Author: Evelyn Pyburn

Nuclear Energy Takes Center Stage

13 September 2024
Evelyn Pyburn
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Perusing many news articles and many business reports it appears that the issue of moving to nuclear as a future energy generator is a dominant consideration across the country as energy leaders worry about meeting the nation’s future demand for energy. The issue is also emerging as a strong consideration in Montana.

According to the Department of Energy (DOE), nearly one-third of existing U.S. coal plants are scheduled to shut down by 2035, as has been mandated by the federal government. At the same time demand for electricity is rising faster than at any time in “the past five or more years.”

Bear in mind, at the recent Southeastern Montana Development Energy Open Conference it was reported that both, Elon Musk and Bill Gates have predicted that demand for electricity in the future will be two -and -a -half to three times higher than it is today.

Other energy experts are predicting wide spread black outs in store for the country, in the near future – a reality that is already being experienced.

A primary contributor for the trend for more energy are tech companies — often among the first to endorse climate change fears and demand net-zero carbon goals– but who are now realizing they will need large amounts of energy to operate future data centers. An article in Epoch Times said that the tech companies are cutting side deals with nuclear power plants to get first call on their base-load power.

A regulatory agency charged with assessing grid reliability, North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), cited “clear evidence of growing resource adequacy concerns over the next 10 years.”

Coal generation produces 16 percent of the US energy needs. The options to fill that gap, if coal is abandoned, are wind, solar, natural gas, and nuclear energy. Those in fear of potential impacts of possible climate change believe that wind and solar are the solutions, arguing that they are the cheapest and cleanest options, but the fact is they are not the cheapest, when calculating in the cost of back up resources. Wind and solar require expensive backup power generation when they fail to produce.

Some analyst say that more wind and solar capacity could be paying more for less, as these sources fail when consumers need it.

“We built a heck of a lot of wind capacity in 2023 in the United States, but the actual amount of wind electricity produced went down, simply because you have wind droughts,” said energy economist Dan Kish, senior vice president of policy at the Institute for Energy Research (IER).

“The windiest spots have been hit pretty hard with wind turbines, so now they’re going to places that are less prolific in terms of wind, and the result is you’re getting less wind per installed megawatt of wind power than you did before.”

According to the EIA, while overall “renewable” energy production grew by 2 percent in 2023, largely because of the subsidized increases in biofuels and solar energy, consumption of wind energy declined for the first time in 25 years.

“Our entire grid has been built with the goal of moving power to people when they need it,” Kish said, but noted that, increasingly, this is shifting to providing electricity “whenever the wind blows or the sun shines.”

Coal plants, while emitting more carbon dioxide (CO2) than some alternatives, has provided an affordable, reliable, and flexible supply of “dispatchable” electricity, which can be ramped up or down to meet demand.

Natural gas has been the prime beneficiary of the transition away from coal — both as a supplier of base-load power and as a backup to wind and solar when the weather doesn’t cooperate.

According to EIA, U.S. natural gas consumption reached a record 89.1 billion cubic feet per day in 2023 and has increased by an average of 4 percent per year since 2018. The report said that natural gas consumption set new records every month between March 2023 and November 2023, as coal-fired electric-generating capacity declined.

Unlike coal, however, gas is not stored onsite at power plants but rather delivered just in time via pipelines, a process that holds its own risks. During winter storm Uri in Texas, for example, freezing temperatures and electricity outages disrupted gas deliveries, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reported, exacerbating the crisis that ended with widespread blackouts and the deaths of an estimated 246 people.

Despite the many attributes of  natural gas it doesn’t fit with the politics of climate worries or the government decreed goals of  “decarbonizing” energy and reducing global emissions by at least 43 percent by 2030, 60 percent by 2035, and reaching net-zero by 2050.

Given that, nuclear energy is increasingly being touted as the ideal solution.

According to Brian Bird, CEO of the NorthWestern Energy (NWE), even though the company is exploring the possibility of moving to nuclear,  there are two factors that detract from nuclear – the length of time it takes to permit and the cost.

The construction costs of Georgia’s Vogtle Nuclear Plant, which was expected to set a new standard for cost-effective nuclear production, reportedly ran $16 billion over budget, and the project was completed more than six years behind schedule, according to Epoch Times.

The 54 U.S. nuclear plants and 93 U.S. nuclear reactors, located across 28 states, currently generate about 19 percent of the nation’s electricity, according to the EIA.

A nuclear plant’s capacity factor, which measures the amount of usable energy it produces as a percentage of the maximum it could potentially produce, is the highest of all power sources, averaging more than 92 percent, according to the DOE.

By comparison, the capacity factors for wind and solar are the lowest of all major U.S. energy sources, at 35 percent and 25 percent, respectively.

Nuclear power plants are designed to run 24 hours per day, seven days per week, making them ideal for reliable, base-load electricity.

And advancing technology is making nuclear an ever improving option.

Energy economist Ryan Yonk, a director at the American Institute for Economic Research, said the safety of nuclear plants has improved with time, and although risk has not been completely eliminated, this leaves nuclear as the “no-carbon energy” of the future, provided that the industry can build plants that address risk concerns and regulatory concerns.

“If you really care deeply about CO2 and view it as a substantial problem, we have an established technology that doesn’t produce CO2, that produces large amounts of low-cost energy at relatively low risk,” he said.

The logic of nuclear is convincing more and more of those involved in finding energy solutions. Even the federal government seems to be testing the waters. The Inflation Reduction Act enacted by the administration offers a 30 percent federal investment tax credit for new nuclear projects – – which are going to be quite expensive until the technology is refined.

And, the White House is signing -on to last year’s multi-country declaration at COP28 to triple nuclear energy capacity globally by 2050; developing new reactor designs; extending the service lives of existing nuclear reactors; and growing the momentum behind new deployments.  The government initiatives was $6 billion in new loans, grants, and tax credits for nuclear facilities to keep aging plants up and running and restart some that had been shut down.

