News Release: Aug. 28, 2008

Lawmakers to Host Panel Discussion on Oil Issues

A legislative committee will hear next week from a panel of experts on oil prices, oil production in Montana, oil taxation, and the impact higher oil prices may have on the Montana economy. It also will wrap up a 16-month study of carbon sequestration.

The Energy and Telecommunications Interim Committee will meet Sept. 4 at 9 a.m. in Room 172 of the State Capitol in Helena. The public is invited to attend and will have a chance to comment.

Speakers invited to participate in the discussion of oil issues are:

• John Felmy, chief economist, American Petroleum Institute
• Tom Richmond, administrator, Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation
• Beth Claude, manager, state and government affairs, Enbridge Pipelines, Inc.
• Terry Johnson, principal fiscal analyst, Legislative Fiscal Division
• Eric Dale, associate revenue analyst, Governor's Office of Budget and Program Planning
• Bob Decker, executive director, The Policy Institute
• Scott Rickard, director, Center for Applied Economic Research, Montana State University-Billings
• Pat Barkey, director, Bureau of Business and Economic Research, University of Montana-Missoula

The committee will also decide whether to ask the 2009 Legislature to consider authorizing a study of geological carbon sequestration. And it will finalize a report entitled "Perspectives on Public Power: A Review of the Public Power Model, Its History, and Its Potential in Montana." The report, a meeting agenda, and other meeting materials are available on the legislative Web site at www.leg.mt.gov/etic.

Mike Ryan, regional director of the Great Plains Region of the Bureau of Reclamation, also has been invited to discuss the use of Pick-Sloan project use power.

Rep. Harry Klock, R-Harlowton, is chairman of the Energy & Telecommunications Committee. Other members are Sens. Jerry Black, R-Shelby; Verdell Jackson, R-Kalispell; Greg Lind, D-Missoula; and Don Ryan, D-Great Falls; and Reps. Duane Ankney, R-Colstrip; Robyn Driscoll, D-Billings; and Brady Wiseman, D-Bozeman.

For more information, contact Sonja Nowakowski, legislative committee staff, at 444-3078 or snowakowski@mt.gov.