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NorthWestern should release a real energy plan and abandon fossil fuels – Daily Montanan

['More From Author', 'April', 'Lucy Hochschartner']

Date: 2022-04-12 00:00:00

I am from springtime mud puddles, horseback rides under a summer sun, “many hands making light work” during fall harvests, and the deep, crystalline cold of winter. My home led me to fall in love with this planet. But now, at 24-years old, I am also from night skies smoldering with wildfires, rivers drowning in torrential rains, and lands parched for snowmelt. I am from a present that is changing, a past that is slipping away, and a future that is not sure. I am from the onset of the climate crisis.

The world’s foremost climate science organization, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, just released the final portion of their 6th Assessment Report, a compilation of thousands upon thousands of climate studies. The conclusion? Ecosystems have changed beyond recognition. Catastrophe has struck sooner than predicted. People are dying. Thankfully, this installment focuses on how we already have all the solutions we need, if only we use them. As a lead scientist said, we are in a “now or never” moment to change our course.

The transition to clean energy is imperative, which is why I was disgusted when our utility, NorthWestern Energy, released a bogus “Net-Zero by 2050” public-relations stunt. It claimed to be a plan to address the climate crisis, but in reality, it was a plan to torch the only home we’ve ever known, completely irreconcilable with the latest scientific report. In perhaps the most poetic example of gaslighting ever presented, NorthWestern Energy promised to build new gas plants, despite the fact that such plants are directly responsible for our tragedy. The corporation pretended to understand our pain — the pain of not being able to afford rising utility bills and choking on toxic air. But it doesn’t. How could it, when CEO, Bob Rowe, makes more than $60,000… a week?

NorthWestern, if you’re this committed to killing our futures with your corporate greed, I’d prefer you have the courage to stand up, look us in the eyes, and say it to our faces.

NorthWestern could choose to be a part of the solution instead. Montana is ranked 5th in the nation for wind potential, and yet, we rank 25th in terms of actual built wind generation. A report commissioned by 350 Montana outlines how transitioning can save our futures and our pocketbooks. There is opportunity for cheap power, good jobs and economic growth waiting.

So join me in calling on NorthWestern Energy to release a real plan, instead of a PR stunt. We need NorthWestern to commit to having 100% clean electricity by 2030, retiring dirty plants, not building any new fossil fuel infrastructure, and siting new generation facilities in a just manner.

To those who mistakenly believe that just because the wind is not always blowing or the sun is not always shining means that we can’t rely on renewables — the cost of battery storage has halved in just three years, we know how to shift electricity demand, and we have transmission across weather patterns and time zones. 100% renewable is possible.

And not only is it possible, but I know that it is inevitable if we raise our voices together… because no matter where we each come from, we are all from a home that needs saving and a human spirit that has outlasted the strongest storms, gone to the moon and back, and faced tyranny and kept fighting. We may be from a world on fire… but we’re also from a world whose sun is rising on a just, people-powered, and fossil-free future.

NorthWestern Energy, consider this your notice.

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