Montana

Montana Public Service Commission watches bill that cuts public participation • Daily Montanan

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1 year ago

January 8, 2025

Montana Public Service Commission watches bill that cuts public participation • Daily Montanan

The Montana Public Service Commission elected former and incoming commissioner Brad Molnar as its new president this week, and it discussed legislative priorities for the session, including a bill that would make “extensive” changes to the way utilities plan for energy resources.

Rep. Brad Molnar (Courtesy Montana Legislative Services).

Molnar, a former state Senator, previously served on the commission from 2004 through 2012. The Laurel Republican takes the leadership title from Jim Brown, former PSC president sworn in this week as State Auditor.

The Public Service Commission regulates monopoly utilities, and at its meeting Tuesday, the five commissioners discussed bills that were coming up in the 2025 Montana Legislature, ones they had proposed and ones that came out of legislative work between sessions.

At the meeting, PSC external affairs coordinator Trevor Graff gave a staff report on the bills, including House Bill 55, to change the way public utilities plan and acquire energy resource and speed up parts of the process.

In part, Graff said, the “extensive” bill proposes a “quick turnaround” time of 120 days for energy planning processes, “significantly shorter” than the current nine months set in commission rules.

NorthWestern Energy currently has such an effort underway. It’s a matter of high public interest, and it entails a process under scrutiny by the public and advocacy groups.

The bill also would cut the minimum time for public comment from 60 days to 45 days.

As drafted, the Public Service Commission would be allowed to skip public comment on plans by utilities for their future energy portfolio. However, it asks utilities to potentially hold more meetings, four instead of two, but with the possibility to forego two if the PSC approves.

The bill came out of a select committee on energy resource planning, and its goal appeared to be to shift the public participation component of the process from the PSC to the utilities, Graff said.

He said the idea from the legislative committee seemed to be to take off some of the burden of collecting public comment from the PSC, although he said it’s probably good for the PSC to hear from citizens for its own records.

“You still, under this bill, have the prerogative to do that (hold a hearing on a resource plan), and you aren’t required to do that at all if you so choose,” Graff said.

The draft raised other questions for the PSC as well, he said, including a call for a couple more regulatory analysts at the commission, but with half of the estimated funding for it, and with money that’s not in the agency’s permanent budget.

HB-55 will be up for a hearing Friday in House Energy, Technology and Federal Relations Committee.

In his staff report, Graff said bills in Senate Energy are getting pushed to next week given a slowdown in the Senate. A change in the rules shuffled the work and members in committees.

Graff also reminded commissioners that their policies state the PSC will generally present a unified front before the public, the media and the legislature. In other words, commissioners who are stepping out on their own should be clear that’s the case.

At the meeting, the commission’s first order of business was electing new officers, and Vice President Jennifer Fielder broke a tie to continue to serve as vice president; she said it was extra work, but she also represented continuity in the role.

In a leadership role, Fielder said it was important to pay attention to operations, and the agency in the past had been left in “disarray” because of neglect.

“A great deal of that was because agency leadership was engaged in policy advancement, and that was wonderful, but nobody was here paying attention to the agency itself,” Fielder said, noting the importance of ensuring quality staff.

The PSC is made up five Republicans, and Commissioners Annie Bukacek and Molnar supported Fielder for vice president. Commissioners Randy Pinocci and Jeff Welborn supported Pinocci for vice president.

Fielder, of Thompson Falls, Molnar, of Laurel, and Welborn, of Dillon and also previously a state legislator, took their oaths of office this week, Welborn for the first time.

Incoming Commissioner Welborn said he was excited to work on ensuring access to reliable and affordable utility services.

“Looking ahead to the next four years, I will prioritize strengthening our energy grid and producing more energy exports to lower rates for everyone,” Welborn said in a statement.

Molnar said he was humbled to have been selected with a unanimous vote, pleased Fielder would remain as vice president, and anticipated a smooth legislative session.

“With the governor’s budget restoring lost personnel, we expect to be able to better and more timely serve the families and employers that rely on us, as well as the utilities that serve us,” Molnar said in a statement from the PSC.

The PSC also is tracking House Bill 103, to change railroad track inspection.

It’s following a couple of telecommunications bills, House Bill 45, a “rehash” of a telecommunications revision bill from the 2023 session, and Senate Bill 51, to adjust telecoms registration requirements.

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Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

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1 minute ago

March 2, 2026

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Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

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Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

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12 hours ago

March 1, 2026

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Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

HELENA — You probably have goals and plans for 2026—the Montana Department of Agriculture does too.