Among the first to take advantage of the government’s subsidies is Bill Gates who is building Naughton Power Plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming.

Others are in the wings. A little over a year ago it was announced that a “wave of advanced nuclear reactors could be coming to Wyoming.” TerraPower and PacifiCorp, a nuclear developer and electric utility aiming to build a first-of-its-kind facility at a retiring Wyoming coal plant before the end of the decade, announced they were considering adding up to five more of the same design by 2035.

Other reports that will benefit nuclear is legislation that will

streamline the approval process, and provide more staffing for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which would theoretically speed the licensing process, reduce fees for plant applicants, and update the NRC’s mission statement, stipulating that it will not “unnecessarily limit” the production of nuclear energy.

The DOE is also working to ease the conversion of existing coal plants to nuclear. The agency stated that more than 300 existing and retired coal plants could be converted to nuclear energy, and this would increase the U.S. nuclear capacity by more than 250 gigawatts, nearly tripling its current capacity of 95 gigawatts.

The DOE is also collaborating with private industry through an initiative called the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN), which provides government support to commercialize nuclear energy technologies and to “educate those new to nuclear on its benefits. . .”

The average life of a nuclear power plant is about 40 years, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Some say the new technology could last longer than that.

As of April, the average age of U.S. commercial nuclear reactors was 42 years old.

Based on its annual assessment at the end of 2023, the IAEA stated that, worldwide, it “now sees a quarter more nuclear energy capacity installed by 2050 than it did as recently as 2020, underscoring how a growing number of countries are looking to this clean and reliable energy source to address the challenges” facing the world energy demands.”

Concerns about nuclear energy still linger from the plant meltdowns of the past.

These concerns stem from the fact that nuclear energy creates nuclear waste.

Dean Cooper, leader for energy at the World Wildlife Fund, said

“The truth is that the construction of new nuclear power generation capacity is too slow, too expensive, and too risky to make a difference.  .. Rather, governments must prioritize investments toward energy efficiency and deploying renewables, such as wind and solar, to decarbonize the grid.”

According to an Aug. 5 survey by the Pew Research Center, 56 percent of American adults polled said they wanted more nuclear power plants as a solution.

While this number is below the 78 percent who prefer expanding solar power and the 72 percent who favor expanding wind power, the survey noted that support for solar and wind power fell by double digits percentage points since 2020 while support for nuclear power grew by 13 percentage points.

Some critics charge that the government has become too overbearing in directing and controlling the U.S. energy industry through a deluge of new laws, regulations, subsidies, tax benefits, and cap-and-trade schemes.

Government intervention at the federal and state level is manipulating the industry away from what it can realistically achieve, they say, making the electric grid both more fragile and more expensive while disregarding Americans’ growing need for affordable, reliable energy.

“One of the major issues that comes up in the energy mix is that because we’ve spent so much time regulating and subsidizing within it, we don’t have a real clear sense of what the mix would be if it were based on consumer demand and the market’s capacity to provide,” Yonk said.

“One of the ways to get closer to that is to deal with the regulatory problems and to remove the subsidies so that we start to see the emergence of a mix that matches consumer demand; at the moment, we don’t have that.”

_________

Data and statements in this article came from a compilation of reports.

The Strange and Mystical

13 September 2024
Evelyn Pyburn
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By Evelyn Pyburn

The price of something conveys a message.

Looking at the price of a can of soup is a message. Deciphering that message might be complicated but attempting to arbitrarily change it will not change the facts it attempts to convey.

If the price has increased it may be saying the cost of the labor has increased. Or perhaps that the cost of the gas in the truck that brought it to the grocery store has gone up. If it has dropped in price perhaps it is saying there is a glut of canned soup on the market.  Or, maybe it is saying that no one else is making cans of soup and therefore customers have no choice but to buy this brand.

If one is buying an orange, a sky high price could be conveying that a late freeze destroyed much of the orange crop. Or that an infestation of bugs did so. Or perhaps that there are few people willing to pick oranges and labor costs are higher, or perhaps that the quality of the orange isn’t that great and the price has to be lowered to sell it.

All those things, individually or in concert with one another, dictates the utilitarian cost of everything we buy – or sell. How it works at a very basic level is not complicated. In fact, it is so simple that it feels almost condescending to write an explanation, but apparently some people need explanations.

In a free society, the price of something is what the buyer and seller agree upon. If the buyer refuses to purchase at what the seller is asking, then there is a message in that. And, the seller better pay attention. He may have just been informed that someone else can produce it for less, or that there is more of that product available than there are buyers to buy it. It’s a message that can change from one locale to another, and from day to day, or even minute to minute. It’s so multi-faceted and world encompassing that probably even God has trouble keeping tract – but not so our prospective presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

Everyone involved, even in a slight way in business, knows they have to pay attention to all those many messages, if they are to survive in the business world. To ignore or mistake any one of those messages could spell doom for your business or your household budget. It’s a huge challenge just for the owner of one small business – but apparently it’s nothing for Kamala to manage the entire world of economics.

Kamala seems not to realize that if someone capriciously and arbitrarily sets prices without relationship to any facts of the reality that it takes to create a product or service, they will destroy markets. That means they are destroying the means of human survival in the modern day world.

Mandatory price and wage controls – being told what to sell a product for or what the value of your labor is  — is also a message – a message that comes with a club, which has absolutely nothing to do with the market.

If you arbitrarily limit the price on a loaf of bread, you do not lower the cost of bread. You assure that there will be no more bread. Who makes bread when they can’t recover the cost for labor and materials to make it?

