senate joint resolution NO. 10

INTRODUCED BY J. Small, D. Ankney, J. Welborn

By Request of the ****

A joint resolution of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the state of montana urging congress to appropriate funding under the energy act of 2020 for the development of carbon capture TECHNOLOGIES at the colstrip electric generating station in rosebud county, Montana.

WHEREAS, Units 3 and 4 of the Colstrip Electric Generating Station have been providing affordable and reliable power throughout the Pacific Northwest for more than 40 years and have decades of service life remaining; and

WHEREAS, the Colstrip Electric Generating Station provides employment to more than 250 high-wage employees; and

WHEREAS, the Rosebud Mine provides employment to nearly 300 high-wage employees, and provides inexpensive, low-sulfur coal to the Colstrip Electric Generating Station; and

WHEREAS, the Rosebud Mine contributes more than $40 million in tax revenue to the State of Montana annually; and

WHEREAS, the Rosebud Mine contributes more than $11 million in royalties to the federal government annually; and

WHEREAS, severance taxes from the Rosebud Mine have flowed into the Coal Severance Tax Trust Fund for decades and established a trust with a corpus of more than $1 billion from which the interest has funded countless schools and local water, wastewater, and bridge projects; and

WHEREAS, Montana has abundant reserves of coal and our nation has more than 300 years of recoverable coal reserves and more than 30% of the country's proven reserves with an estimated value of more than $30 trillion; and

WHEREAS, even with the rapid deployment of renewable energy sources, the United States Energy Information Administration estimates that coal will continue to account for nearly 15% of our national energy production in the coming decades; and

WHEREAS, utility customers and regulators are demanding reductions in our national energy carbon footprint; and

WHEREAS, global investment dollars are migrating away from oil, natural gas, and coal toward nonfossil fuel energy research and development; and

WHEREAS, complete removal of coal from the energy mix threatens Montana's utility rate stability and baseload dependability, which would require purchasing energy on the open market during times of high demand, and threatens power dependability during severe weather events; and

WHEREAS, lack of investment and early closure of Colstrip Units 3 and 4 is projected to result in the loss of more than 3,000 jobs, reduced collective income by Montana households of more than $325 million, a reduction in state tax and nontax revenues on the order of $80 million a year, a population loss of more than 7,000 people, and reduced economic activity across the state due to higher electricity prices, reduced interregional trade, and lower state government spending; and

WHEREAS, it is in the social and economic interest of the State of Montana to facilitate investment in Colstrip to provide stable and affordable power, to preserve the economy, and to reduce emissions; and

WHEREAS, coal remains an essential part of the fuel mix to balance intermittent renewable power, and Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage is the only technology able to achieve deep emission reductions for reliable baseload power; and

WHEREAS, power plants equipped with Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage have potential to act as anchor projects for the construction of shared infrastructure, including the creation of industrial carbon capture hubs and clusters, with large quantities of carbon dioxide enabling economies of scale for infrastructure development; and

WHEREAS, Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage reduces carbon dioxide emissions by more than 95%, with the reductions in emissions serving to benefit the health and welfare of Montana's citizens, while helping to preserve the natural environment and economy, and

WHEREAS, deployment strategies that shift the focus from large, stand-alone Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage facilities to the development of industrial "hubs" with shared carbon dioxide transport and storage infrastructure are opening up new investment opportunities; and

WHEREAS, development of Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage hubs and clusters will keep mines and power plants open, high-wage jobs preserved, and potentially attract hundreds of additional jobs in other industries that benefit from decarbonization and downstream carbon dioxide products.

Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Senate and the House of Representatives OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:

(1)  That the 67th Senate and House of Representatives of Montana maintain standing support of the employees, businesses, and communities that contribute to Montana's energy economy and our national energy security.

(2)  That the 67th Senate and House of Representatives of Montana will resist interference in the operation and maintenance of Montana's energy infrastructure that unduly threatens the viability of the Rosebud Mine, Colstrip Electric Generating Station, and other coal mining operations in Montana that are essential to the thousands of employees, contractors, and vendors who rely on the continued operation of these facilities.

(3)  That the 67th Senate and House of Representatives of Montana urge the United States Congress to commit funding from the Energy Act of 2020 to fund carbon capture research and development and implementation technologies, including commercial scale deployment, at the Colstrip Electric Generating Station in Rosebud County, Montana.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Secretary of State send copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, and to each member of the Montana Congressional Delegation.