale gas could be the winner in the UK.
Bullock: Either you hate him, or you hate kids.
“I am pleased with what happened this legislative session, and you should be too — pleased that a lot of bad ideas were blocked,” Bullock told a crowd that had thinned out considerably by the time he took to the microphone, at 9:38 p.m. “How can we be one of only six states to not make investments in our earliest learners?”
He said he asked Republicans in the Legislature if they hated him or hated kids. “I’m marginally convinced that they hate me more than kids,” he said with a laugh, “but we won’t stop working, because every four-year-old deserves the opportunity at a quality early education.”
At the same event…
1/2 Crow Chair Old Coyote to Dems: Coal mining is “the only way I can feed my people.” #mtpol #coalexport http://t.co/sTWBHTJHsr
— Count on Coal MT (@CountonCoalMT) May 11, 2015
I wonder how his speech went over w/ Yellowstone Co Dems? #MTPol #coal https://t.co/rS7Ta2uONf
— Aaron Flint (@aaronflint) May 11, 2015
Politico’s Morning Energy: GREENS STILL COUNTING OUT HOW THE TORY VICTORY WILL HURT
Last week’s Tory victory in the British elections is the first time conservatives have won a majority in more than two decades – and so comes the purge of cabinet officials from the previous coalition government. As our European sister publication has reported, the country’s renewable energy industry is likely in for a rough ride (http://politi.co/1H8r0lT ). But The Independent also reports that onshore wind power isn’t likely to be the only thing on the Tory hit list. More shale gas is likely to be promoted under the new government, and government agencies dedicated to energy, climate change and the environment could be merged, closed and/or face drastic funding cuts. “There is nothing good for green energy about the Tories’ election,” said Tom Burke, a former director of Friends of the Earth and now chairman of the E3G sustainable development charity, according to The Independent: http://ind.pn/1GY64eF
Lee Newspapers: Alberta election could send tremors through Montana economy
New Democratic Party officials have questioned the need for the Keystone XL pipeline that would run south from Alberta, through a corner of Montana and down to refineries in Oklahoma and Texas. The Obama administration has stalled permitting of the international border crossing, while Montana’s bipartisan congressional delegation has supported it.
“If the Keystone XL doesn’t happen, the amount of rail traffic leaving Alberta would be impacted significantly from that decision,” said Bentek Energy senior analyst Jenna Delaney. “Currently, taking the Keystone XL out would increase petroleum unit trains by five a day out of Alberta. And Transport Canada officials say residents in Canada are very concerned with rail traveling through their communities.”
“They’re looking at increasing income taxes and royalty rates to corporations, which the oil companies aren’t happy about,” Delaney said. “The last time I was in Calgary, the atmosphere was already a little bleak. If taxes are raised on corporations, I don’t know how they might respond. Companies with offices in other places might shift people away from Calgary.”
ICYMI: #NewAlbertastan Hashtag Starts After Left Sweeps to Power in Alberta, Canada
In other news…
Flathead Beacon: Study Shows Communities Bear Burden of Timber Sale Litigation; University of Montana research tries to quantify effects of stalled logging operations
According to Todd Morgan, BBER director of forest industry research, the economic impacts of the litigation could have exceeded $10 million in jobs, labor income, and federal, state and local taxes, as well as by costing the state’s forest products industry and local communities 130 jobs.
In recent years, litigation has encumbered 40 to 50 percent of the planned timber harvest volume and treatment acres in this corner of the state, Morgan said, while litigation of the Spotted Bear River Project alone involved more than 25 percent of the Flathead National Forest’s fiscal year 2013 timber program.
J. C. Kantorowicz – Great Falls
Tuesday, May 12, 2015 7:24 AM
Dear Gov. Bullock,
We don’t hate kids…… We love them to the point that seeing them indoctrinated into socialism is abhorrent to us! Children belong to their parents (one man and one woman), not to the state. It is bad enough that socialists control education K – 12 plus college…… For God’s sakes, let their parents have them for a little while!