And while the fundamental basics of a single transaction is the same the world around, trying to manage all of the world’s transactions is not. Just think of the billions of such transactions that happen every single day in the world, for billions of products and services, by billions of people, and then imagine how every little transaction has its own ripple effect of information and impacts in the economy, world around. What human being can track all that, much less know how to manipulate it all, for any specific outcome? Well, apparently presidential hopeful, Kamala Harris can, which makes her most amazing.

She hasn’t been the only one, however. President Richard Nixon, in the early 70s tried the same thing. Fortunately, he understood his folly within just a couple years, and while having undoubtedly harmed thousands of individual citizens he abandoned the policy before destroying the whole economy. But one would really hope that people with such a profound lack of economic understanding would never rise to such high levels in government.

One has to wonder if Kamal Harris would ever figure it out or even see the disaster that would surely befall us all. One has to suspect she would see the consequences as being unrelated, Perhaps they would appear as inexplicable and mysterious as many of our other current leaders and “experts” seem to view inflation.

Economic literature is full of explanations — not only about why price and wage controls don’t work, but what has happened in the past when someone else tried it. Most of those same books also explain that high prices is what happens when you inflate the money supply. Apparently, that’s another read that Kamala missed.

Of course, governments and bureaucrats are already deep into manipulating markets. That they screw things up quite frequently usually passes unremarked upon. It’s another strange and mystical manifestation that just happens. No one traces it back to some stupid regulation or arbitrary restraint on the market. Apparently mystical and strange things happen all the time in the market place, just like they seem to do in how people rise to power.

Yellowstone County “Grew like Crazy!”

23 August 2024
Evelyn Pyburn
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By Evelyn Pyburn

Montana’s economy is not doing too badly, and Yellowstone County’s economy “grew like crazy” over the past few months, according to economist Pat Barkey, Director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research  (BBER), University of Montana. He called the economy for Billings “a Goldilocks recovery,” following several years of lackluster performance because of a decline in mining, which happens to be the most important industry to the county because of the number of mines headquartered in Billings.

Barkey gave a mid-year update on what’s been happening economically in the state, early this month, at the Northern Hotel in Billings, with a special emphasis on the plight of housing.

The housing market is frozen. The country had a long period of low interest rates followed by high rates, which has prompted people who already own their home to resist selling because they don’t want to assume high interest rates, which is “freezing markets.”

Otherwise a little noted news story, he said, is how well the US economy is doing. The economy has accelerated – growing at 2.8 percent as compared to last summer’s 2 percent. We are leaving our “peers” behind, said Barkey, referring to Canada and European countries. He noted that the US share of the global economy is 26.5 percent – “higher than ever.”

He noted that India, China and Russia are growing at a faster rate, but in response to a question, he explained that he didn’t include them as “peer” countries, because their economies are not mature economies and are not as large. (China’s economy is 65 percent that of the US.)

It is no surprise that the cost of housing in Montana has skyrocketed over the past few years. The median cost of a home in Yellowstone County is currently about $419,000. In Gallatin County it’s $857,000 – about 120 percent more than in 2014.

A more meaningful stat is the ratio of the cost of housing to average income. In Gallatin County, which has the highest median income per household in the state, the ratio is 10.3. Yellowstone County has one of the better ratios at 5.5. Lewistown, however, has a ratio of 3.6.

The increase in the cost of housing has broader impacts, Barkey pointed out.  It increases sprawl as people move out seeking lower priced housing. It limits economic growth as mobility is reduced prohibiting people from seeking better jobs. And, those families have less to spend in all other aspects of life from food to recreation.

It generates a “war” between generations – one that “tragically the Boomers are winning – we have shut 20 and 30 year olds out of buying a house, which stops their wealth growth.” The level of home ownership for the younger generation compared to the “boomers” at the same age, is 40 percent less.

 The cost of housing also impacts the rate of homelessness, which has been rising in most Montana communities.

Barkey noted that there is always a flip side to every economic stat. “High prices are great for sellers.”

The solution for Montana communities is to build “houses, houses, houses.” “We are not building enough houses,” said Barkey, while showing graphs which demonstrated that in the past most Montana cities were building houses faster than their population was growing, especially so in the 1980s. That has totally flip-flopped; often to a dramatic degree for some cities.

Billings had its own period when population exceeded housing supply – during the oil boom – but the oil bust changed that. Billings had a surplus of housing before COVID, but the aftermath of COVID “wiped it out” —  it is currently neutral.

Barkey noted that in the past federal policies and regulations have focused on increasing demand for housing, while local regulations focused more on increasing supply. Some of Barkey’s recommendations included:

—don’t add more policies. There tends to be a “disconnect between intentions and outcomes.”

—don’t add more to demand.

—consider ending policies that don’t accomplish their stated objectives.

—consider ending the mortgage tax deduction, since it did not do what was intended.

—start holding local governments accountable for achieving progress. One measure for that would be to “assess what percent of vacant land that is buildable is vacant.”

Besides dealing with the impacts of a frozen housing market, the country is experiencing a slowdown in manufacturing, but a big surprise is that generally the economy has accelerated – growing at 2.8 percent as compared to last summer’s 2 percent.

The forecast for Montana’s economy is not at a point of “high drama,” said Barkey, but “we continue to be surprised as it remains on “the upside.”

Little discussed is the fact that the US economy has accelerated, reported Barkey. The US economy is dominated by what the federal reserve is doing.

 The bad news is that while the rate of Inflation is fading, “high prices are not fading and they are here to stay.”

Some of the reason for the US growth is the expenditure by government of money that doesn’t exist. “We are eating a lot of sugar candy,” said Barkey, “and it is not sustainable….We are doing it more than other countries that are our peers.”

Interest payments on the national debt exceed what the US spends on defense.

In Montana ag prices “are pretty good.”

“The wood products industry is changing and it is tough…those prices are low.”

Metals and mining is a “mixed bag.”