“We’re really focusing on innovative agricultural practices,” Montana Department of Agriculture director Jillien Streit said.

It’s no secret that agriculture—farming and ranching—is not easy. There are long days, planning, monitoring crops and livestock, and other challenges beyond farmers’ and ranchers’ control.

(WATCH: Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026)

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

“We have very low commodity prices across the board,” Streit said. “We still have very high input prices across the board, and we have really high prices when it comes to our equipment, and so, it’s a really tough year.”

But innovation, including new practices, partnerships and technology use, can help navigate some of those challenges.

“We can’t make more time and we can’t make more land, so we need to start putting together innovative practices that help us maximize what our time and land can do,” Streit said.

Practices range from using technology like autonomous tractors and virtual fencing—allowing rangers to contain and move cattle right from their phones—to regenerative farming and ranching.

“It is bringing cattle back into farming operations to be able to work with cover cropping practices to invigorate the soil for new soil health benefits,” Streit said.

The Montana Department of Agriculture is working to help producers learn, share, and collaborate on new ideas to work in their operations.

The department will share stories of practices that work from farms and ranches across the state. Also, within the next year or so, Streit said the department is hoping to roll out technology to help producers collaborate.

“(It’s) providing a communication platform where people can get together and really help each other out by utilizing each other’s assets,” she said.

While not easy, agriculture is still one of Montana’s largest industries, and Streit said innovating and sharing ideas across the state can keep it going long into the future.

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Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round

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1 day ago

March 1, 2026

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Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round

BUTTE — MSU-Northern and Montana Western pulled a pair of upsets Saturday at the Butte Civic Center to wrap up the quarterfinal round of the Frontier Conference women’s basketball postseason tournament.

The fifth-seeded Skylights started the day with a red-hot shooting performance to down No. 4 Rocky Mountain College 82-74. Western, the sixth seed, used a third-quarter surge to defeat No. 3 Carroll College 65-56.

MSU-Northern (17-11) and Western (14-13) now advance to Sunday’s semifinal round, where the Skylights will play No. 1 seed Dakota State at noon and the Bulldogs will face No. 2 Montana Tech at 2:30 p.m.

MSU-Northern 82, Rocky Mountain College 74

MSU-Northern sizzled in the first quarter, making seven 3-pointers to take a double-digit lead, and put together a crucial third-quarter run to get past Rocky and advance to the semifinal round.

Becky Melcher splashed four 3s in the first 10 minutes, and Taya Trottier, Canzas HisBadHorse and Shania Moananu added one apiece as the Skylights built a 29-13 lead. Melcher scored 14 first-quarter points and finished with a game-high 30 on 10-of-19 shooting (7 of 15 from 3-point range). She added 11 rebounds, a blocked shot and three steals to her stat line.

Rocky battled back to tie the game at 36-36 in the second quarter on a Brenna Linse basket, but MSUN responded with consecutive triples from Trottier and Melcher and took a 44-38 lead into halftime. The Bears eventually stole the lead back in the third quarter following a 9-0 run capped be an Isabelle Heggem bucket.

But the Skylights again answered — this time with a 13-2 run to take a 60-51 lead. MSUN led 66-59 going to the fourth and wouldn’t trail the rest of the way. The Skylights trailed for less than two total minutes of the game.

As a team, MSUN made 14 of 26 3s in the game. Ciera Agasiva was 3 for 3 from behind the arc, and Trottier was 2 for 3. Trottier had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Agasiva had 13 points.

Paige Wasson led Rocky (20-9) with 29 points but was 0 for 10 on 3-point attempts. Heggem had a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Montana Western 65, Carroll 56

After neither team led by more than five points in the first half, Western broke open a 25-25 tie game by outscoring Carroll 20-9 in the third quarter.

Bailee Sayler scored 10 points in the quarter, including making two 3-pointers, to help the Bulldogs take control. They led 45-34 going to the fourth, and Carroll wouldn’t get closer than six points the rest of the way.

The Fighting Saints were just 18-of-65 shooting (27.7%) for the game.

Sayler scored an efficient 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting. She was 2 for 3 from 3-point range and 6 for 7 at the free throw line. The Missoula native also had nine rebounds.

Isabella Lund added 16 points for the Bulldogs, and Keke Davis had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Carroll (19-10) was led by Kenzie Allen with 12 points. Willa Albrecht and Meagan Karstetter scored 11 points apiece for the Saints.

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