The Montana Department of Environmental Quality wants to know what people think the state's next Environmental Policy Act should include. Critics claim the state is using the public input process as a stall tactic to avoid implementing important environmental rules now.

The DEQ's move is a response to a judge's high-profile decision earlier this year supporting young climate activists who claimed Montana's fossil-fuels policy violates their constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment.

Derf Johnson, deputy director of the Montana Environmental Information Center, said the state DEQ was ordered to get public comment as it drafts the state's environmental policy as a condition of the court case, known as Held v. Montana.

"A court decision that basically ordered the State of Montana to actually evaluate and consider climate change as part of its permitting process," he said. "A stable climate is part of that right to a clean, healthful environment that we're guaranteed here in Montana."

Johnson argued that while public input is crucial, the state could be implementing key parts of the act now, and the public input process will delay enacting important parts of it.

Johnson said he thinks some of the most critical input will be about the effects of oil and gas leases, coal mines and power plants. He added that Montana could easily implement a tool the federal government has been using "for quite some time now, through a tool called the 'social cost of carbon.' That tool has precedent in terms of how it's implemented, case law surrounding it. That's something that they could have been implementing years ago. "

The DEQ has scheduled three public input sessions and is considering adding a fourth. It has also established an online public comment portal through Dec. 1.


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Ohio is seeing a growing number of solar energy projects, including the first utility-scale installation in Dayton, which will help power a key water treatment facility.

Cities across the state are also working together to expand clean energy access. The five-megawatt solar array in Dayton will be built on a brownfield site, which is also a repurposing project for land that had been burned and has limited use because of contamination.

Robert McCracken, energy manager for the neighboring city of Cincinnati, said it is amazing to be able to produce energy to help with energy resiliency anywhere in Ohio.

"There is a lot of great work happening in the sustainability energy field throughout the state of Ohio," McCracken observed. "That's happening in large cities and small towns."

It is expected to provide 38% of the Miami Water Treatment Plant's electrical power needs and cut consumer energy bills by keeping water rates low. The City of Dayton serves as the principal water source for an estimated 1.5 million people in southwest Ohio.

McCracken pointed out local governments across Ohio recognize the importance of clean energy and are working collaboratively on solutions.

"It's become ever more important for all of those cities throughout Ohio ... to be working together to figure out how we all can advance the projects that we're working on that can benefit residents and businesses in each of our local communities," McCracken contended.

The project supports Dayton's climate emergency commitment to cutting carbon emissions at city facilities through renewable energy. McCracken emphasized Ohio cities remain dedicated to sustainable solutions, benefiting the environment and local communities.


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North Dakota's governor has declared a statewide fire emergency as state and local agencies prepare for a longer and more active spring wildfire season.

Changing weather patterns might be making a heightened response more common. The governor's declaration follows last week's forecast from the Department of Emergency Services, which said strong winds, quickly warming temperatures and the lack of a big snowpack to melt enhance the wildfire risk.

Ryan Melin, fire management officer for the North Dakota Forest Service, sees a familiar situation unfolding.

"We have these, what they call flash droughts, where we get a really intense drought," Melin explained. "Those extreme events have become more, it seems like, more frequent. And with that, when you get 70-miles-an-hour wind on it, we're probably gonna have a pretty bad day for our firefighters."

Last October, the state saw wildfires burn more than 120,000 acres. Nationally, the Sierra Club said the expanding scope of wildfire seasons in various parts of the country is a reminder of the need to mitigate conditions fueling them, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

As state agencies work with local fire departments to stomp out fires beginning to burn, officials ask the public to do its part. Adhering to burn restrictions and having evacuation plans ready are among the tips.

Unlike the recent destruction in the Los Angeles fires, Melin acknowledged North Dakota's risk for property damage looks different because of its rural backdrop but he emphasized a fast-moving blaze can still overwhelm a community.

"On these bad days, when fires get going, we see resource drawdowns, where, much like (what) happened in L.A., is they started running out of fire trucks," Melin observed. "Because you can only do so much with what you have."

Overall, Melin feels North Dakota is in a solid-position resource-wise but he stressed local fire departments play a big role, noting many of them are voluntary, putting pressure on communities with dwindling populations. State agencies recently worked with Bismarck State College on a Wildland Firefighting Course to help address gaps for firefighting duty.

The Trump administration's recent executive order, "Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production," called on federal land managers to ramp up timber production to protect the country's national and economic security.

Oregon is the top producer of softwood lumber in the country, so the order could have serious implications for the state.

Nick Cady, legal director for the conservation organization Cascadia Wildlands in Eugene, said the order's claim onerous federal policies have forced the country to rely on imported lumber is incorrect. In fact, he pointed out the U.S. is one of the world's leading timber exporters.

"There are miles and miles of deck logs that are raw exported to Asia every day out of Coos Bay and the ports here in Oregon," Cady explained. "The premise which all this is based on is false."

The order also stated a lack of logging has contributed to wildfires and degraded fish and wildlife habitats. Cascadia Wildlands and other environmental groups plan to take legal action against the order.

Ryan Reed, member of the Federal Advisory Committee for the Northwest Forest Plan, said the executive order takes an extreme approach to logging. He added the timber industry and environmentalists in the Northwest are more aligned than they used to be in their goals of managing forests sustainably.

Reed noted the order uses language of exploitation indigenous leadership has been guiding the region away from.

"This type of work is almost eroding the very work that we tried to build consensus and bring communities of both sides, of both interests, along," Reed contended.

If the order was enacted as written, Cady argued it could have devastating effects on the region's forests and wildlife. He added many environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act, cannot be subverted through an executive order. Cady is confident pending lawsuits will be successful.

"I think in the end it'll just lead to a bunch of taxpayer time and money fighting this in court and then nothing on the ground and just a smoke screen waste of time," Cady concluded.