Montana industries are impacted by inflation. While inflation was 9 percent and it has dropped to 3.1 percent, “it is not falling anymore.” The Feds target is 2 percent, reminded Barkey, noting that contributing the most to costs are transportation and housing.

Energy prices have “plateaued” but they have done so at high prices.

The bad news, emphasized Barkey, is that prices are not going to go down.

The “appetite” for labor is shrinking. Job postings are declining. “We are not seeing as many voluntary quits.”

Montana added 10,000 jobs last year, but that is less than the previous year, said Barkey, “The trajectory is smoothing out.”

Construction is starting to cool off, while health care is “coming back” and the accommodations industry is strong.

Workers’ wages in Montana increased $200 million last year, which has a lot to do with the tech, service and health care market segments.

Largely because of the health care industry recovery, “Billings is back on track.”

Counties of the major cities in Montana are all growing economically, except for Cascade which showed negative growth due to construction that happened last year which is not being repeated this year. Of the counties, Gallatin is growing the most followed by Yellowstone, Missoula and Flathead.

Looking at tax revenues for the state (the first report for which for this year just recently came out) indicate that the State of Montana tax revenues are not going to be as high as in the past couple of years. They look to remain flat. “Complete stagnation,” said Barkey, “Revenue growth is over.”

Pondering Property Rights

23 August 2024
Evelyn Pyburn
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By Evelyn Pyburn

One really can’t look at the events of the world today without realizing that there are forces coming from every direction trying to destroy our country. As bit by bit government chips away at our lives, we must realize that the effort has actually been going on for a long time, but it has largely failed. The US is still the largest economy in the world and it is still growing daily.

A lot of people do not make the connection between our economy and our freedom but the power mongers do. That’s why so many of their attempted restraints focus on the activities of business and how people use their time and property. How we use those things determines our level of production, and that is the strength of the US far more so than armies. That’s what makes armies possible.

To cripple our ability to produce is what the savvy power mongers are trying to do with most every new law,  with every shut down, with every law suit, with every distortion of history, and twisting of common sense.

And it shouldn’t be surprising that  many of those efforts are focused as attacks on the availability of  cheap and abundant energy. There’s only one thing more important to the success of our economy than energy and that’s property rights – the right of every individual to own property, to own what they produce, to own their own life.

Americans go to work every day to acquire property just so they can be independent.

But, as vital as property rights are to our personal and national well being, there is astounding little public discourse about them.

Regulations that erode them are incorporated into local laws with hardly a comment – they are called regulations.

Judges who rule to destroy private property in favor of empowering government or the collective, are publically applauded, and few people are aware that they are cheering their own demise.

Individual property rights, as our forefathers provided for in the US Constitution, give each citizen great strength in how they function in society and in dealing with politics.

Our individual property rights are unique in human history and their creation unleashed a force in civilization never before seen, and never duplicated by any other country since, despite their proven effectiveness in achieving what every foreign despot – as well as many domestic ones – claim is their goal — a higher standard of living for the citizens.

That’s no accidental oversight on their part, they know full well what they need to do to retain power. The despots of the world who collaborate in the great effort to bring the US down, know full well that they could achieve the same level of economic success as the US, if they too granted the same level of private property rights for their citizens. That that has never happened says most clearly that their true interest is in gaining power over others.

It’s been claimed that ‘private property is standing room for the individual’ for very good reason.

So as individual citizens, if it is our freedom and our standard of living we want to preserve, we should be focused on preserving this most coveted of rights. We must fully understand the depth of its importance and defend it at every turn.

Property includes all that we value and that which has value. It includes ideas, the cash in our pocket or savings in the bank. Our means of protection, our homes and our businesses. When a thief takes any of those things, because of the degree that our individual wellbeing can depend upon them, it makes theft a most heinous crime. There was a good reason that they used to hang horse thieves.

We should understand that when we purchase a parcel of land we do not purchase a pile of dirt to put in our pocket but we purchase the RIGHT to determine how to use it. A property owner has the legal right to determine whether to grow wheat upon that land or build a building. It is the ability to make those choices that they purchased, not a pile of dirt. The owner of property has the legal stance to resell that right, lease all or part of it to others or improve its value in some manner they think fit, even if their neighbors or the government disagrees.

Any effort to minimize the property owner’s ability to make those decisions is a taking of the right he has acquired. Without that legal power a property is nothing. It has no value.

So when neighbors (and all too often government) gather together to try to stop a property owner from doing what he wants to do on a parcel of property — when they are imposing their choices upon how that property is used they are taking a value from the owner. In legal terminology that is exactly what it is called – “a takings”.

In most circumstances when someone takes the property of another it is called theft, but I guess for the sake of civil decorum judges and lawyers prefer calling it a takings – but a theft is exactly what is happening. And it is rampant. Every day we hear about one group or gang taking away all or some of this value from others. And the really amazing thing is they can stand up in righteous indignation to declare they should be allowed to conduct such a theft.

In the name of scenic views, preserving history, the environment, or to protect their own property values, they have no compunction about conducting such acts of theft. And quite often the legal system supports these acts of thefts even though there is a much easier way to resolve the issue. Buy the property. Purchase the right to determine how to use it, just as the existing owner had to do.

Oh that’s not so easy if you don’t have the money. When you don’t have the value needed to legally determine how to use the property. What makes you think it was any easier for the existing owner to acquire the right to determine how to use the property? That is the value you attempt to take at no cost to yourself!

If you want to have control about what happens on a piece of property next to your house, your farm, or your business there’s a very simple straightforward way to do it. Buy that control. Buy that right. There are very savvy business people who do that every day. They purchase a property just so they can assure some future use won’t have a detrimental effect on their business or their home.

