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Trib: Baumgartner, Brenden vie for Kitzenberg seat
The traditionally Republican Senate District 18 could be a key piece in determining which party controls the Senate in the upcoming legislative session. The seat was held by Sam Kitzenberg, who was prevented from running for re-election because of term limits. Elected as a Republican, Katzenberg's decision to switch parties swung control of the Senate to the Democrats in the 2007 Legislature. Democrat and political newcomer Shirley Baumgartner of Glasgow hopes that her background growing up in a farming and ranching family and running a pharmacy business will help her appeal to voters.
Missoulian: Parties battle for control of legislature
HELENA - The two major political parties are battling for control of the Montana Legislature as voters prepare to fill all 100 House seats on Nov. 4 and half of the 50 Senate positions. The political makeup of the 2007 Legislature was narrowly divided, with Democrats controlling the Senate 26-24, Republicans prevailing 50-49 in the House and a lone member of the Constitution Party rounding out that chamber. With an eye toward the biennial legislative session that convenes in January, each major party recruited candidates aggressively. "These races are tight all over the state," said Erik Iverson, the state Republican Party chairman. "The balance of power could go either way." * The Montana Democratic Party recruited "candidates who look like their districts and are in touch with their communities," spokesman Kevin O'Brien said. With third-party or independent candidates pursuing seats in the Legislature and possibly siphoning votes away from Republicans, Democrats stand to benefit, O'Brien said. A dozen candidates have filed as independents or as contenders with Constitution Party or Libertarian affiliation. Political scientist Craig Wilson of Montana State University-Billings said Republicans probably have an advantage in their quest to control the Senate, given the party affiliation of senators whose positions are not up for election this time around. Among the 25 holdovers, 16 are in the GOP.
Dems file suit over GOP voter challenges
HELENA - Two registered Montana voters and the Montana Democratic Party filed a federal lawsuit this morning seeking to stop state Republicans from challenging the legitimacy of registered voters who have recently changed their addresses. Joseph Breitenbach and Cynthia Anne Greene, both of Missoula, along with the state Democratic party contend the Montana Republican Party’s voter challenge is an effort to suppress voter turnout immediately before a close election, said Caleb Weaver, a Montana spokesman for the Barack Obama presidential campaign, which is helping with the challenge. “These challenges are a transparent and very likely unsuccessful attempt” to discourage properly registered voters from turning up on Election Day, Weaver told a group of Montana reporters in a conference call this morning. Specifically, the Montana Republican Party is challenging the addresses of some 6,000 registered Montana voters who have moved since they last registered to vote. The challenges were in six heavily Democratic counties: Missoula, Lewis and Clark, Silver Bow, Deer Lodge, Glacier and Hill.
Brian Schweitzer's life as a salesman
Above all, Schweitzer is Montana's premier salesman. Never a desk jockey who enjoys refereeing bureaucratic turf wars, Schweitzer instead crisscrosses the country to lure energy and other businesses here. "It's a little like when I've been in the bull business," he tells a press conference in September when releasing the Labor Day report on the economy. "You show a bull to somebody and you go through the record. You tell them, 'Imagine the calves that you'll get from this bull.' "That's the way you sell things. You've got to go out and make personal relationships with people. And sometimes you call them once, twice, three times, and you can't even get in the front door to see them. And you call them four and five times, you get in the front door to see them. After some more prodding, you get them to come out and take a look at your product. In our case, the product is Montana."
BLM: Coalbed report due "Septemberish"
The final version of an environmental study on coalbed methane development in southeastern Montana is due for release by fall, with a decision expected in early 2009, Bureau of Land Management officials said. The report, known as the supplemental environmental-impact study, will include an air quality analysis that went through a more detailed public review earlier this year. The studies are based on drilling up to 18,225 wells over approximately 20 years. Elaine Raper, BLM Miles City Field Office manager, said Wednesday that the supplemental study is scheduled for release sometime in late summer or early fall - "Septemberish," she said.
Biofuels research plant to open
BUTTE, Mont. (AP) -- A little research plant here got a lot of attention Monday. Gov. Brian Schweitzer and the state's full congressional delegation all were on hand to herald the AE Biofuels Inc. ethanol plant as the start of something very big. The company said it will perfect a process for producing cellulosic ethanol, which is made from fiber products such as wheat stocks or corn stalks. More commonly, corn itself is used to make ethanol. The $1.5 million Butte plant has just a few employees focusing on the work. But California-based AE Biofuels says that as early as next year, the company hopes to build a full-scale, $100 million production plant somewhere in the United States. Some day, the new way of making ethanol will be nearly as prolific as production of pure corn ethanol, the company said. AE Biofuels officials said they first expect the cellulosic ethanol process, which uses enzymes to make the alcohol instead of using heat from costly fuels, to work in conjunction with corn ethanol plants by using waste leftover in the traditional process. That means the ethanol industry - recently under fire on allegations it drove up the price of corn-based food - will become more efficient, said Andy Foster, chief operating officer for AE Biofuels.
Dems aim to replace disqualified candidate
HELENA - In a Western Montana legislative race that's already drawn its share of headlines, Democrats are scrambling to replace a disqualified candidate, and the incumbent said Tuesday that he'll try to block their effort. Democrat Wayne Lewis of Helena withdrew from the race Sunday after state officials learned that he doesn't live in House District 84, which includes portions of Powell and Lewis and Clark counties. Democratic Party officials have until Aug. 21 to name a replacement for Lewis. But HD84 incumbent John Ward, who's running as a write-in candidate after losing the Republican primary in June, said that Democrats shouldn't be able to choose a replacement for Lewis.
Republican withdraws from Livingston race
HELENA - Republican legislative candidate Mary Rahn has withdrawn in Livingston's House District 62 and has been replaced by the man she defeated in the Republican primary election. Neal Donaldson, who lost the June 3 primary to Rahn, was selected Saturday by local Republicans to be the nominee. He'll run this fall against Rep. Bob Ebinger, D-Livingston. Rahn said Tuesday that she withdrew last week because she must spend time in West Virginia taking care of her mother, who recently broke her hip. Rahn said she felt she didn't have enough time to devote to the campaign.
High prices, high profits, more drilling hard to swallow
The combination of high gas prices and record profits for the companies selling oil and gas is unsettling enough on its own, without the promise of increased heating costs accompanied by a call for increased drilling throughout Colorado and the United States. But this combination is the reality on America's energy landscape, making it difficult to sympathize with the companies that do not reciprocate the feeling for their customers. It is also challenging to feel much goodwill toward policymakers who are employing a relative hands-off approach to dealing with the perfect storm of record prices, astronomical profits and a call for access to more public lands for resource extraction. Such a combination - sure to make consumers crazy while compromising their checkbooks - should be directing a move away from traditional, petroleum energy sources. But instead, it is fueling a frantic rush for more - at direct expense to the consumers who rely on the resources in their daily lives. Lawmakers and the oil and gas companies can do better.
States mull drilling rules as wells proliferate
In Silt, it was a seep from a gas well leaking benzene into a creek, and in Hobbs, N.M., it was a subdivision built on an old oil waste pit. In Gillette, Wyo., it was an oil-field high-voltage line buried just 6 inches underground, and in Miles City, Mont., it was the prospect of heavily salted well water coming down the Tongue River. Across the West, states are moving to add new regulations and laws as oil and gas drilling intensifies and potential problems — small and large — emerge. "Rule-making is going to go on for a while until there is a little more balance," said Joanna Prukop, head of the New Mexico Department of Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources.
