Letter To The Editor
Author: Ric Holden, candidate for US Congressional District 2
Dear Editor:
As a congressional candidate I am always getting asked the question, what are you going to do about the rising costs of electricity in Montana? I must go back to the years that I spent in the state senate. I recall very clearly when the liberal politicians decided to attack Montana’s natural resource industries in earnest. The year was 1995 and the state legislature was in session. I believed that our state needed jobs for our children. I was pitted against those that sought to close all mining, including coal production.
Here we are in 2024 and we need more electricity, and the same liberal forces are seeking the closure of all coal mining in Montana. The Obama and Biden administrations have successfully sought the closures and dismantling of the power plants in Billings and Sidney. Montana has the largest recoverable coal reserves in the U.S. representing 30% of our nation’s coal. About 45% of our electricity is produced by in-state coal-fired power plants. I see this as a good thing.
The power plants continue to run even on below-zero days when the wind is dead calm with no hope of generating electricity from a wind turbine. Our coal is of the clean-burning variety. The power plants now have filters on the exhaust stacks that just basically emit steam.
If you want to see your power bill go down, then support policies that will allow our coal miners to mine coal and let our power plants generate clean electricity for Montana. That is what I will support as your congressman. Geologists told us back in the 1990s that we have 2000 years of coal reserves in Montana. We should not let our coal go to waste. Let’s produce electricity with a proven product and generate so much electricity that we should not have to worry about a shortage. Power companies need to control costs and examine their operations so that they are not bilking families to enrich their shareholders. Your bills will go down if we can generate electricity by using our Montana natural resources. It will take a change in mentality, but it can be done.
Ric Holden
Candidate for Montana’s 2nd Congressional District