If you want to preserve the view of the neighboring landscape owned by a farmer, property rights can allow that to happen probably cheaper than a court case. One can pay the property owner some lesser sum to guarantee he won’t build a granary there or some company can’t pay him to build a cell tower. There are numerous legal mechanisms that can be used to control such things – agreements, contracts, covenants etc. and the glorious thing is they recognize everyone’s property rights – but they don’t allow “takings.”

More importantly, the very nature of exercising legal property rights and the people involved are acting to preserve the integrity of private property rights which is by far the greatest value to be preserved for everyone’s sake.

NWE will Acquire Another Segment of Colstrip Plant

23 August 2024
Evelyn Pyburn
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Effective Jan. 1, 2026, NorthWestern Energy will acquire, at no cost, Puget Sound Energy’s 370 megawatt share of the Colstrip Plant.

The acquisition will allow NWE to leverage existing infrastructure that is “well established, dependable, reliable and consistently available when our customers need energy the most”.

An equivalent resource would cost more than $700 million to build and would not be available to serve customers for at least 5 years. Including the previously announced acquisition of Avista’s 222 megawatts, that are under the same terms and timeline, NorthWestern Energy will own 55% of the Colstrip Plant.

Puget Sound Energy is a Washington-based utility.

“We are working hard to keep energy costs affordable knowing that many Montanans live on fixed incomes and are managing other life expenses,” states the company’s press release, “This 370 megawatt additional share of the Colstrip Plant presents an affordable opportunity that benefits our customers.” An equivalent resource, such as a natural gas plant, would cost more than $700 million to build and would not be available to serve customers for at least 5 years.

“Today’s announcement is yet another step in securing a strong future for Montana-made energy,” Montana Governor Greg Gianforte said. “Working with our partners, we’ve defended our all-of-the-above energy strategy to increase access to affordable, reliable energy for all Montana consumers. I thank NorthWestern for their continued investment in our state and in the community of Colstrip.”

Majority ownership allows NorthWestern Energy to effectively guide investments in operation and maintenance of the Colstrip Plant, ensuring the plant continues to provide on-demand, 24/7 cost-effective generation for our Montana customers until viable, equivalent, carbon-free energy resources are commercially available.

Montana has considerable low cost wind and solar generation on its system today, but that generation is variable. The Colstrip Plant’s generation provides power for Montana customers when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining at costs that are typically much less than the cost of purchasing energy on the market.

When the sun is shining and the wind is blowing, the amount of power being generated by the Colstrip Plant can be lowered.

Montana’s energy demand is growing. “We are in discussions with several large customers seeking dependable, established and consistent energy. This additional portion of the Colstrip Plant will not only allow us to reliably serve our current customers into the future, but it will also allow us to support economic development and load growth in Montana while helping to insulate existing customers from costs associated with serving new large load customers,” said the press release.

Puget Sound Energy will retain its obligation for its portion of environmental and decommissioning costs associated with the future closure of the plant.

“Other states require a transition away from coal resources at a pace faster than is feasible in Montana. This no-cost acquisition allows our customers to transition to a cleaner energy future at a pace that works for Montanans,” states the press release.

The Colstrip Plant is seen as a “dependable” bridge to a cleaner energy future, which could ultimately include new lower- or no-carbon emitting resources such as gas-fired generation, small modular nuclear reactors, long-duration storage or other technologies, which we believe could be located in the Colstrip area. Such changes will, however, take time and “we will not sacrifice service reliability during the transition.”

This announcement follows an announcement a week ago, from NorthWestern Energy, about a $39 million deal to purchase Energy West Montana, a natural gas provider headquartered in Great Falls. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2025. It must be approved by the Montana Public Service Commission.

Electric Grid Gets $700 million to Fuel Expansion to Serve MT & ND

21 August 2024
Evelyn Pyburn
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The Department of Energy is adding $700 million to a $3.6 billion project that will boost the electrical energy supply for North Dakota and Montana.

The funding from DOE’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships Program will go toward a 3,000-megawatt High-Voltage Direct Current Voltage Source Converter transmission line from Center, N.D., to Colstrip, Montana — the North Plains Connector.

The project will increase transfer capacity by 1,400% between three regional entities and add 3,800 megawatts of new capacity.

By developing a high voltage direct current transmission line between North Dakota and Montana, the Project will connect the U.S. eastern and western electric grids. As a critical link between regions, it will support economic growth for both states.

“North Dakota welcomes this investment in transmission infrastructure to ensure a resilient and reliable power grid. Still, in order to meet growing consumer demand for electricity and support economic expansion, we need to add transmission capacity AND build upon our existing baseload generation – not try to shut it down,” Gov. Burgum said. “The North Plains Connector project will create a critical link between electricity markets and regions, support our all-of-the-above energy approach and contribute to national energy security. We’re grateful to the North Dakota Transmission Authority and all the partners supporting this investment.”

“Still, in order to meet growing consumer demand for electricity and support economic expansion, we need to add transmission capacity AND build upon our existing baseload generation – not try to shut it down,” Burgum said in a news release.

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte said a steady supply of energy is crucial to Montana and the country.

“Through this investment, we’re upgrading and modernizing Montana’s electrical transmission infrastructure to power our homes, schools and businesses,” Gianforte said.

The North Plains Connector will connect three regional control entities: the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC), Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), and Southwest Power Pool (SPP). According to DOE, the project will create up to 3,800 megawatts of new capacity and increase transfer capacity between WECC and the Eastern Interconnection in Montana and North Dakota by 1,400%.

In July, the Montana Department of Commerce announced it had been awarded $47.5 million from DOE for projects in Rosebud, Custer, and Fallon counties, as well as the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, to help mitigate the impact of construction of the North Plains Connector transmission line. Eligible projects will include infrastructure updates, such as roads, water, sewers, emergency services, and other projects related to workforce and infrastructure development.

Sweet Entrepreneurship

13 August 2024
Evelyn Pyburn
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By Evelyn Pyburn

The current news about growth in entrepreneurship and the dynamics of start-up companies should be seen as a very positive turn of events. It’s not that entrepreneurship is a new idea or phenomenon, it’s that a whole new group of people are seeing it and understanding it for the first time and coming to appreciate it in a way they never would let themselves when it is called “Capitalism”.

Some think it’s a new discovery and are sincerely excited. If that is what it takes to get people to understand and embrace free markets and economic freedom, more power to them.

An article about entrepreneurship in New Orleans quoted one entrepreneur as saying, ““The remarkable thing about a startup in New Orleans is that there are two passions at play. It’s really normal for a startup company or a new company to get excited about the mission of the business… But ….this other passion, this other thing . . . is the importance of contributing to the community, that our work was really helping the community, and job by job, hour by hour, rebuilding something.”

“This Other Thing” has always been there, and there has always been a group of advocates trying to explain this beauty of free markets, of Capitalism.

Given that the country has been slipping more toward controlled markets and socialism, free market advocates apparently were not very good at making their argument. Or maybe it is just true that the betterment of mankind is not what some people want, they want power over others – true capitalism does not deliver that. Maybe that is why most political economic development efforts tend to pursue crony-capitalism, rejecting free market avenues.

Entrepreneurship, start-ups, capital investment in new and growing enterprises – no matter what it’s called, has ALWAYS created new products and services that serve the broader public good, created jobs, provided livings, generated new wealth and built the foundation of economies. This has ALWAYS, ALWAYS been true and it is true for every business and productive effort in the private sector no matter its size, purpose or level of success. Even a business failure often contributes to the broader community.

While we can lament that the basics of economics aren’t taught to American students, we should also understand, neither is history. There is no factual presentation of history that could miss the fact that the success, power and wealth of the US are not a matter of happenstance, geography or power of some politician. It is the product of freedom – free enterprise – capitalism – the existence of an environment in which citizens can freely and voluntarily exchange, value for value with each other, to their mutual benefit.

That this is being discovered anew by younger generations who have been taught that electricity is a right and not a luxury, or that milk comes from the grocery store, speaks to the failure of older generations to educate.

The sudden popularity of the dynamics of free enterprise may just be demonstrating the importance of marketing. It turns out that the reality of what happens with the growth of entrepreneurship may not be as persuasive as simple terminology – a fact that others seem to be recognizing.

Dr. Jay Richards explained how free markets achieve all the benefits that socialists commonly claim are their goals, but yet they eschew the most perfect system ever known to deliver those life-affirming benefits. He said that he didn’t like calling this miraculous process, “Capitalism”, because it so poorly relates to what it is. He suggested calling it anything other than Capitalism – free markets or free enterprise.

His point makes sense, because it is true, a rose by any other name smells just as sweet – and what happens in a free market economy — what entrepreneurs achieve — is absolutely sweet.

Generating Station Completed

13 August 2024
Evelyn Pyburn
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By Evelyn Pyburn

Although NorthWestern Energy’s Yellowstone County Generating Station is going through final performance testing, it is in full operation and serving customers. A group of media folks were given a tour last week, accompanied by several company representatives, including Josh Follman, the generating station’s project manager and Director of Project Development for NorthWestern Energy (NWE). 

The new $310 million generating station is comprised of 18 reciprocating internal combustion engines that are capable of generating a total of 175 megawatts, which helps close the gap of the generation needs for NWE’s customers in Montana. The generating station is located next to the CHS Refinery at Laurel at the end of South Strauch Road, just off the South Frontage Road.

Follman declared the plant as “very good, very clean.” It is “One of the cleanest facilities because of its emissions profile.” According to Follman, the company does not have to monitor for emissions because their emissions are “far below the levels set to initiate controls. The plant is equipped with emission monitors that continuously take readings, and are programmed to “kick itself off” should emissions reach unacceptable levels. Because of its low emissions, NWE is only required to submit reports to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), annually.

NWE pushed to complete the generating station as quickly as possible in order to circumvent the frequent need to purchase energy from the market when it lacks the energy needed to meet peak demand periods. “If we don’t have enough of our own, we go to the market and have to purchase energy at a very high price,” said Follman, adding, “The worst that we have to do is buy energy.”

Over the past few years NWE has had to spend about $5 million each year purchasing energy from the market to meet peak use demands.

In a recent interview, NWE President and CEO Brian Bird said the production of the Yellowstone County Generating Plant will cut in half the additional power that NWE needs, but they won’t have all they need until NWE acquires ownership of Colstrip Units 3 & 4 at the beginning of next year.

One-third of the power – about 450 megawatts — that NorthWestern Energy provides to the state is consumed in the Billings area.

Yellowstone County Generating Station also serves as back up when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine, to power alternative generating facilities, which could again force NWE to buy from the market. “On very cold winter days we usually have no wind in Montana, and at night, no sun,” said Follman.

The new facility makes it possible to quickly respond to rapid changes in energy availability. Supply is constantly monitored and should the wind suddenly quit blowing at a wind facility, or some other sudden change occur, a generator or multiple generators may be started into production in three minutes, producing energy on the grid in eight minutes.

“They will chase the wind faster than a gas turbine,” said Follman.

A beauty of the new facility is that not only does it not have to be constantly running, but they can engage as few or as many generators as is needed to meet any given situation.

Completion of the generating station will also allow NWE to do more research, said Follman. “We now have a backstop. It is a big part of the operation.”

The technology involved in the generating plant is not new. It’s been around “forever” according to Follman, although “the technology has gotten better” over time. It has, in fact, long been used by the US Navy, which must operate power plants on their ships. That is the background from which Follman comes. Originally from Anaconda, Follman said he didn’t realize the potential prospects that awaited him when he was learning about power generation in the Navy. He has since pursued a career building power plants for companies across the country; his most recent being in Heron, South Dakota.

Follman explained that the technology involved in the Yellowstone County Generation Station is essentially that of a car engine. “…the main difference between a typical car engine and this is size.”

The plant is a very simple, basic concept.  It’s so simple it is often referred to as a “stupid plant“ – “it’s gas in, power out,” said Follman.

The fuel used is different from that used in a vehicle, of course. Rather than gasoline they use natural gas which is considered one of cleanest forms of carbon fuels. Otherwise the generators are every bit like an automobile engine except that they are so much larger. Typically a car engine is understood to be a 6V or 8V, but these engines are a 20V. Otherwise, they function just like an automobile engine from catalytic converters to radiators.

Follman explained how the monstrous generators were transported and put into place, in the 400 foot long building. Rails were laid in the building and a crane would lift a generator and put it on the rails. For a lubricant to slide the generator to its permanent placement they used Dawn liquid dish soap – apple scented.

Installation of the generators required 86.5 miles of cable.

They are designed to have a life span of more than 30 years, some have been running for 50 years.

Everything that happens at the Yellowstone Generating Station is constantly monitored from the basic control room which is equipped with video monitors and computer data, conveying a constant flow of information to two people who are always on duty. The entire facility is operated by a small staff – two people in the control room plus a maintenance crew. The station has a total of 20 employs, 90 percent from the local area.

The O & M Supervisor for the Yellowstone Generating Station is Joe Janecek from Columbus.

Operators must keep the generators at a temperature of 100 degrees for best functionality. Keeping them at that temperature means that the building they are in is always quite warm. The roof of the building is devised to allow excess heat to escape.

The natural gas used by the facility is piped from Colorado under the Yellowstone River. The natural gas is piped under 125 psi (pressure per square inch) to each of the 18 reciprocating internal combustion engines, which were built by Caterpillar in Germany.

The only water used by the plant is obtained from wells and there is “zero water discharge,” said Follman. Water is only used for an eye wash station, for toilets and a sink in the control room.

Much focus was placed on keeping the noise level as low as possible. Also, the lighting is “dark-sky friendly,” with lights focused downward designed to have a minimal impact on the surrounding area.

The noise level inside the plant when the generators are running can be very loud. Follman likened it to a Van Halen concert. Given the level of noise, construction of the station incorporated a lot of sound –dampening measures, including baffles in the narrowest top portion of the nine distinctive silos that rise above the plant.

Now, Follman has a standing challenge to anyone to identify from outside, if a generator is running, which one it is. He will buy the beer, he says. Follman said that the decibel level of the plant is about 65 which is about the decibel level inside a restaurant.

If power to the facility is lost for any reason it has a backup battery that lasts for eight hours. Follman seemed unable to imagine any situation in which the eight hours back up would not be enough, but if for some reason it is needed, they also have a generator.

Given that adversaries of the development of the plant have challenged the project based upon issues pertaining to zoning, questions were asked about why NorthWestern Energy chose that location. Jo Dee Black, NWE Public Relations Specialist, explained that the location had most of the requirements needed for the facility’s operation including being able to bring in the natural gas needed and being in close proximity to a NWE substation.

Black said that the allowable land uses for the site, which is partly zoned Heavy Industrial and partly Agriculture, was conducive to a power plant, and she noted that the surrounding land uses were appropriate in that they include the waste water treatment plant for Laurel and the CHS refinery, from whom NWE purchased the property.

A court case was filed by those objecting to NWE plans for the Yellowstone County Generating Station challenging the county’s authority to zone that area. The case was brought by Northern Plains Resource Council (NPRC), the Montana Environmental Information Center (MEIC), and Thiel Road Coalition, in an effort to halt construction of the station.

Earlier this year, District Court Judge Jessica Fehr, determined that the county has full authority to establish the zoning, which it has always exercised over unincorporated areas and areas outside municipal boundaries. The Judge said that, according to state law, cities can exercise “extraterritorial jurisdiction” on land near a city boundary, but that authority ends once a county has adopted zoning or subdivision regulations, which Yellowstone County has done.

Plaintiffs in the case, opposed to the plant’s construction, claim it will generate air pollution and pose an environmental threat to the Yellowstone River.

Some of the confusion and controversy surrounds the fact that the initial documents approved by county administrators at the time of adoption in 1979 cannot be found. A few weeks ago, Yellowstone County Commissioners went through the formal process of re-adopting the original zoning regulations, based upon replications of data and maps, and many years of recorded data that has been accepted by city and county planners.

While the commissioners’ action did not affect in any way the existing zoning, many representatives of those living near the newly completed facility attended the commissioners’ meeting expressing doubt about the validity of the county’s claim that the original documents were lost, and reciting concerns about pollution, risks to the Yellowstone River and impacts to the neighborhood including very loud noises when the station is running.

Earlier this year, the City of Laurel completed a Growth Policy, which was approved by the County Commissioners. A Growth Policy is meant for planning purposes and is not a regulatory document.

Any zone change requests must be made by the owner of the property.

Even though NWE gained all state approvals, including those of EPA and DEQ, to build the $310 million plant, which is now completed, NPRC and MEIC continue to pursue legal action in the quest to require dismantling it.

Dig It Days Makes Donations

13 August 2024
Evelyn Pyburn
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Each year proceeds from Dig It Days are disbursed to local worthwhile causes in the community – most of all for scholarships for young people planning to enter the building and construction trades. This week some of the proceeds from last year’s event were presented to a number of local organizations.

For Yellowstone Family and Yellowstone County News, who produce the event, Dig It Days is meant to be a time for fun and education. Any revenues generated are donated to organizations which exist to support, in some manner, families in the community.

Dig It Days will be held at Montana Fair on Friday and Saturday, August 16 and 17. Sponsored by dozens of local equipment dealers and contractors and others involved with the construction industry, the event, which is totally free, features all kinds of big equipment and machines for kids to explore – and to even operate a backhoe.

This past week, at a small gathering at RDO Equipment in Billings, a check for $7500 to fund scholarships, was presented to Build Montana, which functions under the auspices of the Montana Contractors Association (MCA). Jonathan McNiven, publisher of the Yellowstone County News, presented the check to Hailee Olsen, Workforce Director for MCA, and Michelle Cohens of Sletten Construction, who is President of the Education Foundation for MCA.

Many members of MCA help sponsor Dig It Days, in addition to providing the static displays and the manpower needed to set them up and monitor them during the two-day event.

Brian Dennis, President and CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Yellowstone County, was also on hand to accept a check for $3,500.  The Boys and Girls Club provides after-school programs for young people. During Dig It Days they oversee a group of volunteers who apply “tattoos” for the kids, adding to the fun of it all.

Sheriff Mike Linder accepted a check for the Montana Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association for $5000. The Sheriff’s office brings in their helicopter when possible to Dig It Days for kids to inspect and explore. It’s arrival is always a highlight of the event.

Dig It Days also made a donation of $1000 to the Veteran’s Navigation Network.

All activities at Dig It Days, which is held the last two days of Montana Fair, are free; and this year Montana Fair is making entrance to the fair possible by getting free passes from Dig It Days sponsors.

Each day the first 1000 entries to Dig It Days will receive a free t-shirt.

Many static displays of big construction and other kinds of vehicles and equipment are available for kids to “drive,” climb on, inspect, and take pictures on. Also, thanks to the donated time of several sponsors, kids of all ages have the opportunity to operate a real backhoe or excavator.

And of course there is the attraction of Sand Mountain, which kids can dig in and play on to their heart’s content. Sand Mountain always has treasures hidden away for some lucky explorers.

All of this is made possible by Dig It Days sponsors, so please tell them “thank you” when the opportunity presents itself. Some of the sponsors of Dig It Days include:

RDO Equipment Company, NorthWestern Energy, Montana Contractors Association, Montana Equipment Dealers Association, Montana 811 – Call Before You Dig, Yellowstone County News, Big Sky Business Journal, NTEC/Spring Creek Mine, CHS, Inc – Laurel Refinery, Front Range Pipeline LLC, Cenex Pipeline LLC, Tri-State Truck & Equipment, Inc., Billings Construction Supply, Billings Towing, Action Toys, Tractor and Equipment, Montana Tech, (School of Mines and Engineering), Montana State University – Northern, Sletten Construction, Broadreach Power, Modern Machinery, Montana-Dakota Utilities (MDU), WBI Energy, Arnold Machinery, Equipment Share, MT Department of Transportation (MDT), Torgersons/Case IT, Par Montana (Formerly ExxonMobil), Pacific Steel & Recycling, ONEOK, Croell.

Housing Solution Quite Simple

22 July 2024
Evelyn Pyburn
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By Evelyn Pyburn

As we see, in our own fair cities, massive apartment buildings towering above the streets for blocks and blocks, looking more like prison walls than a place to live, we have to realize that life has changed for each and every citizen in the United States. And, it is a dilemma of our own making – the cause for which our “leaders” are stubbornly refusing to correct even though they have accurately identified the cause.

I recall watching movies filmed in other countries with scenes of shoebox style apartment buildings lining streets for huge quadrants of a city – stark and dreary and depressing places — and I thought “that’s because their standard of living is so far below that of ours in the US.” Seeing the same thing now in the US as the acceptable solution to a nationwide housing shortage, has to be for the same reason. We are being pushed into a lower standard of living.

All the other reasons that are often given, such as development costs, rising costs of construction, supply line shortages, etc. point to but one problem – artificial disruptions in the market – disruptions that are caused by centralized planning and political manipulations. That conclusion is inescapable, if one understands that the free market is inexorable. The free market responds to “supply and demand” faster than the blink of an eye, if not artificially prohibited by regulators and politicians. In fact, if one watches closely, one sees that keeping up with rapid market changes is the biggest challenge for those trying to control it.

So the question: “Why isn’t the market responding to the huge, huge demand for housing?” There is only one answer, market barriers, which means but one thing — government.

That was in fact the answer that the special committee established by Montana’s governor came up with, after studying the matter. Regulations!

The conclusion should not have been surprising if one listens to builders and contractors and industry professionals. At every opportunity, for many, many years, they have proclaimed as much. During the last effort to “re-code” building regulations in Billings, input from the building industry was essentially shut out in favor of those who use the codes to achieve goals other than affordable or “safe” housing. For them the codes are not there to serve housing or traffic safety, but to fulfill quests for power over others, esthetic wishes, ideologies, and partisan goals of bureaucrats. They are imposed from the top down, without regard to cost, property rights, or any other kind of loss to the consumer.

No one should be surprised at the committee’s conclusion about over regulation, but what is astounding is how little they recommended for change. While building codes — mandating the placement of every board and nail, building shapes and size, fencing and landscaping — easily fill volumes of legal language, the committee found very little that should be changed in that area. Basically, their biggest conclusion was that regulations need to be changed so that builders can more easily build the high-rise, shoebox, wall apartments, which seems to be the future envisioned of how peons should live. No more quaint little cottages on tree-lined streets with flowers and picket fences, with children and pets and neighbors playing and visiting in the yards.

Shoebox apartments are NOT what consumers are demanding, but it is what the regulators of supply are insisting we accept. This is not the market place at work. It is government controlling the people. Given a free market, and the freedom to innovate, create and experiment, and protection of property rights, there is no doubt that the building industry would solve the housing crisis in a nanosecond. The free market ALWAYS works. But first it needs to be free.